Ah the pleasures of a shower. I remember as a kid when I was
growing up in Dubai I would have a shower bath. It was fun. Then when we came
to Mumbai, for the first few years we stayed at our old place. Mom and dad
later bought a largish house in a more modern apartment block which had all the
modern trappings but till then it was the traditional 1970’s house. So our
bathroom had a small instant heater which let out small quantities of water. Basically
a really small tap attached to what I think was a brass geyser. We would use it
to fill the bucket with water and then have a bath. I realized pretty quickly
that since it was at a height I could simply stand under the water flow and
think of it as a shower.
I love having bath. I could have a bath for an hour, with the
water flowing forever. Showers are the coolest thing ever. It takes me just 10
minutes to get properly wet else I don’t even think I have gotten wet. Jasmine takes
quick showers and wonders what on earth is going on. How does one explain the
great fun of the water slowing over you?
So as a kid when we moved to the new house the first thing
that got me excited was the shower. There was a huge capacity hater geyser over
head and that was super cool. I could have a bath under the showers for almost
forever. But this myth was to be busted. Of course at first there was mom and dad. They would
knock on the door when time went out of hand. And there were siblings. With three
kids wanting to shower, one couldn’t really have an unhindered long bathing
session. But the crucial point was something else. This was a storage water
geyser, means that in some time the hot water would run out and you would get
cold water flowing. What crap! The pleasures of a warm shower being affected by
something as mundane as capacity.
When we shifted to our current home, I was happy to see the
same but modern version of the old small water geyser. This geyser would simply
heat the water and go on for hours. It was not a storage water geyser. Awesome
fun started again. These years have been fun again! We have been enjoying the
benefits of the water geyser and hot water for hours. Jispa has taken up after
me. She too likes hanging around the shower. I am sure like me; she plays in
the water, and throws water around. I used to do that in the hand shower. Throw
water up and wonder what happens :). And like my parents, we too scold her and
keep knocking – come out come out. Oh dam you bloody parenting.
It’s such a pain. There isn’t time to have a leisurely shower
and refresh. I was explaining to Jispa the other day that four hours of your
day goes away thanks to your swimming and hence there is no way you can spend
time like this doing the things you want to do. Such a tough choice.
But this isn’t about her, it’s about showers. I have
genuinely tried many times to cut short showers, use cold water and other stuff…
but I always revert back to the old hot showers. In fact I used to have really
hot showers which I managed to cool down. I think it makes my skin drier. Then I
have tried to really go in and come out fast. Soon enough the lure of spending
20 minutes in a shower relaxing and thinking about great world changing ideas
was too much to give up on.
In monsoon when the rains gets delayed there are many
articles on how the rain water must be conserved and how we don’t have enough water.
This time I decided to do something about it. I decided to get out the buckets
and decided to have water from hot water filled in the buckets. “Ya sure” was
Jasmine’s reaction to this. I asked Jispa if she would do the same. She was
happy to comply as well. So now I have
tried to have atleast one bath with the water stored in a bucket. Pretty stupid
thing, I am sure it going to turn out. One more of the failed ideas. I don’t know
how long it will last. My wife thinks it will last till winter at best. But at
least a few showers a week will convert into bucket baths and that is also a
decent thing. something is better than nothing.
The flip side – world changing ideas can wait for the
evening bath!
Bonus video!
