Drinking water and immunity from it

Tired after mowing 3 bags of grass, I wiped off sweat from my forehead. Feeling thirsty, rushed to the closest faucet, washed of dirt from my hands and bent over to drink the cool, tap water. No sooner than I was done, my son promptly reminded me what I always tell him, to wash his hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds before eating or drinking out of it. I did not do any of it.

 

In our school days, during our recess and after HPER (Health Physical Education and Recreation) class, we used to drink using our folded palm from the rusty faucet under a huge water tank inside the school premises. There was hardly any soap available to wash our hands before hand. It was rumored that many mice, lizards and cockroaches had taken water burial inside that tank. Yet nothing wrong ever happened to me. The immunity I got from drinking that water over years, has probably given my stomach a protective coating. I still have the confidence to drink straight from tap water using my palms. My son doesn't. The tap water here is safe anyway

 

Soon I moved to the hostel in REC (now NIT) Rourkela. During the monsoon the brown, muddy water from the tap was exactly the same as it's source Brahmani river flowing nearby. It could rival the yellow water served in our dining hall, (as the DAL was sarcastically referred to, you need to churn and scoop for minutes inside the container before you can find traces of the legume). The inept and corrupt authority hardly did anything to fix the water supply problem. No wonder typhoid, jaundice and water borne diseases were common, though I was lucky to escape any major ailment. The campus doctor, nicknamed as GHODA (horse) was a curse on the "Hippocratic Oath". He would give substandard medication to the poor students, while rumored to siphon off the more effective ones to grease his Superior's palms.

 

The same can't be said about my son. He can't boast of having the similar kind of immunity. During my last trip to India he picked up some bug, threw up and had loose motion for an entire day. Fortunately he recovered on time. I am sure, he is immune to that particular kind of stomach bug. Staying outside, over the years, I have started losing the immunity to loose motions, if I eat street food. One thing I have learnt the hard way. It's always best to eat the street food steaming hot and careful with the water you drink. Prevention is always better than cure.