Decades back, writer Anwar Pirzado wrote a story of thirst of Kachho, a semi-desert area in the west of Dadu, Sindh where a family lost its way in the wilderness of Kachho. The father left his wife and two children in the nominal shade of Kirar bush, headed in search of water. The mother tried to soothe the thirst wrenching children by drawing lines on the sandy ground. In the meanwhile one child died, she tied a band of cloth from her scarf and put the body aside and continued with drawing lines of coming water to console the other child who also died and after placing the body of the second child she also departed to the eternal world.

This week the history of thirst of Kachho repeated itself when a mother along with her 4-year-old son after returning from her relative lost her way due to a light dust storm and not finding few drops of water lost her and her son’s life. In the past, there was a lack of communication and water and energy technologies but in this age of modern communication and solar technology, death due to thirst is unfathomable. Disadvantaged and sidelined people are still facing and fighting with the problem of intense thirst.

GULSHER PANWHER,

Johi.