some of my favorite things

I was thinking lately about some of my (new) favorite things. I thought I would share them with you. As I write this, I can hear rats squeaking. Rat squeaks will not make it on to this list.

1) Running water. After sweating all night, there is nothing better in the morning than dousing oneself in cold water and washing away the sweat. But because being in TN makes one obsessed with water conservation, I use the water very sparingly. Furthermore, water used to wash clothes is utilized for flushing the toilet. Unlike those hellish days of Alagappan apartments a few years back, there is actually water here in this house, and it runs. It can be tapped via bore well, which goes down into the earth about 150 feet. Having a bore well at home is a true miracle. I know bore wells are screwing up the water table something awful, but I really don't see any alternative in a place that is looking to be more an arid desert than a subtropical region. Rain-water harvesting is always an option but no one seems to do it, and no one wants to/is able to pay for the technology. And then again for rain harvesting to work, it has to actually rain. And you know how that goes.

In Alagappan Apartments/Hell, I would lay awake at night wondering when/if the water would be turned on. IF water came it was pumped in for about 15 minutes per day, and the times would not be announced to those of us "not in the know." The landlord/rowdy apparently clashed quite often with the water lorry guys which basically meant some days the water didn't come. I ended up buying a huge plastic trashcan and multiple buckets and vessels. I would keep the trashcan under the faucets, keeping the spigots open at all times. When the water came on, I would rush into the bathroom and start filling up the buckets. This is how I lived for a year. Of course most people (read: women) have to go out and either wait in long lines in the sun, clashing with one another to get their three buckets of water from the lorry. Or else they wait by the corporation water pumps and then pump out the water by hand once the city decides they can have some. And I thought Alagappan apartments was bad.

2) Washing the dirt off my feet. There's nothing better than coming home after walking around outside and running some water over your feet. Suddenly they go from filthy to simply dirty. Many of you who have dwelt in such a dusty place know that the dirt never really goes away. Just rub your fingers vigorously over your skin a few times and the dirt starts to come off. But rinsing off filthy feet gives the feeling of full body clean.

3) Clean drinking water. There is nothing like having a couple of big cans of clean drinking water at your disposal, 20 liters each. You feel pretty good because the drinking cans are recycled and you aren't using plastic bottles. It's also incredibly cheap. And I relish every drop. There's nothing like filling up a bottle of water and then chugging the whole thing. AHHHHHHHH.

4) Cold water. Cold water is one of the absolute best things in my life right now. I simply cannot understand how cold water and cold drinks have not caught on around the world, especially in a place that's regularly over 100 degrees with about 90% humidity. It just simply cools your entire body down, but this is precisely the reason why people here avoid it like the plague. Cool drinks are considered dangerous. (And with Coke and Pepsi putting heavy metals in Indian sodas, I guess they kind of are.) I recall fondly my host family days when I would come down with a case of the amoebas and I'd be interrogated about whether or not I had consumed a "cool drink." Because if you get sick, a good culprit is a cool drink. I think that Americans are pretty much the only people on this Earth who are in love with cool drinks. And they are truly a miracle. Cool drinks might be the one good thing that America has to offer the world at the moment.

Well, that about raps it up. Right now my favorite thing is pretty much water, from the looks of this list. I also really like mangos. One day I will write an ode to the mango.