JAL !!!

Welcome to Rann of Kutch of Gujarat State in India. Rann of Kutch is basically a desert where there is scarcity of water. Waters of Arabian Sea enters in some parts of Rann of Kutch to form shallow lakes, but the waters of those lakes are too saline in nature for the aquatic creatures. Bakka was a local explorer of water in Rann of Kutch. Bakka used to dig wells in Rann of Kutch to fetch water. That’s why; many people of Rann of Kutch used to regard Bakka as the God of Water in Rann of Kutch. Kim, a Russian scientist cum explorer came to Rann of Kutch to do a research on flamingo birds. Flamingo birds always migrate to Rann of Kutch from Southern European region during winter season in northern hemisphere of our Planet Earth.

One day, Kim took a bath in that shallow lake of Kutch district. She identified the dead bodies of Flamingo birds inside that lake. She told Ramkhilari, the tour operator of Kutch Safari Lodge to hire some workers to bring out those dead bodies of Flamingo birds from that lake. Every worker would get 5 Euros every day. Rakhla motivated his village people to work as workers under Kim. The work started. One day, Kim got lost in the desert after having a long drive in the Rann of Kutch. Kim felt thirsty and drank water from a well of another village. In that village, the water was available and the water was not salty at all. Villagers of that village always used to keep guard of their wells. If anyone tried to steal the water from the wells, they used to attack the stealers to injure them badly or kill them brutally. Kesar chased Kim with her women battalion. Punya also reached the spot. Bakka got injured but managed to save Kim from Kesar’s attack with a sharp weapon. Bakka fell in love with Kesar! Punya felt jealous! ‘Rash chusne ke liye mard hona jaroori hota hain. Tahra gaaon mein marad hain nahi, dekh agar dushman gaaon se jaroorat padh jaaye, toh bataa dena.’

Salinity of water in Rann of Kutch was the main reason behind the death of Flamingo birds. Kim with the support from the Discovery Channel Team and Indian Government planned to dig a big water canal full of sweet water in Rann of Kutch. Mukhiya of Bakka’s village gave the permission to the villagers to go for work again but on one condition. ‘Bakka tu dushman gaaon nahi jaayega aur naa jaayegi teri yeh madam.’ A big drilling machine came to Rann of Kutch from the Geological Survey Department of India. ‘Arrey Rann ba paani nikaalne ka machine aawise.’ Punya felt jealous again. ‘Saala talaab banayegi kya? Agar woh gaaonwalon ko paani mil gaya toh apni ijjat toh gayi. Hamara kuaan ko kaun poochega?’ Kesar was bathing inside a no-roofed, open-aired muddy bathroom. Bakka went inside that bathroom to have some romance with Kesar. ‘Dekh hee lo, tere ko mere jaisa aur koi marad nahi milega. Khubsoorat, diler, paani ka pakka. Aaj paani lene aaya hoon, phir tere ko lene aaoonga.’ When Punya came near the bathroom, Kesar kept Bakka hidden from Punya. ‘Chala gaya?’ ‘Nahi’. ‘Tu bhi khubsoorat aur tera badan bhi.’

The Engineer of the Geological Survey Department of India failed to trace out or explore the exact spot in Rann of Kutch to fetch the sweet water. The team of Discovery Channel suggested the Engineer to take the help of local water explorer, Bakka to fetch sweet water in the desert. Bakka succeeded in exploring the sweet water in Rann of Kutch. The villagers of Bakka’s village were very happy on Bakka. Kajri, the younger sister of Rakhla loved Bakka since her childhood days. Kajri felt depressed when she found out that Bakka was in love with Kesar, a woman of their enemy village. The villagers requested Bakka to explore sweet water for their own village. Bakka gave three conditions. The first condition was that the Mukhiya should give a treat to Bakka and his friends. The second condition was that Bakka should have his own house. The third condition was that Bakka should get married to Kesar. Punya became furious after getting this information. Punya and Bakka started fighting with each other. ‘In India, there is a culture from Ramayana, Mahabharata; if you fight, you can get woman, otherwise, no fight, no woman.’ Kim gave an appointment letter to Bakka. Bakka realized that Kajri also loves him. ‘Yeh Kajri, yahan toh aaja, tu saach ne manne pyar nahi kar baithi ne?’ Mukhiyas of two villages accepted the love affair between Bakka and Kesar. Bakka and Kesar got married to each other. ‘First night, so long!’ Bakka and Kesar enjoyed themselves for 10 days in a row. After 10 days, Bakka came out of the house to say, ‘Ram Ram’ to his villagers.

The canal project for Flamingo Birds ended. Rakhla gave a suggestion to Bakka to demand for that drilling machine for their village. Kim returned to his base camp in Europe to submit the Project Report to the Discovery Channel Research Unit. Bakka requested about that machine to the Engineer of the Indian Government but the Engineer denied their request. Why the women of the village gave all their jewels to Bakka? Who stole the drilling machine by bribing whom? Who murdered Rakhla? ‘Rann ke taap mein na, sab ka dimaag chalta hain. Garmi mein saali soch bhi ubaal khaati hain aise. Peeche se mere ko patthar mat maarna. Ek se toh maroonga nahi, phir tere ko bhi saath le ke jaana parega.’ Which villagers were thrown out of the village? ‘Dekh le Mukhiya aapni akaalmandi ka nateeja, kya jodi banake rakhi hain aapne budhaphe mein.’ The water thief was punished by the villager. ‘Ish haraami ko Rann ke andar tak phekh ke aao.’ Who went to her paternal village in search of water? Who targeted the pregnant woman? ‘Pyaas toh manne bhi bahut laagi hain. Main bujha du teri pyaas? Main teri pyaas bujha deta hoon. Arrey! Bahut bada Rann hain, kahan bhagegi, na kar.’ Who was passing by that spot and sacrificed something for her lover’s baby? ‘Budha Sher ho gaya kya? Marad hain na, dikhani hain maardaangi? Toh maara pe dikha na, ish pe kya dikha raha hain. Kunwari toh main hoon.’ Why Kajri saved Kesar? ‘Bachpan se aadat padh gayi thi Bakka ni. Paani peela apne bacche ko.’ What happened to Kesar? ‘Rann mein baarish! Yeh kaise aabe?’ Did Mr. Punja survive in that sandstorm? Whose photo got published on the cover page of ‘Discover Earth’ magazine with the title, ‘Flamingos back in Rann of Kutch’? Who was awarded with a HSBC Bank, UK Branch cheque of Rs. 2,00,000/- INR for acting as an Avian Saviour of Rann of Kutch? Water is the other name of life. Water is precious and do not waste water unnecessarily. In Hindi, the water is popularly called as “JAL”.