We're delighted to
share this story about our author Aabid Surti with you today, which
happens to be World Water Day. We know this mulit-faceted man as the
person who retold the popular Gijubhai stories for Pratham Books.
But that he is also a tireless and unique water crusader is news to us.
via Superaalifragilistic:
“Aabid Surti is an odd character. A few years ago, the angular,
bearded author was invited to meet the President of India to receive
a national award for literature at a ceremony in the capital, New
Delhi. He politely declined. Absorbed in writing the first draft of
his new novel, he cited the reason that he did not have time. But
what he has made time for every Sunday for seven years now, is going
door-to-door in Mira Road, a non-descript suburb of Mumbai, with a
plumber in tow, asking residents if they need their tap fixed for
free!
As a distinguished Indian painter and author, Aabid 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.”
Read the entire articlehere, written so lovingly by the equally multi-faceted Aalif. If you would like to read the Gijubhai books in Kannada or Marathi, do look up our store here.