Water water nowhere – nor a drop to drown

Disclaimer : Some of the tips might gross you out but nevertheless they are important to be mentioned.

I have a confession to make. Lately, a thought has been nagging me that probably I migrated to Bangalore at a wrong time, only to increase its woes. Life has been sucked out of the garden City  and its death has been predicted in 5 years. Bangalore has been facing severe water shortage and pollution owing to the burden of ever increasing population – an irresponsible one at that, including me. Yes I am generalizing and I care less if you feel offended.  Because if you are in-fact a responsible citizen of Bangalore you would not be offended by my subtle hostility; rather be empathetic to it and understand where it is coming from.

 

Pick up any newspaper , remove your Rayban and put on the glasses of sensitivity and understand what people, animals, birds and nature go through , who are not capable of ordering a Tanker when their water supply is cut off. Recall the grim image of poor, lower middle class people standing in queue , in scorching sun, with their plastic pots . You grace them with a distant and useless pity and then move on with your work sitting in your air conditioned offices. Well, be in no illusion that you are not going to be affected by this crisis.

Let me cut to the chase. I am no policy maker, or a scientist or a disaster management officer to be able to tell you how to tackle this problem. Preaching is not what we Indians are receptive of. I am here just to share what I do in my limited capacity to not add to the burden of the city and also to know if someone out there does it better. If so enlighten me.

1. I Keep the faucet outlet to as low as possible. While brushing, washing hands or doing the dishes we can save a good amount of water by a reducing the flow. Educate your domestic help about the importance of this step. Tell him/her that they will be first in the line to be affected by this.

2. I don’t wash clothes every day. Infact once a week. Just like you save money when you buy a product in bulk, you save water when you wash clothes in bulk. Well this is a personal choice and difficult to compromise on, especially with the generation of our parents. But dire needs call for compromises. We can be selfish only to an extent. Beyond that there would be nothing left to be selfish about.

3. I don’t spend the entire flush tank every time I tinkle. Well its self-explanatory, unless you have a bladder of a Giant.

4. Every time I turn on the motor to recharge the roof tank from the sump or bore-well, I set an alarm to remind me to turn it off. Based on personal experience, we tend to forget to turn it off on time and once it overflows the damage is more than what we assume.

5. Mop the floor instead of washing it. This is for the cleanliness freaks who would go out of their ways and wash their terrace and portion of street beyond their gate and set the stage for arrival of Goddess Lakshmi(targeted audience here). I think mopping the terrace/balconies would do the trick without hurling precious water into no good use. Again, educate your domestic help. This is an action item for me too.

6. Another action item for me – Arrange for rain water recharging, if not harvesting. As a tiny ray of hope, a good monsoon is predicted this year. Make the best use of it. Install rain water harvesting facility in your house, if that is too expensive or complicated, rain water recharge system is pretty feasible. Hold meetings in your societies/Apartment buildings on how to go about this and do it now.

7. Last but not the least, help poor animals, birds and people in need with water. Put out a bowl or bucket of water for stray animals and birds. Donate a tanker to distressed areas who are in dire need. I am not sure myself how to do this. If someone can enlighten me, please do.

 

A hah !! There goes my alarm to switch off the motor. Ciao.

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5 features to look out for in an evolving online shopping experience

How would you feel if you got the best of all worlds that we live in- social networking, online shopping, killer deals, being a celebrity – all at one place? Well, think over it and prepare yourself for an answer because that’s where we are headed. Here are 5 questions any upcoming shopping platform needs to answer .

1. Trusted friends as influence : Sure we have hundreds of reviews for a product we want to buy. But who are the reviewers? How do you know you will like what they like? That’s where our dear friends come in. Envision yourself searching for a portable speaker system on a shopping platform which returns a list of products that your friends have bought. Wouldn’t it be a relief to know ‘their’ experience(and not some random person’s) with a particular speaker you wanted to buy?
2. Power to choose where you buy from without shifting through multiple tabs. Lets confess. We spend a lot of time skipping shopping platforms to look for best deals or better review quality. Wouldn’t it make your life easier if one platform consolidated the best buying options across all your pet platforms?
3. Discovery of unusual, quirky stuff : How would you like to see a pen-drive dressed as a Minion, or pencils that grow up to be a plant. Or-if it’s not crazy enough – a toilet golf kit – coz you know how important it is to relax when you are shi… arrm .. ‘sitting’. Isn’t it a collector’s dream?

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4. Reach retailers with no online presence : There are some specialty stores, the exclusivity of them extending to their products or location or probably customers. Canvas paintings, hand made jewelries, an authentic hand-loom silk saree born in a dingy room somewhere in Varanasi – not having an online presence. Don’t they deserve a wider exposure and don’t you deserve the exclusive treat ?
5. Being Brand Ambassador  : When you buy that cool blue Nike shoes and show it off to your friends, you are actually endorsing it. A lot of your friends will buy them because you bought it. Just realize how you become instrumental in profits that Nike makes. They owe you big time. Will it be too bad if a shopping platform credits you with the ‘Brand Ambassador’ status and the perks associated with it?

Let these questions ring in your head for sometime. I already hear a Doppler effect. Something is approaching at a very high speed and is going to Zzzzwibe right by us – with answers?? Let’s see.