Once upon a time in rain

We’ve had a very active monsoon in Hyderabad this year with record rainfall. This should be reason to be happy as, ordinarily, there should be a plentiful supply of water to tide us through the summer. This year has been the wettest in a decade.

However, the crumbling infrastructure has resulted in overflowing drains and waterlogged roads which resemble lakes rather than highways. And then there are the power outages of eight to 12 hours in some areas. Houses have been inundated, with huge damage to property.

The sad part is that this is a story that repeats itself year after year, although this year the excess rain has wreaked even more damage than usual. Reports of housing collapses pour in from every state, with a tragic loss of lives.

Telangana had started a massive programme of rainwater harvesting, encouraging residential complexes to invest in this project. Tamil Nadu was the first state to make rainwater harvesting compulsory for every building and the scheme has been implemented in all rural areas. I have seen one such pit at the premises of the post office near where I live and all that had accumulated was dead leaves as well as plastic bags. Rooftop water collection and recharge has also been tried. But all these projects will work only if people cooperate and treat water as a precious commodity.

Girl in the rain

Recently, on one of these wet days, a 12-year-old girl ventured out of her house on her bicycle. Her parents weren’t worried until she did not return home. Her body was found the next day in a lake into which the drain or ‘nala' empties. During the search for the girl, her bicycle was found near an open drain close to her house. A municipality official said the flooding of the drain was a result of encroachments in the area over the last 30 years. The girl did not see the drain as it was covered with water and she fell in.

Her parents later lodged a complaint against a minister, the mayor and municipal officials for negligence. The result? Although the family gave specific names in their complaint, the police altered the case to “causing death by negligence” and booked lower-rung staff for the incident.

In another incident, an electrician was swept away by stormwater as he tried to help a scooter ride across the gushing stream of water. The city’s drain network is choked as relaid roads have sunk hundreds of manholes. All these problems are due to poor or no maintenance despite the municipality disclosing plans before the monsoon season to tackle the inevitable flooding that occurs every year. Claims are made of preparedness but these plans seem to be only on paper.

A tale of survival

It is ironic that a season that is looked forward to in India with great anticipation turns into a tale of survival, of vehicles and people trying to negotiate their way through knee-deep water on main roads. One can only imagine the plight of those living in remote villages.

I am so glad that my childhood memories of the rainy season are limited to some discomfort experienced while waiting for the school bus, refusing to wear a raincoat that interfered with freedom of movement and, above all, the exhilaration of playing in the rain and kicking puddles. Parents of that generation were not overprotective and let us indulge in activities that were relatively harmless but brought so much joy.

Even if we developed a cold and cough, we were not fussed over and neither did we make the most of an illness when we knew we were to blame. The time spent in braving the elements to search for red velvet mites and sailing paper boats in little temporary streams is memorable.

As the saying goes, some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.

Vanaja Rao is a freelance writer based in Hyderabad, India