The Story of a Pipe

I stay in a hilly place in Nagaland. We have a water reservoir on the hill top that supplies water to three to four colonies. It used to be the main source of drinking water, and most of the residents depended on it. The pipe line is connected in such a way that the top most category or the best water line taken by the elites of the society and their pipeline rarely gives a problem, followed by the middle and the general category. But the best thing is everybody gets their share of drinking water. Those who cannot afford to connect the pipeline collect it from the overflowing water of people with pipe connections. Some even collect it from the broken pipes or the little leakage from the pipe joints. That way everybody in the colony, the surrounding neighbours and even the passerby, though it doesn’t give them the privilege of storing or reserving it at least quenches the thirst of the common people. But Alas! for the past two-and-a half years the reservoir has been empty and the pipes are getting rusty due to absence of water. The road gets dusty in winter and the leakage from the pipe somehow wets the dusty road and lessens the dust. Unfortunately, as there is no water supply even the drainage runs on dust. A cup of water in a swimming pool does not make any difference to the pool but it can save a person’s life, or it can be a treat to a woman who craves for a cup of hot coffee in cold weather. But a man in a swimming pool won’t understand the value of a cup of water when it is wasted with the stroke of his left hand. Sinilo Rio