Water

 When you start learning Spanish, in the very few first lectures, you are sure to come across the words "el niño" and "la niña", apparently extremely innocent words which mean the boy and the girl respectively. When it comes to monsoon predictions, which determine the future of some sixty per cent of our population, they are downright dangerous though. 

The Niño creates, explain the experts, warmer sea surface temperatures in the Pacific, which disrupts the Indian monsoon, causing reduced rainfall, delayed seasons, and drought risks. This effect generally leads to lower agricultural output, particularly for water-intensive crops like rice, thus increasing food inflation, power demand, and heatwave severity. 2026, the climate specialists say, is going to face this "little boy", the climate atom bomb!

In brief, water is the base of the very existence, even in modern times, as much as it was in the ancient times when the very life began because of water. Later, civilisations grew near water resources. Water is that significant to life!

Actually, it is apparently non-descript. It has neither colour, nor taste, nor odour. It has no dissolving discretion either. It is such a universal solvent that it facilitates the very dissolving process.

It most probably is the only phenomenon available in three forms; liquid, solid (ice) and gas (vapour). The earth surface is mostly covered by water, seventy-one per cent to be precise. Unfortunately, however, most of it is not potable. 

Hence the importance of water in sustainable debates because a living organism can survive without food for weeks. Without water though, death would be imminent within a few days! Water whose central molecule is the O2 (which mixes with the H2 to form the H2O, alais water) is life itself!

Pratima@ Given this base quality of water, the Water Day, celebrated since 1999, every March 22 is indeed important.

Quote of the day:                                                         "water water everywhere/not a drop to drink" is how Coleridge's Ancient Mariner describes his, actually the mankind's, moving plight!

Word of the day: potable                                           Potable describes water or liquids that are safe for human consumption, for drinking, for food preparation, often termed "drinking water" in simple terms. It signifies that the liquid is free from dangerous contaminants. Hence that entire water purifier industry!