The new Netflix series Leila, is a dystopian tale set in India, against the backdrop of an environmental and social crisis. Cities have been divided between the haves and the have nots and a quasi-religious cult is hell bent on transforming society through a diabolical social engineering scheme. Much like the classic The Handmaids Tale, Leila is a dark vision of society collapsing under its own wanton machinations.
The first episode begins with a violent home invasion of a wealthy family. As the husband is enjoying a dip with his daughter in his private pool, thugs break in from the glass ceiling. Accusing them of illegally acquiring water for their pool while millions thirst away, they kill him and kidnap the wife (the protagonist) who is later forcefully inducted into a cult.
For as long as I can remember, water has always been a precious commodity in India. As a child I recall my parents waking up early in the morning to fill storage tanks, as municipal water flowed unpredictably. Even now in their old age, they are still fixated to this routine. As a teenager, I remember waking up at the crack of dawn and walking a few blocks down the street from my sister's house in Bangalore, with empty buckets in hand, to stand in line at the only municipal faucet for the neighborhood. There would be a long row of buckets in every shape and color as I would add mine to the rainbow. Some would try to cut in line causing raucous quarrels to breakout. I would make several trips to fill up a large storage tank that would last a few days.
Even though she lives in a much bigger house in a better part of town, my sister even today does not have a municipal water connection. Ground water is pumped and supplied to homes in the neighborhood. This is common in urban India, where even luxurious high-rise apartments and gated communities purchase water in large tankers, which is then pumped to the residents.
Despite shortages and droughts, water management in India has always been deplorable. Leaky faucets, pipes, garden hoses and water tankers are a common sight. Poor infrastructure surrounding water treatment and transportation is endemic. People seldom drink water that comes through the faucet. Over the past two decades water in plastic bottles and sachets have become mainstay.
There is no national campaign that I know of, to promote and educate the public about water conservation. Some water saving measures have been deployed by introducing modern technologies to bathroom fixtures in public places, but they are expensive and few and far between.
A nation that largely depends on the monsoons for its freshwater, does very harvest rain water. Catchment areas are paved over by vast unplanned urban sprawl, preventing underwater aquifers from recharging. Lakes and ponds have all been polluted or engulfed by the pandemic of urbanization. Massive deforestation further exacerbates water retention. River damming and diversion stifles natural flow causing unintended ecological damage with widespread impact. Climate change has slowly but surely intensified the situation parching the land and bringing conditions to a brink. The water mafia in big cities like Mumbai, are out to make a profit as the government fails to deliver the basic necessities of life - clean air and water.
My city of birth Hyderabad, is depleting its ground water at the fastest rate in the world. There is a forecast, that by next year all of it will be gone. But this does not stop the massive urban encroachment that is underway.
Chennai, a neighboring city of about 10 million, is in the throws of a water crisis like never seen before. Images of people clamoring for water have been posted in newspapers and on television screens all around the world. With monsoon predicted to be weak yet again, people are putting their faith in the "rain gods" as the poor jostle for water at that single open public faucet and the rich buy tankers from nefarious sources. Everyone is feeling the pain and are looking to blame someone for the situation. But the reality is, everyone is to blame.
Water covers about 71% of the earth's surface. 97% of which is found in the oceans. 3% of the earth's water is fresh of which 2.5% is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, the atmosphere and soil, or is highly polluted or far too deep inside the earth's surface to access. 0.5% is available as potable water, upon which the survival of the human race depends. This amounts to an average of 8.4 million liters for every person on earth. The fragility of the situation comes into focus when one comprehends these numbers as climate change alters the planet in ways we have barely begun to fathom.
As the world heats up in temperature, it will also heat up in conflict. When something as necessary as water becomes a scarce commodity, the very fabric of society will begin to collapse. Already in the streets of Chennai, people are on edge with no relief in sight.
In India, where the density of humanity, taxes every resource, effective management becomes key. Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity, and those in power still continue to push the world along established norms.
In the recent election that brought Narendra Modi and his party back to power in India, the environment was not on the agenda. No one campaigned bringing to the fore the scarcities facing the nation and the dire state of the ecology. It was appalling to see an ugly display of communal politics day in and day out, while the prime minster and the members of parliament inhaled the worst air in the world.
While the television show Liela maybe a work of fiction, it is not that far removed from reality. If we are to reclaim the future we need to act decisively in the present. We currently seem to give power to people who do not have the best interest of the planet at heart. While we wage ideological battles and re-litigate history, spewing hate and falsifying reality, the planet is working towards shaking us off like a bad case of the cold.
It is what it is.
The first episode begins with a violent home invasion of a wealthy family. As the husband is enjoying a dip with his daughter in his private pool, thugs break in from the glass ceiling. Accusing them of illegally acquiring water for their pool while millions thirst away, they kill him and kidnap the wife (the protagonist) who is later forcefully inducted into a cult.
For as long as I can remember, water has always been a precious commodity in India. As a child I recall my parents waking up early in the morning to fill storage tanks, as municipal water flowed unpredictably. Even now in their old age, they are still fixated to this routine. As a teenager, I remember waking up at the crack of dawn and walking a few blocks down the street from my sister's house in Bangalore, with empty buckets in hand, to stand in line at the only municipal faucet for the neighborhood. There would be a long row of buckets in every shape and color as I would add mine to the rainbow. Some would try to cut in line causing raucous quarrels to breakout. I would make several trips to fill up a large storage tank that would last a few days.
Even though she lives in a much bigger house in a better part of town, my sister even today does not have a municipal water connection. Ground water is pumped and supplied to homes in the neighborhood. This is common in urban India, where even luxurious high-rise apartments and gated communities purchase water in large tankers, which is then pumped to the residents.
Despite shortages and droughts, water management in India has always been deplorable. Leaky faucets, pipes, garden hoses and water tankers are a common sight. Poor infrastructure surrounding water treatment and transportation is endemic. People seldom drink water that comes through the faucet. Over the past two decades water in plastic bottles and sachets have become mainstay.
There is no national campaign that I know of, to promote and educate the public about water conservation. Some water saving measures have been deployed by introducing modern technologies to bathroom fixtures in public places, but they are expensive and few and far between.
A nation that largely depends on the monsoons for its freshwater, does very harvest rain water. Catchment areas are paved over by vast unplanned urban sprawl, preventing underwater aquifers from recharging. Lakes and ponds have all been polluted or engulfed by the pandemic of urbanization. Massive deforestation further exacerbates water retention. River damming and diversion stifles natural flow causing unintended ecological damage with widespread impact. Climate change has slowly but surely intensified the situation parching the land and bringing conditions to a brink. The water mafia in big cities like Mumbai, are out to make a profit as the government fails to deliver the basic necessities of life - clean air and water.
My city of birth Hyderabad, is depleting its ground water at the fastest rate in the world. There is a forecast, that by next year all of it will be gone. But this does not stop the massive urban encroachment that is underway.
Chennai, a neighboring city of about 10 million, is in the throws of a water crisis like never seen before. Images of people clamoring for water have been posted in newspapers and on television screens all around the world. With monsoon predicted to be weak yet again, people are putting their faith in the "rain gods" as the poor jostle for water at that single open public faucet and the rich buy tankers from nefarious sources. Everyone is feeling the pain and are looking to blame someone for the situation. But the reality is, everyone is to blame.
Water covers about 71% of the earth's surface. 97% of which is found in the oceans. 3% of the earth's water is fresh of which 2.5% is locked up in glaciers, ice caps, the atmosphere and soil, or is highly polluted or far too deep inside the earth's surface to access. 0.5% is available as potable water, upon which the survival of the human race depends. This amounts to an average of 8.4 million liters for every person on earth. The fragility of the situation comes into focus when one comprehends these numbers as climate change alters the planet in ways we have barely begun to fathom.
As the world heats up in temperature, it will also heat up in conflict. When something as necessary as water becomes a scarce commodity, the very fabric of society will begin to collapse. Already in the streets of Chennai, people are on edge with no relief in sight.
In India, where the density of humanity, taxes every resource, effective management becomes key. Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity, and those in power still continue to push the world along established norms.
In the recent election that brought Narendra Modi and his party back to power in India, the environment was not on the agenda. No one campaigned bringing to the fore the scarcities facing the nation and the dire state of the ecology. It was appalling to see an ugly display of communal politics day in and day out, while the prime minster and the members of parliament inhaled the worst air in the world.
While the television show Liela maybe a work of fiction, it is not that far removed from reality. If we are to reclaim the future we need to act decisively in the present. We currently seem to give power to people who do not have the best interest of the planet at heart. While we wage ideological battles and re-litigate history, spewing hate and falsifying reality, the planet is working towards shaking us off like a bad case of the cold.
It is what it is.
