New Delhi:
Every summer the Delhizens are prepared to face some kind of water shortage, but how bad can it get? Women in West Patel Nagar are now united in their desperation as they keep up all night waiting for water.
The women are tired, angry and sleepless due to the erratic water supply in their homes in West Patel Nagar. To fill up the water, they have to be up all night waiting because water may start flowing at any time in the night. That is their only chance to pump it up and fill their tanks.
",We have to sit up all night waiting for water,", said a woman.
",We're up at 2am, sometimes till 4am, even 5am. Look at our eyes. That should tell you our story,", said another woman.
It is a problem that started for at least four blocks of West Patel Nagar as soon as summer set in - that's April and this week it has become much worse, a trickle of water late at night if at all.
And when the water does arrive, it's foul.
",The water is red and it stinks. We are getting stomach infections,", said a resident.
So long nights waiting up has now brought the resident women together at the resident welfare association office. Both housewives and working women have the same story to tell.
They're up doing the night vigil to fill the water tanks while their men are fast asleep.
",They just go to sleep after a full day's work. It's the women that do all the work,", said a woman.
But a lonely male voice in the corner disagrees.
",That's not true. I've taken 4-5 days off because I'm pitching in at night for water,", said a resident man.
In fact, the situation has become so bad that Ekta Gulati locks her water tank, after she says people actually stole her water.
",In Patel Nagar water is being stolen from tanks. Water has been stolen from my tank,", said Ekta Gulati.
And 55-year-old Santosh Sharma says it's her job to lug water from her neighbour Ekta's house when there's no water. Ekta has a borewell and is therefore better equipped in times of crisis.
Neena Khanna lugs water from the tankers, all the way up to the third floor. She made us taste some of the water that came in the tap last night, which was awful.
The really depressing truth is that summer has only just begun and the tiredness and loss of sleep that's now united these women is something they have now factored into their lives, since it happens every summer.