Another picture form my Paani photo file :
In Mumbai many of the slum and pavement dwellers begin their search for water at 3 am daily. Many having to buy water from the ‘water mafia’ at Rs 5 per ‘Handi’. Considering that it takes upto 4/5 handi’s to just cook a meal, many people are spending up to 30% of their incomes on water. If we do not completely re-assess our attitudes towards water, in the near future the daily life of most people in the city will be dominated by the search for water, and leading to riots and inner city wars over water. The city will be ruled by the water mafia. Please do go the following site, to get an update on the situation as it exists now :
http://www.infochangeindia.org/agenda3_06.jsp
Category: Paani
Monkey mind
morning rays wrote : “hi shekhar, when a thinker is silent it could mean 2 things…….a positive…that you’re in the midst of ideas …..and a negative….your emotions are bottled up at the moment. when we visit your blog regularly there is a bond with you…….which makes us want to see you HAPPY ! share……. and the good will get better…….and the negatives will get blown away !”
Thank you ‘morning rays’. It makes me feel great there is a community out there that I can share with. Bond with. Honestly ? I am trying to calm the mind down. It has been in what I call the ‘scrambling mode’. Which is what you get into when you make and release a film. You are constantly problem solving amidst a hundred people. It has been too used now to diversions for so long, it keeps looking for them. I have the script of Paani in my mind, in my heart. Just finding it difficult to getting it down on paper. Trying to calm my mind down. Get used to being alone, and get on with it ! shekhar
Paani Script
3 years ago, before I started on Golden Age, I began to compile pictures of people that live on the streets and under the new highways. Pictures that would help in the research for what conditions are likely to be for people that live on streets and in water deprived conditions. As many of you know, Paani is the story of a city that has been divided into the upper and the lower city. In the year 2025. Global warming has taken place leading to a severe water shortage. The Upper City sucks up all the water and then drip feeds the lower city. Water is now a weapon of economic and political oppression. Writing the script now !
And so my day begins at 3.30 am …
We are reeling in the throes of a very severe crisis of water, reports Ratna Rajaiah. In her extremely caustic article she talks about how the daily lives of people in Mysore is being dominated by the availability of Water. For those of us that live in large cities where water still runs through our taps on demand, it’s a warning of things soon to come. Whether in London, New York,Los Angeles or Tokyo. ” “40% of Bangalore (India’s Silicon Valley) is getting water only once in 3 days”. Do read …..
Paani pictures
Sharing with all of you one of the pictures I took of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai slums during my visual research for Paani.
Water Wars, the coming Urban Disaster
The next wars will be fought over water and not oil. As Global warming takes place, water will become the scarcest resource. Millions will die of thirst and countries will go to war to colonize the water resources. Or maybe not ?
Paani, the begining
So what is Paani about and what provokes me to want to make the film ? And if it provokes me so much, then why have I not made it so far ?
So who cares about them anyway ?
Sometime ago I posted a picture of these families on the Blog. Yesterday I landed back in Mumbai and realized they had dissapeared overnight. Herded out of the city like cattle.
Paani
Paani is a film about a city of 20 million inhabitants which runs dry of water. The water wars have begun between those that still have water and those that do not. Water has now become a weapon of political, social and economic exploitation.
Paani
Today another dream was rekindled. Paani. A film that has lived in my consciousness for almost 5 years, when I watched 50 women and children standing in the hot sun in Mumbai. Each carrying a bucket waiting for a tap to start dripping with water.