The drought in some parts of Maharashtra has forced people suffering from it to make some drastic changes in their lives. And I don't mean "oh I couldn't take a proper bath today" kind of change. I'm talking about thousands of villagers migrating into cities, because they were forced to. If that doesn't make you pause and understand the gravity of the situation, how about this - a 12-year-old girl died of dehydration and heat stroke while she was on her way, for the fifth time in a row, to fill a pot of water from a hand-pump that was 500 meters from her house. And yet, some of us are still wasting water. As if drought and/or sudden urbanization is no big deal at all. A drought doesn't hit us suddenly like an earthquake. There are proper warning signs most of the time. And especially in the current crisis the people of Maharashtra are facing, it's pretty evident that there have been a series of management related failures that led to this terrible situation. But let me stop right there - this is not a whodunit. There is a problem and we need to fix it. And a major portion of that fix is stopping all the goddamn water wastage immediately. Here are a few things we can do. Maybe change the way you wash your vehicles? When you use a water hose to wash your cars, bikes and scooters, you tend to use more water than you actually need. Here's an idea - acquaint yourself with these magical devices we call 'bucket' and 'mug'. Yes, it might seem a little inconvenient at first, but that is nothing compared to the pain of the people who're suffering the drought.

Move over IPL, can we shut down water parks and golf courses temporarily?

I know, it's summertime. And weekends with family or friends at some water park might seem like a great idea. But look at the bigger picture, people. Farmers are dying in villages. Crops are failing. Maybe, just maybe, if you stopped spending your money in water parks, or if you could host that corporate golf outing some other time, then perhaps we could use that water for other purposes that do not fall under the luxury bracket. Non-potable water can be used for gardening and irrigation. There surely has to be a way to shift focus to things we actually need.

Builders and RWA people, ever considered rainwater harvesting?

In 2007, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made it mandatory for the new buildings to have rainwater harvesting systems. Without it, they would not be given the occupational certificate. And yet, many new constructions in Mumbai and its suburbs do not have these provisions. This screams out corruption. Also, RWA people, if you'd worry more about rainwater harvesting than keeping an eye on which single person is living in which apartment, that'd be great.