by babita baruah load shedding as we called the dark hour without electricity was quite common during my growing up years we would all troop out to the verandah sit on the cane chairs fan ourselves with palmleaf hand fans father would switch on the transistor for music or we would talk sometimes sing some favourite assamese numbers together maa would carry the oil lamp back to the kitchen and emerge a while later with some snacks she had rustled up to be washed down with hot cups of teawe would never realise how time flew before the lights came on and we went back to regular lifei loved these loadshedding family times without giving it much thought thentoday with my personal and professional interest in how we behave and how a change in behaviour can be an answer to what we think are daunting challenges takes me back to those times and how every family can find their own solutions in a way that only brings them togethermy daughter grew up in a gurugram apartment powered by a 24hour water and power supply after our move to a house a few months ago conversations around water and power have made their way into our lives about what we can do together as our bit for a sustainable futurethe best way to turn this on its head is to make it fun in marketing jargon we would call it gamification make it a game you play together invoke the codes of team spirit goals celebration and the spirit of winningi just call it family love on water matters this has led us to discover explore and find joy in little things singledish meals the more we cook the more we tend to use water multicourse meals lead to that so we have dedicated some evenings to singledish meals makes us come up with recipes and ideas and even at times share the meal with neighbours impromptu indoor picnics the word picnic is enough for children to leap in excitement all it needs is a change of cutlery and plates like bananaleaf or recyclable paper plates a table done up with fresh flowers and good food with music and games the good part no dishwashing required faucet heads that conserve water we bought these from an ecommerce site foams up water using aeration and saves up to 50 whats fun about faucets nothing unless we make it a happy place colourful posters hand drawn at home around wash basins with save water messages give it meaning also gives it a very personal touch water the plants no drop of water ever goes wasted they just go to the plants we have around us in the house from the glasses we drink water out of or buckets or ro or bottles that need to be refilled with fresh water our plants have names they are family and seeing them grow and thrive makes us happy bucket baths on some days we