N45   Water Wasting Festival   (Part  2 )

    

But if we think of the water they use for pleasure we will see that it is very wasteful and senseless . Generally we can say  that water is not scarce in our country , but one place and another place , one region and another region are not the same. Water is more plentiful in Lower Burma than the middle part where it is arid. But even then I heard that in some parts of the Irrawaddy Delta drinkable water is scarce.

     

   If we look more widely at the world there are many places where water is a problem. Half of the world’s population does not have access to save pure drinking water and there are many places where using of water is limited. Even some developed countries like Singapore do not have enough usable water resources, so that she has to buy from neighbouring countries . In  Australia too water is not plentiful, so use of water for a single person is limited. There had been countries that went to war because of unequal devision of water like Syria and Jordan.

    

 

  I had once watched a documentary film about Indian women who have to carry water. As is their custom Indian men do not care to carry water for household use. So the burden fall on the weaker sex , the women. Women old and young had to carry water for household use and also for their animals, whether it may be near or far. The northwestern part of India Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are arid regions where water is very scarce . Women have to carry water from very far places like 7 or 8 kilometres by balancing pots and pans on their heads. One time is not enough for the entire household. They have to do that tiring errand many times a day. Girls start to go with their mothers from about the age of 8 carrying the amount of water they can. But in that region water is not pure. They can only get salinated water which is salty and bitter and there are people who haven’t taste a drink of pure drinkable water all their lives. Pity them.

     

  So, what I want to say is, “Should we waste our water because it is plentiful “ And plentiful is not even the right word . People in big cities Yangon and Mandalay and Taunggyi all have experienced times when there is not enough water to use. At such times we have to buy water from cars and carts . But even if we have money to buy, if there is no place to draw water from who will come and sell to us? Water is a resource that can be depleted. We can see and hear about streams and lakes that have gone dry.

    

     If we look at countries which celebrate Thingyan such as Thailand, Laos , Cambodia , China no country uses pipes or hoses to throw water on each other. They just use buckets and bowls and water guns only. Splashing water this way will save much water.

   

  So should we follow customs and traditions that will make our lives become difficult, that is futile for the sake of pleasure? This way of water splashing came into life not very long ago in our country and we can change it back to our old ways again.

    

  But if only we have the sense and heart to do so……..