ECONOMICS

Scarce as a Hen’s Teeth
The Sun was burning and there were no buildings, greenery, and water
at the Sahara desert. The Waxman could see no lives till the other end of the
desert. Now, the water that Waxman bartered with the Arabian man was his
precious possession. There were no shops in that desert from where he could
buy water and there were no ponds or water wells from where he could drink it.
All he could see was sand dunes and nothing else. By now, he had understood
the importance of water as it was scarce in desert.
Holding the water bottle in hand, Waxman kept walking in a hope to see
people. His face was red due to excessive heat and hot desert wind. He kept
drinking water to keep himself hydrated. He was unable to satisfy his thirst
with that amount of water.
After walking for hours continuously, Waxman was deadly tired. There was
no single drop of water left in his bottle. All his energy was drained out. The
superhero had lost all his strength. He could not walk anymore. He feared that
he would die in this unknown land until he heard someone calling a name.
He got alert and wanted to assure what he heard. Then, he could hear
more noises. With a hope, he followed the sound and saw a group of
people.
‘Oh! Finally they are there’ thought Waxman
and ran towards a man who had a big jar of
water.
“Water water... I need some water” said
Waxman breathing heavily.
“$15 for a litre of water” replied the seller.
“What?” Waxman said. $15 was like a bolt
from the blue. He stood there unbelievingly
and fainted.
Thus, drinking water, which is a natural
resource, is scarce in desert. Well, the fact is, it
is scarce everywhere. That is why in most of the
countries, people buy drinking water in everyday
life. Due to scarcity, people have become water
conscious.
Anyways, in Germany, people pay $1.91/1000 litres
of water. But since Germany is a developed country, looks like people
can definitely afford that money whereas in Maldives, people pay $5.70/1000
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