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Save Every Drop… or Drop Dead

Save Every Drop… or Drop Dead

As a distinguished Indian painter and author, Aabid Surti has written around 80 books but no story so moved him as the truth about water scarcity on the planet. “I read an interview of the former UN chief Boutros Boutros Ghali,” he recalls, “who said that by 2025 more than 40 countries are expected to experience water crisis. I remembered my childhood in a ghetto fighting for each bucket of water. I knew that shortage of water is the end of civilized life.”

A few days later, he came across a statistic in the newspaper: a tap that drips once every second wastes a thousand litres of water in a month. That triggered an idea. He would take a plumber from door to door and fix taps for free – one apartment complex every weekend.

He began by simply replacing old O-ring rubber gaskets with new ones, buying new fixtures from the wholesale market. He named his one-man NGO ‘Drop Dead’ and created a tagline: save every drop… or drop dead.
Every Sunday, the Drop Dead team – which consisted of Aabid himself, Riyaaz the plumber and a female volunteer Tejal – picked the apartment blocks, got permission from the housing societies, and got to work.

By the end of the first year, they had visited 1533 homes and fixed around 400 taps. Slowly, the news began to spread.

It’s hard to say how much water he has saved with his mission, given that the faucets he fixed could have continued leaking for months, and maybe years, had he not rung the doorbell one Sunday morning. But conservatively, it could be estimated thathe has single-handedly saved at least 5.5m litres of water till date.

In the summer of 2013, the state where Aabid lives is expecting its worst drought in 40 years. Months in advance, the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan has warned citizens to begin conserving water. While ministers lobby for drought-relief packages worth millions of dollars, Aabid sees his own approach as simple and inexpensive.

As he rings another door-bell on yet another Sunday in Mira Road, seven years into his one-man mission, he says: “Anyone can launch a water conservation project in his or her area. That’s the beauty of this concept. It doesn’t require much funding or even an office. And most importantly, it puts the power back in our own hands.”

Interview: Aabid Surti, Saving The Planet, One Drop At A Time..

Garima Sharma on Mar 25, 2014

Last weekend while the world celebrated World Water Day, one man in a tiny suburb of Mumbai was going door to door fixing leaking taps free of charge, saving water, one drop at a time. Just like any other weekend. This is his story.

“HAUNTING MEMORIES OF FIGHTING FOR EVERY BUCKET OF WATER IN MY CHILDHOOD ARE MY DRIVING FORCE TO THIS DAY. WE MUST SAVE EVERY DROP, OR DROP DEAD”

Eighty years old Aabid Surti, migrated to a Dongri chawl as a child with his family. Life was tough, but what made it unbearable was the struggle for water. He still remembers how the common water tap in the chawl would dispense water for just ten minutes a day and how those ten minutes would transform the chawl into a battleground. Having spent his childhood growing up on the streets, struggling for every sip of water to drink drove him to to start Drop Dead Foundation, an NGO on a mission to save this invaluable resource that most of us take for granted. ‘We must save every drop or drop dead if we don’t’ insists Surti.

“IF YOU SINCERELY WANT TO DO SOMETHING FOR SOCIETY, GOD HIMSELF BECOMES YOUR FUND RAISER.”

Drop Dead Foundation team

Drop Dead Foundation, simply put is a one man NGO run by Surti. Every Sunday he picks one locality in Mira Road where he goes door to door along with his lean team of plumbers and repairs leaking taps. As simple as this sounds, he has managed to save over 5 lakh litres of water in one year, and over 25 lakh litres of water since he started, working in just one locality of Mumbai. Consider for a moment, what we can achieve if we employ this simple yet effective technique to every house in every area of the city.

Aabid, an acclaimed writer with over 80 published books in Gujarati and Hindi, believes that “if you sincerely want to do something for society, God himself becomes your fund raiser.” He says he did not face any real challenges in beginning his work in 2007 and he continues to receive support from Rotarians and the Indian Plumbing Association. He does lament however that the government has not been very supportive in helping him grow this idea from Mira Road to other areas in Mumbai or offer support in anyway. As for finances, he has invested all the money he earns from awards towards this cause because “the money I get without labour should go towards betterment of society”.

Drop Dead Foundation plumber ta work

He explains, “We, I mean a plumber, a female volunteer and myself, have developed a process which we follow like clockwork. On Mondays, my volunteer visits the targeted building and meets the secretary of the housing society for permission. If the secretary agrees, then she puts up a poster on the housing society’s notice board, with our tagline Save Every Drop or Drop Dead. On Saturdays, through the watchman of the building, we send pamphlets that explain what Drop Dead Foundation is about, to every home. So when we arrive on Sunday morning we get a warm welcome from the members of the apartment building. Then we go house to house correcting leaky taps.”

Aabid adds that he finds it very easy to talk to societies and get necessary permissions to fix leaking taps and every home he goes to, he finds a fan, friend or a smiling host inviting him forchai. He gracefully refuses, keeping only the job at hand in focus but always remembers the warmth and smiles they shared with him. As a writer, he as also found many endearing characters on his home visits which have been incorporated in his stories.

“EVERYONE EXCEPT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO HELP ME.”

Over the years Aabid has observed that while there is a general lack of awareness about saving water, it is even more shocking in the affluent localities, because there is abundance. Negligence at large scale may soon turn water into a rare resource, if we do not curb it right away. And the best part is that is it so simple – just turn off a running tap or repair a leaking tap. Aabid believes that just like we have campaigns against smoking, we need massive  campaigns at the same scale to save water. Educating children right from young age to displaying ‘Save Water’ messages before movies, all can go a long way.

He says anyone can take on the cause and start the same service in their area. “I’m an author, painter and cartoonist but I make the time every week for society, for all of us. So can you.” he urges. The needs are modest he adds, “An office premise around 750 sq. ft. at Mira Rd to work and store posters, pamphlets, stickers, banners for rallies to create awareness etc. – which is actually my  residence, a computer to collect data, salary for an assistant cum computer operator to co-ordinate with other NGOs online working on water conservation, a peon for sundry work and a plumber and a volunteer on payroll with a two wheeler. If someone calls with a leakage issue, like the fire brigade, they can rush to the spot on bicycle and correct the leaking tap.”

More power to Aabid and his team of superheroes, may your tribe increase.

You can reach him on 98201 84964 or email aabidssurti@gmail.com.

Know of other heroes in Mumbai we should know about? Write to us at story@mumbaimag.com.