THE joyous shouts from the private swimming pool outside, the thought of a scrumptious breakfast soon, the sight of my two beloved daughters and their husbands, and hot coffee brought to my little cottage by my wife, all gladden my heart.
Then I stare at the bathroom, with its beautiful fittings, elegant washbasin and a shower to match, but one switch stares back dolefully, shamefully; the geyser switch. It’s been on all morning, but the limp stream of water that comes out, is just short of being ice cold, not even lukewarm!
“How is it the geyser isn’t working?” I ask Sachin, the caretaker. “Wait sir, it takes time!” he says, “Go for a swim sir!” And for the last three days, holidaying in Alibaug, we wait. The pool looks inviting, and the happy sounds call out to me, telling me to forget about the geyser, “You don’t need a working geyser!” those shouts seem to say, “Ache Din is here in the pool, come and enjoy!”
And somewhere those sounds resonate to rhetoric I’ve been hearing in my country during every election in the last decade or less, where leaders promise dreams while the much needed geyser doesn’t work.
“A country where everybody is a vegetarian!” shout the leaders and even as those who eat different and trade in meat are lynched, and others shout with joy from swimming pools of a one menu country, they forget that the menu card placed in front of them, still hasn’t delivered any food, even if they’d agreed on the vegetarian dish they’d all like all to eat. Shouts come from the swimming pool, as the geyser switch, shines bright with hope, but the water comes out cold.
The rains come, and the weather turns cold, the happy shouts from the swimming pool get lesser and lesser. Raindrops fall, and everybody rushes in. “Bath!” they shout, “A hot water bath to soothe our tired limbs!”
The geyser switch stares at me, dolefully, “They’ll find out now!” it whispers. “Yes!” I say, “They will! Because no swimming pool, no menu card with golden gilding and fancy lettering is useful, when essentials we need are not met!” “The water is cold!” shout the not so joyous crowd.
“No food in our belly!” Shout a hungry billion. “No jobs!” cry the unemployed. “Can’t handle the rising prices!” shout the poor. And outside grins the pool with it’s promise of being exclusive and private, “Only for people of one religion!” it whispers, even as the menu card sternly proclaims, “No meat!”
But soon they’ll find themselves abandoned as the people stare at the cold water of reality. But alas, today, my countrymen still shout joyously in the swimming pool of dreams and fantasy, not yet realizing, the geyser of reality waits like a loch ness monster for them..!
