Why instead of spreading joy and happiness, rains turn our lives into a nightmare of chaos and pain – something we’re subjected to year after year? Rajesh Krishan Every time I hear the pitter-patter of raindrops, my feet take me to the windows. A nature lover at heart, I just can’t get enough of the beauty of the rains and its accompanying accoutrements – petrichor or the refreshing smell of earth, the lush greenery and the cool weather, but hate what the rain did the other day at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, England. Allow me to vent. In the ICC World Cup semi-final clash against New Zealand, India had the momentum firmly on its side when rain played spoilsport, forcing the match to be postponed to the next day. By the time our team came out to bat the following day, there was a huge shift in momentum, our team was tottering and the rest is history. Had the rain not forced the semi-final game to the reserve day, the story could have been different. Coincidentally, rains wreaked havoc in the tricity around the same time, not on the cricket field but on roads, which in several areas were inundated with rainwater and resulted in severe traffic snarls. Zirakpur, a satellite town of Mohali, experienced flood-like conditions that led to serpentine queues of commuters stranded in nearly waist-deep waters, partly submerged in their cars and left to fend for them. Later, during the week, there were also reports of rainwater flooding homes and turning them into cesspools. In Panchkula’s Sector 19, things took an ugly turn when two officials of the Municipal Corporation were held captive by residents over waterlogging in their area. However, it’s interesting to note the reaction of the residents who claimed that they did so because they felt the authorities had failed them, and didn’t pay heed to their complaints despite being reminded several times. Herein lays the crux of the problem as to why instead of spreading joy and happiness, the rains turn our lives into a nightmare of chaos and pain – something we’re subjected to year after year. What makes the situation all the more unacceptable, particularly in regard to Chandigarh and Panchkula, both of which are part of the Smart City Mission, is that they are among the more developed cities of the country and their Municipal Corporations have enough money to do what is required of them to tackle the issue. But it’s hard to feel optimistic given the recurring instances of waterlogging, which I reckon, are only likely to increase as long as drastic and deliberate efforts are not made to improve the present state of affairs, which includes concerted attempts to take a variety of initiatives: cleaning and upgrading the existing drainage and sewerage channels, removing encroachments from rivulets and natural streams, keeping a check on unplanned urban sprawl, promoting storage of rainwater, building soak away systems and forming rapid response teams to provide relief to those affected by rains, to name a few. The solutions are aplenty and hardly seem like a challenge, especially in this age of space missions and bullet trains. All we need is the will to act and execute them properly. rajeshkrishan77@gmail.com

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