Water, one of the five elements of nature, is perhaps the most tantalising and mysterious of them all and the most revered in various cultures for its sacred values. As we celebrate World Water Day today, I look back at my childhood experiences that helped underline this ‘sacredness’ of water in my life.
I grew up in an environment that was open to various faiths and their rituals, which led me to understand the role of water as a sacred element in multiple ways. From the holy water that anointed ones forehead at the doorstep of a church, to the waters of the Abe Zamzam - the sacred medicinal spring in the deserts of Mecca, to the shallow pools that one dipped our feet in before entering a gurudwara and of course to the holy mother Godavari around whose river ghats meandered the city that I grew up in, the sacredness of water echoed repeatedly in my life.
However, many monsoons after, I think back to all of life's journeys that brought me face to face with water and its various forms and I am compelled to expand on this idea of ‘sacred’ in water.
I reconnect to all the natural water bodies that I have experienced; rivers, lakes, oceans and seas across various geographies and ponder over the millions of life forms water supports. I think back about the innocence of raindrops as they gather into puddles and fill up lakes and at the youthful babbling of the streams as they gurgle along mountain slopes. I imagine water spurting out of rocks as majestic waterfalls and appearing elsewhere in the form of mysterious hot springs. I close my eyes and relive the strong yet gentle flow of the rivers and the infinite vastness of the oceans and seas.
I marvel at man's intervention at containing this life-giving water into stunning stepped wells and serene ghats, transporting this water across miles through massive aqueducts and containing them in sprawling tanks. I admire the role that women have played in transporting water from distant sources to quench the thirst and fulfil the needs of their families back home and the grace with which they have been doing so for centuries. I delight in the beautiful arts and crafts that are built around water; from exquisite water containers to sculptures and fountains dotting the cities. I cherish the epics and folk lore that celebrate water and connect generations to its stories.
I am amazed at the fact that this life-giving water is available to me and millions of others in our homes at a simple turn of a tap and whisper a prayer of gratitude for every drop that I have consumed so far. I look beyond and realise that a third of our earth is covered in water, the only planet with water that we have discovered so far. Further, when I look at myself, I discover that most of my physical being is made up of water and that this one mystical element, the giver and nurturer of life, connects me to all life forms by an invisible thread…
However, I also observe that our bond with water, though deep and vital, is filled with paradoxes. Whilst on one hand, we revere certain forms of water as sacred, we desecrate the same water by dumping waste and through unsustainable industry practices, animal farming, wasteful agricultural practices, and unequal access to different income groups.
As a consequence, several major cities across the globe are facing a water crisis today. From Cape Town to Bengaluru, Mexico City to Istanbul and London to Melbourne, access to clean potable water is depleting, making the future of these cities unlivable. Rural areas are further affected as water from the rivers they are built around is diverted to cities.
However, can we change this approach by consciously accepting that access to water is a natural right for all living species? Can we come together to ensure practices, sustainable industry and sustainable food production? Can we begin to see value in every drop of water that exists, and treat every form and every drop of water as a precious elixir which is sacred beyond measure?
The future of water security for humankind and all forms of life on earth lies in finding answers to these questions.
To read a fun story on the value of water do read my book Paani Party and share it with children. It is available on Amazon India through this link.
Do share your memories around water in the comments below. Thank you for reading. Subscribe and share to support independent writing.
At the moment Minaz, Melbourne is not having an issue with water in the dams and it is possibly the best water to drink in Australia. BUT we haven’t had much rain now for nearly two months which I am sure will start depleting our water levels, particularly by those of us who don’t want their gardens to die, that is one reason for having drought tolerant plants. For most of my life I lived nearby to the beach, and even now we are only just over half an hour away. It is not my favourite place to go to anymore, after having had several skin cancers removed it is far better to keep out of the sun. Like you I love the babbling brooks, the cascading of water over rocks down the rivers, the crashing of the waves, even the calmness of the ocean and the mighty waterfalls, particularly like Niagara.
Where I come from in Colorado, water is a big issue. Having worked in farming for a season, I learned a lot about water rights and access. It will be a bigger problem as cities continue to grow and large corporations, hello Nestlé, keep pumping it from one location and encapsulating it in plastic to transport to another location. It's not a sustainable practice.