If you had grown up in the 1970s and 80s in Madras, you will look at this with nostalgia. Pumping iron had a completely different meaning, but you had to get this mechanism going before you could use it as your personal gym. That first mug of water, poured into the barrel as you start moving the lever up and down, to "build up presser". And the thrill of hearing the wheezing change into a solid thump as the water surges through the pipes in time to your pumping. One-handed pumping, making sure the "presser" did not drop until all the buckets in the house were full, keeping the flow of water even - all these were forms of entertainment.
Not to mention the "body-building" aspect of this. Good exercise for your arms to fill up ten buckets of water every day. And then to carry them to various points in the house, all full, hoping that mom doesn't notice the spilled drops before you had a chance to wipe them dry... well, that kind of thing doesn't happen these days.
For starters, the water availability is itself suspect. After a less than average monsoon, Chennai city is going to have a difficult time in the summer ahead. Start conserving. Now!
2 comments:
I've used a pump at vacation cottages or while camping. It's fun as a novelty but I wouldn't want to do it all the time!
@Linda: I know! But it was fun while it lasted!!
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