Water!

I woke up this morning, only to realize that there was no water in the house. So... what do I do... go to the nearest store... to buy a bottle of drinking water. Surprised!? Don't be! I spend Rs.12 for every litre of drinking water. I live in Noida, which has been touted as one of India's "Dream Cities" and a hotspot for the new age IT-Driven economy. Point being... if you consider my location, and my occupation, I would be counted among India's affluent populace... those who have enough buying power to sustain a comfortable lifestyle. But the harsh truth is that you do not get potable drinking water in Noida. What do people do... they have no choice but to buy drinking water.... and the cost of this water varies from Rs12 for 1 litre to Rs50 for a 25 litre casket. And average household would thus spend anything between Rs.3000 to Rs.20,000 on potable water alone. Such is the case with those who can afford to pay... what about the rest?? What do they do?? Consume the toxic sludge and suffer!? And water is supposed to be a resource that is so essential to life that it should be freely available.

What irks me even more... is that when we have such a major crunch for water... and water is actually a luxury... we actually low soft-drink manufacturer's such Coke, Pepsi etc to exploit our water resources and resell us the same water at an astronomical price!!!!