Butter without Churning?

‘Trok..trok’…somebody knocked on my door. I was already awake by 4:00AM morning to upload my article using the Data Card. Yet, I did not respond to the knock.

“Trok..Trok…Trok” again the sound echoed my tiny room. This time it was random, quick and unwelcoming. The frequency of the stroke signalled me somebody’s in an urgent and desperate need of my attention.

“Who’s this”, I spoke quite harshly.

“Lopen, so sorry to have disturbed at this early hours. I have to be direct that I am here to get the money for the water” my house owner said.

“Money for the water?” I giggled cynically though and quickly made a note on what basis do you ask this for.

The money they gather, as told by the house owner, is paid to someone who contributes their labour force in maintaining our water source.

“Is that person really doing a sincere job to commensurate the price?” I asked frantically. “Every time water stops flowing, you rush for the payment of that so-called experienced plumber”  

Hungry cans waiting in a hope that water might leak accidentally from any one of these three sources

Water in my place has been an expensive commodity these days. The service has been out for almost a month now. I can’t imagine how my friends have a family survive. For me, I pull my muscles and rush to the school to use the bathroom and a bucket of 30 litres capacity serves the purpose of cooking till the end of a week.  

Recently, I was out on a leave after having been kissed by typhoid. A friend of mine on my return informed me of this incident. I instantly disgraced this idea of collecting money for water. Sometimes, people try to take out the butter without having churned the milk well. They do not water the garden and expect their bowl to be full of grains. They do not sow but expects a good reap.

My friend who completed his studies from abroad told me how tenants are well respected. The fact that they furnished the room with all the necessities was interesting. In Bhutan, it would be quite a different story to tell but, it wouldn’t matter for a person like me if, at the least, basic essentials are placed at our disposal.

After all, whether the owner respects the tenant’s law of Bhutan, it does not mind for many of fellow Bhutanese like me providing rent, provided a basic but abundantly present resource in Bhutan like the water is sufficiently supplied.