Fighting indifference to make a difference

Spice of Life: The continuous running of the tap led to waterlogging of almost one-third of the ground. Players and coaches chose to restrict their area of activity rather than spring to action

We waited for three days, hoping someone would take notice of the leaking tap in the playground. Its valve had become defunct and the precious liquid was flowing out incessantly.

Players and coaches in the Amritsar college ground did nothing to save water as the tap leaked for days together, leading to waterlogging of a part of the ground. It was tough fighting the indifference. (Representational image)

Athletes and their coaches strive hard day in and day out to make a mark in the playground of the college. The adjoining lush football ground invites an enviable footfall every morning. But somehow no one seemed to notice the 24×7 leakage of the tap in one corner of the ground. Constant wastage of water for the past few days had flooded a corner of the ground to turn it into a swamp.

My friend and I are avid morning walkers. We spent the next day or two, trying to stop the flow of water by plugging the spout with twigs, tying the faulty valve with a piece of cloth and pressing the stopcock by keeping a brick over it, but to no avail. The continuous running of the tap led to waterlogging of almost one-third of the ground. Players and coaches chose to restrict their area of activity rather than spring to action to fix the defective tap.

We decided to inform the security men at the gate. “Sir, do you have the required permission for morning walk in the college campus?” one of them countered. While examining our ‘morning-walk cards’, the man in-charge was ready with his next query, “Why did you enter the playground? Only players and athletes are allowed there. You come here for a walk, so stick to the pavement or road. Regarding the tap, we’ll see what needs to be done.”

Dejected, we waited for two more days for remedial action but nothing happened. We decided to meet the works manager of the college. He assured us of a quick redressal but even 10 days later, nothing happened to prevent the wastage of water.

Google, the panacea of all ills, was consulted to find an email ID or phone number of the college to lodge a complaint. All phone numbers on the college website were out of order. Whenever, we tried to contact the college authorities via email, all links led us to select the courses of our choice and pay the fee with a single click.

One of our friends suggested to click the picture of the running water and share it on social media. His suggestion did not find favour with us. We decided to get the tap repaired instead of circulating its photo.

Now, the next challenge was to bring the plumber and his tools to the ground without the security guards getting wind of our plan. A young plumber was selected and I lent him my tracksuit and sports shoes so that he could pass off as an enthusiastic jogger. It being the rainy season, I concealed the ranch, stopcock valve and thread in my folded umbrella to smuggle them to the manmade wetland.

It took a few minutes to repair the faulty tap that had led to the wastage of thousands of litres of water in a fortnight.

A small step in the right direction called for a treat. What better way to celebrate than eating samosas along with piping hot tea at the stall opposite the campus on a rainy morning. rajivsharma.rs201067@gmail.com

The writer is an Amritsar-based freelance contributor