His mission to fix leaky taps has saved
millions of gallons of water
The Christian Science Monitor
By Anita Satyajit
29 September 2016
PUNE, INDIA — Many words have been used to describe Aabid Surti over
the years. Writer, artist, cartoonist. Humble, soft-spoken, energetic.
But few would have expected conservationist or environmentalist to be
added to the list. Especially not when Mr. Surti was in his 70s. But
the Drop Dead Foundation (DDF), a nonprofit run by him, has in the past
nine years managed to save millions of gallons of water in the Mira
Road-Bhayander suburbs of Mumbai. How? By fixing leaky taps.
Always one to break the mold, be it as a cartoonist or writer, Surti
has long experimented with new ideas. As a painter he created a rage by
developing a technique called mirror collage. At the peak of the bandit
menace in India, he created Bahadur – a character who protected
citizens against bandits – for his comic strip “Dabbuji.” Bahadur was
accompanied by Bela, with whom he had a live-in relationship – and this
was in the 1980s, when such concepts were taboo in India. Now, Surti
has found a creative way to change the mind-set of many toward water
conservation.
Since 2007, Surti has visited approximately 13,000 homes and fixed
nearly 3,500 taps.
Surti’s mother, a widow, migrated to Mumbai from the Indian city of
Surat in 1943. Surti, his mother, and his brother shared a room with 15
others, and his mother worked as a maid to send her sons to school.
Surti remembers standing in line at public taps, before dawn, to catch
the day’s share of water. That memory never left him. As an adult, he
was irked by the sight of a dripping tap in the homes of friends or
relatives, and he often tried to persuade others to get their taps
repaired.
Leaky taps in India are ignored in most
middle-class homes
Leaky taps in India are ignored in most middle-class homes because
hiring a plumber is expensive – 200 to 500 times the cost of the faulty
washer that needs replacing. When friends pointed this out, Surti found
he had no response.
265 gallons are wasted every month by a
dripping tap
But in early 2007, he came across a statistic that said 1,000 liters of
water (265 gallons) are wasted every month by a dripping tap. Reading
that, Surti knew he had a valid reason to ask people to fix their taps.
“I always had this picture in my head of people dying due to the lack
of water, and water dying because it was being wasted. And that is how
Drop Dead Foundation came about,” says Surti.
Surti began by hiring a plumber and visiting the homes of family
members and friends. Then he started to take the plumber to nearby
residential buildings and have him repair the taps free of charge.
housing societies (similar to condo associations)
With time, DDF has developed a more structured process. Currently, on
Monday mornings a DDF volunteer visits buildings in the area and
explains DDF’s work to the secretaries who manage these housing
societies (which are similar to condominium associations). Those who
are interested in the foundation’s services then display DDF posters
somewhere prominently visible to residents. On Saturday, the volunteer
asks the secretaries to distribute pamphlets explaining DDF’s work to
the residents. Finally on Sunday, Surti, the volunteer, and the plumber
visit homes to check and repair the taps.
‘God becomes
your fundraiser’
Though Surti is the author of some 80 books, as well as a skilled
painter and cartoonist, his morals never let him exploit his creative
skills for monetary gain. So when the idea of visiting buildings first
arose, he was also confronted with the issue of cost. As he was mulling
this over, he learned that he had won a lifetime achievement award for
his writing – the Hindi Sahitya Sansthan Award, with a cash prize of
100,000 rupees ($1,500). “I have always seen that when you choose to do
something selflessly, God becomes your fundraiser and the universe
helps you. And it has so happened that whenever I was low on money, I
either received more cash awards or found a willing genuine donor,”
says Surti, who spoke in a phone interview.
anyone can work to better society
The printer he first hired to produce the pamphlets refused to charge
him. The plumber he first hired refused to charge him. And so it has
continued with others. Says Kailash Kumar, the plumber who works with
him now: “I feel good doing this. It is a matter of two to three hours,
once a week. Why should I charge? He made me realize that anyone can
work to better society.”
That sentiment is echoed by a couple who currently volunteer with
Surti. He visited their community one Sunday – an experience that moved
them deeply. “Sunday is when people rest, but it is that day when Mr.
Surti works. At his age, he could have just relaxed, but he is so
self-motivated and dedicated that his energy is infectious,” says
Manish Modi, who visits housing societies to sign them on. His wife,
Rajeshwari Modi, who accompanies him on weekends, adds, “What he does
cannot be more pertinent. The locality we live in gets water once in
three days and that, too, for 15 minutes. Even if four to five people
understand what he is doing, then it is worth the time and effort we
are all putting in.”
Rajesh Diwan is secretary of the Akanksha Co-operative Housing Society
in Mira Road, which invited DDF to visit after a poster was spotted in
a neighboring community. “I am 37 and have never thought about social
responsibility, while Mr. Surti has been doing this for years. His
thought process is superior to most,” Mr. Diwan says.
India, and in particular the state of Maharashtra, which includes
Mumbai, has seen drought the past two years. Given that, Surti’s work
has found much public appreciation. In fact, he has received national
and international media recognition the likes of which he did not
receive his entire artistic career.
“He has always been extremely determined and has the ability to work
around a problem,” says Aalif Surti, one of Surti’s sons, who wrote a
blog post about DDF that went viral.
‘Easy and
replicable’
Surti encourages replication of the DDF system, and he’s put up
materials, including posters and pamphlets, on the DDF website for
others to download and use. “I do not even care if people don’t use the
name Drop Dead. Make your own one up. But the idea is to keep this easy
and replicable,” he says.
This gesture has found a willing audience. Archana Singh, an associate
professor at Kamla Nehru Institute in Sultanpur, India, connected with
Surti via Facebook in 2010. She was a fan of his creative work, and
then she found out about DDF. She invited Surti to her college to
address the students last year. The outcome of his address was Water
Warriors, a student organization fashioned after DDF, which fixes leaky
taps in Sultanpur.
“His philosophy was to use whatever he had already created for the
benefit of others. He is uncaring about getting credit for his work,
but my life has undeniably been enriched because he fine-tuned my
social dimension,” Dr. Singh says.
Surti insists his goal is simply to help people realize that it doesn’t
take much to give back. “I could have taken money which was offered to
me, set up an office, and run a full-fledged business or
[nongovernmental organization],” he says. “But the intent was always
transparency and to show people that anyone can make a difference. All
it takes is [a few hours of my week], and the impact has been
immeasurable.”
Few households that Surti visits even get to know him. He usually sends
a female volunteer and the plumber inside while he sits outside. “But
once a man invited me in and kept insisting that I tell him the reason
why I am doing this,” he says. “I told him this was my prayer: Choose
your prayer; whatever form suits you, pray.” And that, perhaps, is the
biggest lesson from Surti’s actions: Do something, anything, but ensure
that you give back. Choose your prayer.
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