What are some important things in life we always fail to appreciate?

Year 2000

Me: 7 years old.

Month: May. Heat in North India: 45 degrees. Electricity supply: ten-twelve hours per day out of twenty-four hours. All the family members and guests who came to visit for a few days in summer vacation sweating badly. Middle class family. No inverter or generator. Every one fanning their little plastic fans. That too 7–8 people had to manage in 3–4 hand fans. Rest are using newspapers.

Mum: ‘There is very less water left. Let's not take a bath today. There is heavy electricity and water shortage. Let us save water.’

Everyone is upset. No water to take even a minimal bucket bath. No fan. No chilled water from refrigerator. No electricity. No television. Nothing. Just plain suffering.

I know this story is yours too. Most of us are 90’s kids.

Some of the most important things we now take for granted is the regular supply of electricity and water. I have seen really bad electricity and water shortage when I was a child. I, like most of 90’s kids know how it feels to go without a bath, without a fan, without a proper sleep in hot and humid nights turning in bed, amidst the stinging and music of mosquitoes.

I, like most of 90’s middle class kids know how it feels to study in candle light, I know how it feels to sleep on the terrace looking at stars when frogs croak around in darkness because it is impossible to sleep inside a hot and suffocating room.

And I know most of you have gone through those days too.

And honestly, let us not romanticize or patronize ‘those days', speaking of them like they were a picnic in paradise. No, they were utterly uncomfortable. Especially in summers, that is, April-June, when the temperature is easily around 40–50°C in North India, those heavy power cuts of 10–12 hours per day, those water cuts were not entertaining at all.

When today, in 2019, we have regular water and electricity supply in our homes, there are almost nil power cuts or water problems in most big cities, where we have regularly luxury of very normal things like health, hygiene, technology, electricity, water, and a lot of things which were like a dream two decades back, we take them for granted so much and fail to acknowledge them.

We act like these things have always been around.

Nope. We come from a time where we have seen that water and electricity were huge problems. We have seen full days without electricity and water too. At least I have.

Just think about all those places where still electricity and water supply remains a big problem. Areas where people hardly get them for a few hours. Just imagine their struggle and plight.

We get them regularly and easily, they have become a part of our life, so we fail to be grateful for them. We fail to value them now.

But, let's not forget that past can come around.

Today, do stop for a moment and appreciate the regular supply of electricity and water in the place of your living. They are a real blessing. Be grateful for them and thank your stars.

Also, appreciate them better by preserving them for other people living in this country and for our next generations too.

We do not want our next generation to fan plastic fans and newspapers in 55°C somewhere in future(thanks to global warming).