I Am Water – Part 4
By Dr. Rajendra Singh*
(Translated from Hindi by Deepak Parvatiyar, Member, World Water Council)
Also read:
My Many Forms
I have the power to create life by mixing all gases to form air, and all salts to form liquid whether drinkable or undrinkable. My basic character is that of liquid and that is why I remain in liquid form between 0 degree centigrade and 100 degree centigrade. Humans largely use me in liquid form. On this earth, humans have misused me the most. Man is greedy and he only thinks about his selfishness. He never thinks about others.
I call the red heat of sun over me in the sea. I come in contact with Sun in the sea and make clouds with blue heat, gases and vapours. I sit on the clouds and the breeze enables me to travel everywhere.
By coming in contact with soil, I create new creatures. By dissolving first plants, then living organisms and the five elements, I can create everything —right from Amoeba to Man. I forget about myself and dissolve with others to create different life forms. This is the work that I have always done. This work is eternal. Eternal means always creating something new. I keep changing my form but I am immortal. I never die.
Even when I dissolve with others, I remain alive. I don’t kill or get killed when I connect or disconnect with the five elements. I only bring transformation. To dissolve and get dissolved is my main work. I ensure that nothing is destroyed. Life and death is a continuous process and I have decided that nothing should perish in this universe. This alone is my dharma and karma. Some species are less in number and some are more in number. They live and die. But they all are contained in me. I keep them safe.
I myself decide my level. I find my own way while flowing through hostile situations. I have the strength to shake mountains. I provide greenery to mountains and flow to rivers. I live up there as well as down here.
I go deep down on naked earth and move up when I find greenery. I myself decide where, when and how I have to move. Because of someone’s pressure, I can be seen taking turn. But neither do I turn, nor do I fall or change. I can be seen shaking but I am always firm and hold my ground. Only I decide about moving up and down and selecting my levels. At the same time my basic philosophy is to flow down on an even surface. With the help of sun’s energy and earth’s gravity, I can travel anywhere.
Because of earth’s gravitational force I come down from the skies and because of Sun’s energy I climb up from the roots of trees to their shoot, branches and then from branches to the leaves. But my movement is not just from top to bottom or bottom to top but I flow in all directions and at all levels. I decide my own level.
Whenever it snows, I settle on peaks after snowfall, then I melt only to come down.Then I fill up the earth’s aquifer and thereafter I keep traveling upwards. Wherever and whenever I get an opening, I come out of the aquifer in the form of spring, and river. After taking the shape of river, I flow incessantly.
My flow gives birth to civilisations and cultures. It moulds them, develops them and run them. Civilisations treat me as their business and when I am in river form, they set up villages and cities on my banks. There I am utilised to fulfil their need. There some use me to fulfil their needs while some misuse me. I myself don’t stop them but my cycle is enough to stop them.
Most of the people don’t know about my levels but those who know that accept me as the source of their livelihood and self-respect. Those who know me closely, they treat me differently than those who see me as their source of livelihood.
The entire animal world also makes me its transport vehicle. From fishes, dolphins to human beings, they all use me for their transportation from one place to another. For the sake of their use, I forget myself. I am used as a transport vehicle in the form of river, canal, sea etc. In my presence, trees also are developed from soil to root, shoot, branches and leaves. Whichever way humans and animal world want to use me, I am always ready. Humans are never of my use but I am always useful to them.
I am variable. I rain after becoming cloud through vaporisation. I am not drinkable in the sea. Only a few creatures can use me there. With sun’s energy, I become vapour and form clouds and this way leave aside the salinity of sea to become sweet. After becoming sweet I become useful to human beings and all other creatures. Then I become drinkable.
When I become mist in the atmosphere after cooling of water particles, I create more creatures and insects. In December and January I convert ice particles into rains that clear mist and give life to mustard in the field. Water particles in the air cool down to convert mist into darkness. I get removed because of the pressure of strong breeze or because of rain.
My flow, darkness, snow, all are variables of my life. The universe has changed in the last billions of years only because of my variable cycle. But these are changes only and they don’t destroy life. I change only to keep life going.
When water freeze in atmosphere, they become hail, which means water raining in the form of ice. But this is just one of the climate events. When I cool the air then I change from vapour to hail. Everywhere I keep changing. This is nothing unexpected. This is my feature that keeps me constant and eternal.
But now, because of less greenery cover on the earth, my power to bring clouds down has diminished. That is why now rain untimely and unseasonably. Because of this change, now I am unable to stop migration of young people and farmers. That is why now irrigation is required right from sowing seeds to harvesting crops. This irrigation technique has pulled me out from the aquifer and made them depleted.
To continue…
*Dr. Rajendra Singh is an internationally acclaimed water conservationist and is also known as the Waterman of India. The views expressed are personal.
