Panic rippled through the chawl. Without the meter, the corporation would assume they were stealing water. They could face a heavy fine—or worse, have their supply cut completely.
The morning sun painted the chawl’s narrow alleyways in gold. But the usual chorus of clanking buckets and cheerful greetings was replaced by worried whispers.
That’s when Raju, the curious 12-year-old from Room No. 7, noticed something odd. The new water meter that the municipal corporation had installed last month—the one that measured how much water the chawl used—was gone. In its place was a jagged piece of pipe and two cut wires.
The Missing Water Meter Series: Chawl House (Episode 3) Platform: HiWEBxSERIES.com
The tight-knit residents of Anand Nagar Chawl learned that their beloved communal tap was running dry every afternoon. In Episode 2, young Meena discovered that a hidden leak in the old pipeline was the culprit, and the residents pooled their small savings for a temporary fix.
The chawl residents didn’t yell or seek revenge. Instead, they thanked the scrap dealer for his honesty and requested that he inform them if anyone else tried to sell chawl property. Then they installed a simple lockbox around the new meter (donated by Mr. Gupta’s son-in-law).