"Water, water everywhere...
- By The Rambler
- Published 21st December, 2007
...nor any drop to drink.” That was the dire plight of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner who was lost in the middle of the ocean. The Ancient Mariner's vicissitudes are likely to be experienced in the coming days by the islanders that we are if God keeps suspending the rains high in the sky for some more time.
We may be surrounded by water, but of what use is all the water of the Indian Ocean going to be to us in a drought situation? The water problem is likely to become a real problem soon. Pani Nai Ba. Even bottled water may soon disappear from supermarket shelves, and will have to be imported, like flour for our daily bread, from China.
That will be one more burden for the tender shoulders of the Minister of Commerce who will have to perform all sorts of acrobatics, issue international tenders, cancel them, then re-issue them before handing over the contract to suppliers in China to manufacture water and provide the precious liquid to us.
He might also have to come up with a solution to the problem of waste plastic bottle disposal. All the water could come in bulk in tankers like petrol and distributed through the filling stations instead of in plastic containers.
Those who are endowed with a gargantuan appetite for H2o consumption could have huge tanks constructed or installed on their premises, and these could be fed by cisterns from the CWA. Then they could have as much water as they can pay for to waste to their heart's content.
They can then blissfully forget to close the taps and appreciate the soft, divine music of aqua flowing admirably into the sewer. They could also leave the tap open while brushing their teeth or shaving their tender cheeks and joyfully watch the abundant flow of the liquid. Then they could mechanically hold the garden hose in a most relaxed, carefree manner and indulge in a long, interminable, savoury conversation, or exchange the latest political joke or gossip with the neighbour over the fence, all the time allowing the water to take its own sweet course among overflooded plants and beyond.
There's a thousand and one more ways in which water can be wasted.
The choice is yours.
The
epidemic spreads
The cases of the Air Mauritius slush fund and the great Mauritius Commercial Bank embezzlement are two very high profile scams that have been unearthed in rapid succession. They have also implicated some very high profile citizens of this country, and are still pending before the local courts of law, as many have been charged and facing trial.
In the meantime, these cases have given rise to quite an epidemic. People forming the general public have fallen sick after taking cognizance of the whole affair in both affairs, especially after hearing about the astronomical sums involved, and the people, mostly gentlemen, behind them.
However, it is not only the public that has got the falling sickness. The epidemic has also caught some of the main protagonists. First, it was Joseph Yip Tong, a main player in the Air Mauritius fraud, who was suddenly taken ill,and was quietly removed from the case, almost benefiting from something that smelt like an exoneration.
Then, as the trial proceeded somehow or other, a second casualty was registered. Sir Harry Tirvengadum, one of the principal actors in the Air Mauritius saga, gradually saw his health failing. So much so, that he had to be dragged into court on a stretcher on a few occasions. Then the doctors diagnosed him very sick, after which the magistrates pronounced him unfit to attend court, and he too, like Joseph Yip Tong before him, found himself almost absolved. If his doctors declared Sir Harry to be sick, his lawyer was more definite and categorical in his diagnosis: “Sir Harry will never be well again.” Not very encouraging, is it?
The latest to find himself on this serial epidemic list is one Teeren Appasamy who has been on the run in the streets of London and elsewhere for a number of years. His name is associated with the MCB scam, and just as British police has finally been able to trace his footsteps, he has suddenly developed an indisposition. We fervently pray for him and hope that he recovers soon. We also wish that the other actors don't fall victim to the epidemic. That's our New Year wish for them.
Incidentally, we are tempted to be reminded of our schooldays: whenever we didn't do our homework, we would tell the teacher that we had had a terrible headache on the eve.
We may be surrounded by water, but of what use is all the water of the Indian Ocean going to be to us in a drought situation? The water problem is likely to become a real problem soon. Pani Nai Ba. Even bottled water may soon disappear from supermarket shelves, and will have to be imported, like flour for our daily bread, from China.
That will be one more burden for the tender shoulders of the Minister of Commerce who will have to perform all sorts of acrobatics, issue international tenders, cancel them, then re-issue them before handing over the contract to suppliers in China to manufacture water and provide the precious liquid to us.
He might also have to come up with a solution to the problem of waste plastic bottle disposal. All the water could come in bulk in tankers like petrol and distributed through the filling stations instead of in plastic containers.
Those who are endowed with a gargantuan appetite for H2o consumption could have huge tanks constructed or installed on their premises, and these could be fed by cisterns from the CWA. Then they could have as much water as they can pay for to waste to their heart's content.
They can then blissfully forget to close the taps and appreciate the soft, divine music of aqua flowing admirably into the sewer. They could also leave the tap open while brushing their teeth or shaving their tender cheeks and joyfully watch the abundant flow of the liquid. Then they could mechanically hold the garden hose in a most relaxed, carefree manner and indulge in a long, interminable, savoury conversation, or exchange the latest political joke or gossip with the neighbour over the fence, all the time allowing the water to take its own sweet course among overflooded plants and beyond.
There's a thousand and one more ways in which water can be wasted.
The choice is yours.
The
The cases of the Air Mauritius slush fund and the great Mauritius Commercial Bank embezzlement are two very high profile scams that have been unearthed in rapid succession. They have also implicated some very high profile citizens of this country, and are still pending before the local courts of law, as many have been charged and facing trial.
In the meantime, these cases have given rise to quite an epidemic. People forming the general public have fallen sick after taking cognizance of the whole affair in both affairs, especially after hearing about the astronomical sums involved, and the people, mostly gentlemen, behind them.
However, it is not only the public that has got the falling sickness. The epidemic has also caught some of the main protagonists. First, it was Joseph Yip Tong, a main player in the Air Mauritius fraud, who was suddenly taken ill,and was quietly removed from the case, almost benefiting from something that smelt like an exoneration.
Then, as the trial proceeded somehow or other, a second casualty was registered. Sir Harry Tirvengadum, one of the principal actors in the Air Mauritius saga, gradually saw his health failing. So much so, that he had to be dragged into court on a stretcher on a few occasions. Then the doctors diagnosed him very sick, after which the magistrates pronounced him unfit to attend court, and he too, like Joseph Yip Tong before him, found himself almost absolved. If his doctors declared Sir Harry to be sick, his lawyer was more definite and categorical in his diagnosis: “Sir Harry will never be well again.” Not very encouraging, is it?
The latest to find himself on this serial epidemic list is one Teeren Appasamy who has been on the run in the streets of London and elsewhere for a number of years. His name is associated with the MCB scam, and just as British police has finally been able to trace his footsteps, he has suddenly developed an indisposition. We fervently pray for him and hope that he recovers soon. We also wish that the other actors don't fall victim to the epidemic. That's our New Year wish for them.
Incidentally, we are tempted to be reminded of our schooldays: whenever we didn't do our homework, we would tell the teacher that we had had a terrible headache on the eve.
