No troops guard the pond today, but the urge to play guard is strong as ever in the hearts of the people. With the first rays of the sun the temple bells peal. People throng the ghats all day long. Some play the ravanhattha, a kind of sarangi . Panibarins come to the ghat even today.
Water is hauled on camel carts too.
And several times a day tankers with generators roll up, sucking away the water. Ghadisar is providing water even now. And the sun too is pouring its fill of gold to Ghadisar, every morning and evening. This is an extract from Anupam Mishra's Hindi classic, ' Aaj Bhi Khare Hain Talab' , on traditional water use in India, published by Gandhi Peace Foundation. This English translation, by Kamal Kishore appeared in Grassroots magazine, of May,2000.