It’s been raining almost everyday here in Mumbai. Although it’s said that monsoon (rainy season) hasn’t quite arrived yet, it’s definitely getting around the corner.
Mumbai had far less rainfalls during last year’s monsoon than it’s yearly average. Because of that, the officials were expecting serious water shortage this year and the city has began cutting back some water supply since the winter. Inspired by this, I started shooting about “Mumbai’s water crisis” in November last year, thinking that the story will develop to more serious level as time goes by. Since then, I was working on the story on and off whenever I was around but at the same time there were many assignments which took me away from the city between March and May when the water shortage gets most serious. The time has passed by so quick while I was working on different stories and now I realized that the dry season is pretty much over.
Yes it’s still possible that Mumbai have drier monsoon season again and water problems continue. But I feel that I already have missed an opportunity to make some kind of conclusion of my photo story and release them at the “right” time. Without having much choices of outlets, I decided to post them here as well as in my website trying to get them some exposure at least.
There is a Japanese proverb (I think it’s Japanese but not sure) saying “Strike while the iron is hot”. Same for photo stories.
(more photos at http://www.kunitakahashi.com/india_water.html )
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ムンバイはここのところ雨続き。まだ本格的に雨期にははいっていないとはいわれているが、それでももう時間の問題だろう。
昨年の雨期は例年に比べて非常に雨が少なかったようで、そのため今年は極端な水不足が懸念されていた。実際に水不足を見越した市の給水制限もすでに昨年末からはじまっていたし、これはいいストーリーになるだろうと踏んだ僕は１１月あたりからこの「ムンバイの水問題」についての写真をすこしずつ撮りはじめていた。しかしアフリカをはじめカシミールやネパールなど、水不足の一番ひどくなる３月から５月に他の仕事でムンバイの外に出ることが多くなり、気がついたらもうすでに乾期は終わっているではないか。
今年の雨期も雨不足という事態がないとはいえないが、いずれにしてもすでに雨が降り始めてしまった以上、これまで撮ってきた写真の使い道がほとんどなくなってしまった。発表すべき時期にだしそびれてしまったわけだ。そんなわけで、せめてこのブログとホームページには載せてしまおうと思った次第。
日本（だと思うけど）の諺に「鉄は熱いうちに打て」というのがあるが、写真記事にしてもまた然り。期を逃してしまえば使えなくなる。
(もっと写真をみる http://www.kunitakahashi.com/india_water.html )
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