Adventures of Raghu - one small step

Raghu got up in the morning and went to look out from the window of his room. He loved the rains and was hoping he would be greeted with a cloudy sky this August morning. 

The sun was however shining bright and the trees and plants were still dry. "The wetness of the rains, those monsoons that had come a few weeks ago, where had they gone?" thought Raghu to himself. It was much drier than usual at this time of the year and the weather definitely did not seem normal. Raghu sat wondering if only he felt the rainfall had been rather scanty this year, or if others felt the same way.

Just as Raghu sat thinking, he noticed Peeku sitting on the branch of the tree outside his room.

Peeku was a parrot. He had lived around the house for as long as Raghu could remember. He would sometimes fly away for a few months to visit his family that lived a few hours away and then return back. Peeku had shared many stories of his flying adventures with Raghu. He had spoken to Raghu of the different landscapes he saw as he flew, the birds he met on his journeys and of how he once lost his way in flight.

Raghu opened his room window and shouted - “Hi Peeku! How’re you doing? It’s been a while since I saw you around here!”  “Hi there Raghu! Yes it has been a while. How can you really expect one to be in this heat! It’s a struggle to find food and water these days. The monsoons seem to have left even before they arrived.” said a rather upset Peeku. “Yes, I was thinking the same thing Peeku. I am really missing the rains and was hoping to wake up to a cloudy sky today. It seems to have hardly rained this year at all. ” replied Raghu.

“I’m not surprised Raghu. I flew to meet my cousins a few hours away from here and I see so much deserted land around Raghu. Earlier where there were trees, now that area looks barren and dry.

Just yesterday I was told 25% of the land in India is turning into deserted land. If we go at this speed, soon the monsoons would completely disappear.” Raghu was shocked – “Don’t say that Peeku, we have to do something about this.” “What will you do Raghu? It’s already such a bad state of affairs” called back  Peeku as he flew off in search of water.

Raghu watched Peeku fly away.  “I may not be able to move a mountain or do anything big, but I can do something small” thought Raghu, “I can at least play my part. What if I plant a tree and ask one more person to plant a tree?

Everyone just has to take care of one tree. If all the people in this town take this up, imagine how many trees we would have planted! Let me call Meera and tell her of my idea!”

Raghu phoned Meera and told her of his conversation with Peeku and his idea to plant trees. The usually bubbly Meera was excited at the thought. “I think it’s a great idea Raghu. In fact we can prepare the saplings and distribute them so that it’s easier for people to plant the tree. With the festive season just around the corner, we can entice people to gift saplings to their loved ones instead of other stuff.

I think it would be wonderful and people would love the idea!” said Meera. Raghu laughed – “Let’s do it! We have to start somewhere.” They both decided to meet at the nursery the next day to learn how to make saplings.

Adventures of Raghu - the gift of water!

“Mother!!!” shouted Raghu from the bathroom in the midst of his morning bath. “Yes dear! What is it?” replied his mother from downstairs. “The water in the tap has stopped and I’m in the middle of my bath mother! Can you please get me a spare bucket of water?” His mother frowned – “This water shortage is giving us such a hard time. It’s the peak of summer and there isn’t even enough water to take a bath in” said Raghu’s mother to herself as she gave Raghu a bucket of water that she had filled and kept the previous day.

“Here you go. Use it preciously Raghu, we’ve run out of water.”

The sun was scorching outside, summer was on it’s way out but the rains that everyone was eagerly looking forward to had just not arrived yet. Water scarcity had taken over the town and everyone was using each drop of water rather conservatively.

It was a Sunday and after spending the morning playing his favorite computer games, Raghu was sitting to study in his room after lunch. All of a sudden his eyes moved towards his window as he saw darkness setting in. He went near his window to see grey clouds covering the sky. “Oh my god!!” cried out Raghu happily, “I think it’s finally going to rain!!!!”

As Raghu opened his window and took his hand out to feel whether the drizzle had started, the first drop of rain hit Raghu’s rain parched skin.

Raghu smiled, it was here, the long awaited drought was finally over!!! Raghu quickly phoned Meera – “Meera come over, its going to rain real hard, let’s play outside on my terrace!!!”

A few drops slowly took on momentum, as within a few minutes it was heavily pouring. Initially the coolness of the rain could not be felt as each object emitted the fire it carried from the past summer. Slowly it however cooled down and everywhere one looked you could see kids, adults, animals enjoying the long- awaited monsoon showers. Even the plants and trees seemed to be laughing as the rain washed off their dusty, tired leaves. As Meera came over, she and Raghu went onto the terrace to dance in the rain and splash water in the puddles.

“Just put your head up and feel the droplets on your face Meera, it’s so much fun” shouted Raghu. It was a big celebration.

Just as they were playing, Raghu and Meera noticed Raghu’s mother had brought out a few big buckets and put them out on the terrace to fill with water. “This will serve us for at least two days. We can use it for bathing, washing and toiletries” said Raghu's mother. “Mother that’s a great idea!!!” shouted Raghu.

“Hey Raghu, let’s find out how to get a big water tanker to put outside your house to collect the water that leaks out of the drainage.

 We can collect and store the rain water there and you can use it for so many different purposes around the house. I’ve read it’s called rain water harvesting.” Raghu laughed. “Meera, you can find something interesting to make out of everything! I think it’s a great idea though!”Both the kids decided they would work on this project once the rain stopped so that they could store rain water to use for day to day activities for the rest of the rainy season.

For now they were however just enjoying the smell of wet earth, the rain falling on their bodies and the beginning of the beautiful, thunderous monsoon season!