Fresh Water

We had another week of heavy rains, with associated hardships to all daily commuters, courtesy of our poor roads and drainage system.  Hopefully, public anger against the government and the municipal corporation should result in better situation in the near future, at least for the Ganesh festival.

The rains also lead to a considerable increase in the lake water levels. Some of the lakes like Tulsi and Vihar have almost reached their maximum capacities. (The large Bhatsa reservoir is still only about 40 percent filled to its full capacity).

Very soon, everyone, including the officials and elected representatives will forget about the threat of water shortage and cuts in water supply and continue squandering this previous resource. The vast majority of the people do not seem to understand, or choose to remain indifferent, to the fact that fresh water supplies are sparse and must be used with utmost precautions to prevent wastage.

In India, although we realize the importance of water and the problems arising from water shortage and contamination of fresh water bodies (rivers, lakes and ponds), seldom do we taken concrete actions in preserving and preventing destruction of the same. Just look at the amount of rubbish (plastic, thermocol, old puja offerings wrapped in plastic, etc) dumped into our rivers and lakes. In fact, ancient Indian philosophy and sciences, including Vaastu shastra, mention that wasting water and destroying natural resources, is one sure way of draining out material wealth from one’s homes.

Water is the basic ingredient of our planet, with unique properties without which life as we know it, would cease to exist. It has a high dielectric constant; due to this almost all ionic compounds get dissociated and dissolve in it. Water thus forms the medium for transport of nutrients and waste materials for all living creatures. Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, but about 97 percent of it is in the oceans and seas and is unusable due to its high salinity. It is estimated that of the remaining 3 percent, most of it is in the form of frozen mass in polar ice-caps. Only a small portion of this, may be 0.003 – 0.004 percent is available for use; even this is not equally distributed throughout our planet. Considering the growing population, the per capita availability of water is decreasing alarmingly.

We must take drastic and immediate measures in conserving water. Let us SAVE WATER – the most previous of our natural resources.
 
And now, about the birds.
Red vented Bulbul 
Hindi: Bulbul
The Bulbul is a dusty-brown colored bird, slightly larger than the sparrow. It is commonly found in pairs or groups of 3 – 4, in the upper parts of fruiting trees. It also feeds on insects. You can recognize it from the slightly pointed black head with red and white bottom. It is seen throughout the plains of India and also in tree-covered urban regions. 

Another sub-species is the Red whiskered Bulbul. This can be identified from a small crest on its head.  

More photographs can be viewed here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/home?source=bloggerpromo&pli=1&gsessionid=z36CfDxwSKPodfXK7-LQmw. 

PS: An excellent collection of bird photographs can be viewed on Rahul Dongre's facebook page.