In my family we do not celebrate birth days.Thebirth of a person is a nonevent. Things changed when we became old.We had to give way to the children and grandchildren.
They wanted to celebrate my seventieth birthday which fell on 1-11-2003.This I totally refused. We, my wife and I, escaped to Bodhgaya of which I had only heard and did not even know the exact location. Even my son-in-law, who belongs to that part, dissuaded me, saying Gaya is one of the worst areas so far as law and order is concerned. Of course I was jittery .We never traveled alone. I did not know anything about arranging acommodation and transport etc. However, the very names Gaya, Nalanda etc gave me a spiritual thrill. Gautama, the Buddha is one of those rare personalities whom I love and admire! So we decided to brave it.
It was a total surprise when we actually reached there. The atmosphere was extremely peaceful .The scenery enchanting – reminded us of our own countryside. The river, the ricefields, kutcha houses with pumpkin growing on the roof, an occasional brick kiln, a few palm trees and the sound of birds !When we talked about safety, people laughed: we are afraid to come to Delhi, they told. How true! We felt ashamed.
On the way to Nalanda we saw Rajgir. Our guide took us to a spring. In fact it was a twin spring, with water gushing from two adjacent holes- one warm and the other normal. A number of people were taking bath .I was brain-numbed! How is this possible? Like a flash, the realization came that there must be separate underground water channels! I asked the guide: where does this water go? Where does it come from? Where does it go to? God alone knows-was the answer!
I felt dazed! Twenty-four hours, three sixty five days of the year! Can this hill hold that much water? I remembered the few springs I had seen at Gauri kund, Badrinath and one at Narasing-garh in Rajasthan. I felt that the source of water must be far away.
As I did not know anything about springs, on my return to Delhi, I frantically searched for books. I did not even know which books will give me the information I was seeking. I was simply lucky to locate Physical Geography by Thomas Milner! A whole chapter on springs! I could not have been happier had I got a million dollars jackpot! At least I can dream of money. How can I ever hope to get a classic as rare as Kohinoor?
Well, I got the answer. The result was my essay-Saraswati myth or reality?-A study of subterranean water channels, which was published by Itihas Darpan. Being a lay man, leading a life far away from academic circles for the last half century, it was a great impetus for further research.
Our ancestral home is located at a C-shaped bend of a small river which would f low straight during monsoon which extends to almost nine months of the year in those glorious days when there were no dams. When I was just 12 years old, my cousin, slightly elder to me and I used to take to the fast flowing river in a small canoe which can hold just the two of us, and row upstream, as there was a fearsome whirlpool downstream, taking care to keep to the side where the current is slower. Thus, after each bend, we had to change and cross over to the other side.
I could not help smiling when I read about this in a book on hydrology; a subject I never heard of and now is part and parcel of my very being! All my research papers are the results of investigation in this field.
When the idea of the Pressure cooker model came to my mind, I thought of creating a web site so that people belonging to different professions, age groups, regions of the world etc. may be involved in the study of what I call molecular hydrology. Simultaneously, I intended to activate general public in cheap methods of water conservation. I even wrote the outline of the proposed web site which was tentatively called waterschool.com. In my innocence I thought it to be as simple as making an e-mail address! So all those who join the group may be called waterfriends!
The advantages of a website:
1) Research in molecular hydrology is something altogether new. In this age of overspecialization investigation in a new field is well neigh impossible. We have to locate pockets of water/ steam and their connectivity through subterranean water channels. This will enable us to make a three dimensional map of h2o, studying which we may, possibly, be able to divert high-pressure steam to the surface of the Earth; in other words, create artificial springs! Fresh water springs can be a valuable source of water. Don’t laugh! There is nothing impossible for our NASA scientist. By releasing pressure from the bowels of the earth, we may eliminate earthquakes etc. forever. COST should not be a consideration. A world-wide effort is required. Scientists and geographers should come together. Retired people like me can take this as full-time life-mission. Do not look to governments. They have no time to govern. The web can do a lot. I feel extremely frustrated at my e-ignorance. I don’t know how to open a computer. Too old a dog am I.
2) In my article in Malayalam about Bharatapuzha (BUT-Vol-1) detailed instructions were written for making earthen check dams using sand mud and grass. This way the whole river may be made to store water. Copies of the book were given personally to Ministers and political workers. Municipalities and panchayats were approached. I tried for six months. Nothing happened. I feel that a website could have made all the difference by uniting waterfriends of the area. Such a system is in position in Nile since thousands of years as people camp in the river bed in summer.
3)Flood alert.W-friends can post water levels in the rivers in monsoon, thus providing advace intimation to people all along the river.
4)River survey,collection of vital statistics like river water discharge, silting,erosion of river bank etc.
5)Local w-friends can identify and make mountain valley dams as at Damdama lake near Delhi.(This has been described in BUT-Vol-1)
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