The teachers of sustainability at the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru discuss their new book ‘Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities’, which combines scientific rigour with anecdotes, community histories, and nostalgia to take us through water bodies across the country. The authors talk to Divya Shekhar about our complicated collective history with water, community warriors who are showing the way, whether we need to put a price on water, and how we can start rebuilding our relationship with it.