A WATER WARRIOR – AABID SURTI

Every Sunday, 84-year-old Aabid Surti, an award winning Indian author, goes door-to-door to correct leaky taps in the Mumbai suburbs of Mira Road, his neighborhood. He goes around asking if there are any leaks that can be fitted. “We are offering free plumbing service, Is there any leakage in your bathroom, toilet, or kitchen,” asks Surti. The activity takes him a couple of hours, but it could save liters of water, something India is short of. The octogenarian is much better known for many of his other vocations. He wears many hats- authors, painter, cartoonist, and a screen-play writer. The additional feather is that of an environmentalist. With the launch of latest book ‘Sufi’, Surti has penned over 80 books till date along with seven plays. He was given the President’s Award for his book named ‘Teesri Aankh’ in 1993.

He is Mumbai city’s ‘Water Warrior’ and introduced a water conservation model in 2007 through his ‘One-man’ NGO, Drop Dead Foundation. ‘Whenever I see a tap dripping, my heart beats. I just get disturbed,” he says. And this choice came after he saw his mother’s struggles during his humble beginnings. “I was brought up at the pavement, and I have seen my mother standing in the queue for long hours to get just a bucket full of water. I have seen people fighting over water,” Surti says. His crusade to save water started when he read somewhere that in one second if one drop falls then in one month, thousand liters of water goes down the drain. Between 2007 and 2008, he visited 1,666 houses at Mira Road to fix over 500 leaky faucets and saved 4.14 million liters of water. “We have conserved 20 million liters in ten years,” he said. He is now inspiring more young crusaders like him, and his model is now a part of school books.

ARE YOU WASTING WATER?

Here is how you can avoid wasting water by incorporating these simple changes:

1)     You probably don’t think twice about giving your dusty terrace or porch a quick rinse with a hose, but it is a wasteful way to keep your home tidy. Considering that a garden hose can emit between 6 and 24 gallons of water per minute, you are much better off sweeping your outdoor living areas with a broom.

2)     According to the Royal Horticultural Society, the best time to water most outdoor plants is in the early morning or evening. This is because watering in the afternoon can lead to water loss through evaporation, since it is generally the warmest part of the day. That is not good for your plants or your budget.

3)     If you have been looking for an excuse to indulge in a new shower head, here is one- when you install a high-efficiency faucet aerator or shower head, you can save almost 3,500 gallons of water per year. That adds up to major savings and is better for the environment.

4)     Fixing a leaky faucet is no one’s idea of an exciting afternoon, but letting leaky fixtures drip can cost you serious cash and waste water. According to the US Environmental Protection agency, a leaking faucet can waste up to 3,000 gallons per year.

5)     Even highly-efficient modern washing machines typically use 8 to 12 gallons of water per cycle, according to laundry machine maker Samsung. Although it is not good practice to stuff your washing machine to the max, running this water hungry appliance with just a few items of clothing inside is a serious waste of resources and money.

FIVE WAYS TO BE HAPPY RIGHT NOW

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1. KEEP A GRATITUDE JOURNAL: Buy a new notebook and write a list of what you’re grateful for, or what you’re looking forward to each week. Writing down these positive thoughts will lead to increased positivism.

2. MEDITATE: Daily meditate helps to generate happiness from the inside out. Sit on the floor or sofa, wherever you are comfortable, and close your eyes. Make no effort to control the breath; just breathe naturally. Focus on how the abdomen moves with each inhalation and exhalation. Do this for 10 minutes.

3. EXERCISE: moving our bodies releases endorphins, which is one of the happiness chemicals. Try and exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes every day.

4. WRITE: write down your stream of consciousness first thing in the morning or last thing at night. 

5. SHARE-SPEND TIME WITH PARENTS-GRANDPARENTS: This is the best time to share your views and experience which you never had shared with your parents and grandparents and spend quality time with your family members by keeping your gadgets aside. Definitely you will learn a lot of things from your elder’s experience which you can’t get from the textbooks.   

HEARD OF WRITING THERAPY?

A study found that those who spent at least 20 minutes once a week for three weeks writing a story about how a chronic illness affected them, experienced less pain.

Writing therapy works by releasing an entire range of pent-up emotions, negativity and toxins and helps build a new front in life. A lot of people who undergo trauma or stressful events are advised to maintain a journal to write about their triggers and events that have affected them.

HOW TO GO ABOUT IT

• ·       Aim at writing for about 20 minutes every day.
• ·       If there is anything stressing you out, make sure to mention it. Benchmarks and achievements should be written too. Journal writing can also be practiced at a time when you are facing conflict. It can calm you down and release pent-up angst.
• ·       Do not worry about the formation or grammar rules. The trick is to write down the words which you actually feel.
• ·       You can write on a private or public platform, depending on how comfortable you are sharing your feelings. A good approach is to start by maintaining a journal that only you can read.
• ·       Once you start writing, make it a regular habit to follow. You can also get reminders for the same.

Writing is also a good and easy exercise for your brain. It does wonders for memory retention and also improves working memory capacity, which enhances your cognitive functioning in both the short-run and long-run. While people say that writing feels easier than expressing, writing therapy also has a load of health benefits. Maintain a journal for immense positive effects- it’s helpful, creative and completely therapeutic. Those who have practiced it also say that writing relieves pressure and feels rewarding at the end of the day.

ENJOY YOUR EXAMS!

A friend and I were discussing his hopes and plans for his career. This had been sparked off by the fact that he was about to begin his final school exams. As we said goodbye I added, “Enjoy your exams.” He looked at me in disbelief, and commented “Enjoy them? How can you enjoy exams?” His question prompted me to share an experience I had when I was taking my final school exams.

While praying to understand that divine Mind was present and that as Mind’s idea, or reflection, I couldn’t be separated from infinite intelligence, I had an inspired thought. I could make a regular practice before every exam to pause and firmly declare that I wasn’t the one who had to think what to write. I simply needed to listen to what divine Mind was telling me and let that unfold.

Divine Mind is my Mind, the only Mind there is.

So just before I began each exam, I calmly and strongly affirmed that divine Mind is my Mind, The only Mind there is. I silently declared that as divine Mind’s expression, I would know all that I needed to know. Of course I studied for the exams, but the prayer I’ve been describing helped me to understand the questions, to recall what I’d studied, and also to feel unafraid by time limits. I was honestly enjoying the exams.

Once When I was talking with my Professor Jack Leo in Singapore school about my career, we naturally got into a discussion of examinations. The professor told me he’d asked a university student who his examiner was. The young man named several individuals. The professor responded: “And where does God come in?”

He then answered his own question by explaining, “God is the only examiner. God examines man and finds His own reflection.” Stress or anxiety about exams or anything else is removed by such assurances. Only God examines us, and God always sees His perfect likeness in us. Isn’t that also the way for us to know ourselves?

The more I’ve thought about that, the more helpful I’ve found it to be.

God, the only Mind there is, knows us as His reflection.

It’s great to realize that God, the only Mind there is, knows us as His reflection. Therefore nothing originates in us. We’re not personal thinkers and doers. As God’s ideas, we exit to reproduce accurately the activity of divine Mind.

 This, however in no way eliminates the need to be diligent and conscientious in studying. Our honest work along these lines is another way for us to express wisdom, intelligence, and understanding. Thinking of our efforts in this way is especially helpful if something unusual comes up in connection with an exam.

Since all things are possible to God and therefore to God’s reflection, he, too, had enjoyed his exams and their results!