I love rains. I love the smell of mud. I love getting wet in rains. I love when it pours cats and dogs. Its one season I always wish would never end. Well being born in India, the wish would be a mere dream as we have quota for everything… from reservation for SC/ST to the period when it can rain! As most of the quotas are decided by humans, the quota for rains have been decided by the God Himself!
But at least for a city like Mumbai, even four months in a year is enough. With gutters getting flooded even before it rains a little more than 25 cms! And I would not blame our Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation completely for it. It is because of a collective irresponsibility of we Mumbaikars and those coming from other states (primarily the illiterate ones – that MNS hates) which causes Mumbai to come to a standstill even with a rain that lasts for 5-6 hours.
But this year, I was particularly impressed with one of BMC’s extraordinary efforts… The Mithi River (which looks less like a river and more like a gutter) which was flowing like the Brahmaputra on 26th July 2005, did not even rise till double its normal level. And it took most of the water off J.B.Nagar (in Andheri East) keeping the streets “un-flooded” – if I may say. This is quite remarkable!
But still there are some really dangerous situations that a Mumbaikar has to face when it rains heavily – like open manholes, attitude of the rickshaw walas, reckless driving of BEST buses, delayed local trains, etc etc… But this does not deter an average Mumbaikar from staying away from work! For example, today it was raining like crazy and still my office had almost 80% attendence!
And that’s why I say… RAINS ARE B.E.A.U.TIFUL!!!
Venkat - Personal Blog 