ABSTRACT
In December 2007 I met Nagaveni, a young girl who lives in a small slum on the outskirts of Bangalore city. I asked about her water situation and she shared this with me:
My name is Nagaveni and I am ten years old. I have one brother and one sister. My brother is eleven and my sister is seven. We get water from bore well taps. My house is a little far from the tap and five houses catch water from there. Sometimes it is hard to get water. If water doesn't come I have to ask my neighbours for water. If they say I can take I take, if they ask for rupees I tell them ‘no, I can't pay please, please, please’. We cannot afford to pay rupees for water. Every week I have to ask posh houses for water. I have to go from that side to that side and keep asking until someone will give. It is hot and the pot is heavy and from that I get headaches. Walk, walk, walk, it takes so many hours. Sometimes the whole village [slum] doesn't get water. When water doesn't come our mouth is like pepper and we want water, water.
So many children here are getting fevers but the government does not see our village. We should not be in the world like this, why should we struggle like this? Even in the next village children are getting sick and there are problems with the water. The government sees if they have time but if they do not have time they don't see. So vicious a struggle we have for water. Without water we cannot live.
They put Cauvery [water] pipes in our village two months back. They were very big pipes. They will put taps into the house and then I won't have to go and ask for water. All the houses will get taps. Yes, we will get taps soon and then we won't have so much [of a] struggle for water.
(personal communication 2007)