"Boond boond mein hai yakeen!!"

The above mentioned title is a tag line used by a famous mineral water company. Sadly, it is only a tag line and does not provide any guarantee that the water we consume from this, and many such bottles, is safe to drink.

Have you ever felt that the water you are drinking only looks clean? That its possibly sewage water that had just been bleached, not one treated?? Well, I have, many times. When I first saw this scene in Slumdog Millionaire, where Jamal is refilling used mineral bottles and re-sealing them with quick fix, I didn't really pay much attention to it. It was only when I saw this happening with my own eyes on Muzaffarpur railway station this August I realised how serious this problem is. Most of us buy a bottled water before even thinking twice about what we are about to consume. We just accept it as a matter of fact that it must be clean if it says so.

For some reason, I never purchased a bottle of water. When on a bus stop, I always got my water bottle re-filled from the 1/- "Fresh Drinking Water" fellow. I don't know the reason behind it, but now I think it was maybe because I never trusted any of those mineral water companies.

In India, if all the reports about various mineral water scams are to believed, this is the industry making the largest profit. You can just pick up any bottle, fill it with water from any source, seal it and circulate it in the market. Thanks to us consumers, chances are no one will even notice what is happening.

I hope next time when you buy bottled water, you get reminded of this and regret carrying your own bottle (which I always do, as rule!).