It first rained on Rann of Kutch, the drought-stricken salt desert, on the day Fathima entered the village . Everyone still remembered that day and the girl who had brought rainclouds along into that Monsoon-forgotten hamlet. I recall the images I conjured up while reading The Love Across the Salt Desert by Keki N Daruwalla. No one dared to do the impossible by crossing the desert except those few who did so for “reasons of their own”. Nawab Hussain, for instance, made the journey for “the daughter of the spice seller; she who smelled of cloves and cinnamon”. Ever since reading that story I have romanticized the desert. Here I am now in a distant relative of the Rann of Kutch: Rubu’al Khali, commonly known as the Empty Quarter, a territory shared by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Yemen. The silence, the clarity, the mystery, the remoteness, the vastness, the serenity, the eternity and the capricious nature of a wild, other-worldly de...
Photo Credit: Dr. Ajmal
Around 71% of Earth’s surface is covered in water. That doesn’t
mean you will never go thirsty regardless of where you go. Forget about the 97%
which is saline; the remaining 3% fresh water is mostly not in potable form as 68% of it is stored in
icecaps and glaciers. I wonder how Samuel Coleridge Taylor knew all these
statistics as early as the Romantic period when he lamented in The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner:
Photo Credit: Dr. Ajmal
Kerala is blessed with 44 rivers but presently on the verge of a draught.when we get anything in abundance we forget the value of it.
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DeleteTrue..and truth is generally beauty.This one is not though.As you pointed out, despite 44 rivers and six months rain, Kerala is in a state of drought even before the midsummer.As I look into it, it accounts for three reasons.1. Soil sealing, as the soil science calls it. Being densely populated, most of the land surface is sealed either by building, tarring or even paving with impenetrable cement blocks.Subsequently, water table is not amply replenished by the end of each monsoon as it used to be.2)Poor percolation of remaining open area in which rain water runs off the terrain taking only one and a half hours to reach the Arabian sea adding yet another problem called eutrofication.And finally poor rain water harvesting practices coupled with no or little awareness among the people about the necessity of doing so.Our relatively new mono-cropping agriculture,destruction of forest land, and landscaping of hilly landmass either for cultivation or for housing or growing population worsen the former two reasons.However, we all can contribute our share in the third one at least. Educate our neighborhood about rain water harvesting, effective water-use practices, permaculture,minimizing run off water by zero tillage, soil embankment, cover crops, and by saying an assertive no to paved courtyards.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTrue..and truth is generally beauty.This one is not though.As you pointed out, despite 44 rivers and six months rain, Kerala is in a state of drought even before the midsummer.As I look into it, it accounts for three reasons.1. Soil sealing, as the soil science calls it. Being densely populated, most of the land surface is sealed either by building, tarring or even paving with impenetrable cement blocks.Subsequently, water table is not amply replenished by the end of each monsoon as it used to be.2)Poor percolation of remaining open area in which rain water runs off the terrain taking only one and a half hours to reach the Arabian sea adding yet another problem called eutrofication.And finally poor rain water harvesting practices coupled with no or little awareness among the people about the necessity of doing so.Our relatively new mono-cropping agriculture,destruction of forest land, and landscaping of hilly landmass either for cultivation or for housing or growing population worsen the former two reasons.However, we all can contribute our share in the third one at least. Educate our neighborhood about rain water harvesting, effective water-use practices, permaculture,minimizing run off water by zero tillage, soil embankment, cover crops, and by saying an assertive no to paved courtyards.
ReplyDeletewell written!
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