The cleaning of rain

 

Rainwater is scientifically the purest form of natural water. However, my city becomes filthy when it rains . The yearning for rain in the sweltering heat transforms into dismay to find rain playing havoc with civic life .

The traffic becomes a nuisance with lack of drainage creating rivulets on crossings , below the flyovers , on service roads and everywhere. Somehow we could find feet to check if water exists on other cosmic bodies but could do little to harvest the drizzle and the heavy downpour on our own planet.

We could still live with flooded roads had not our fellow citizens found it fine to flout all traffic rules with utmost disdain , more prominently painfully during the rainy season. There is a license to cross the red signal and to drive in opposite lanes. Probably the absence of traffic police makes it very convenient to discard human prudence. It’s not only me first , it’s only and only me . The implementation of traffic rules is  also enforced  like a fortnightly drive rather than on a perpetual by default mode. You could go scot free despite driving in an opposite lane in your car in front of the police only because they will be only nabbing bikers without helmets on the day.

The battery rickshaws create their own rules, plying across any lane and driving anywhere. So do the delivery boys . The city busses too are not far behind . With the bad precedence set, others too find it somehow justified to replicate this anarchy. In absence of any shelter, poor bikers and pedestrians gather below any foot overbridge making it impossible to cross such places. As it is there are schools , stores , complexes , gymnasiums etc that get approvals to operate without any practical solution to the parking requirement of their clients. There is a frequent sight of at least one lane occupied by unauthorized parking on road itself.

Then the garbage that doesn’t get disposed off for days. The city becomes a dumping ground with filth gushing out all over. The water lines sometimes get burst with the infested water entering main stream easily . At many places water supplies get adversely impacted. Coleridge would never have thought of this sinister version when he famously penned down,“ water , water everywhere , and not a drop to drink “.

Rain is a blessing from the skies and a balm on scorching earth. Human folly somehow is adept in converting the boon into a bane . We recall having read in history that even Harappan civilization had a proper drainage system. Sadly, we have smothered the existing network, forget create new ones. With the pressure on natural resources being extremely high , it is only prudence towards using the resources which will allow life on the lap of mother earth. Cctv cameras can be installed on traffic signals with an online mode of fine payment to avoid the notorious settlement on the road. A pic of violation instance can be recorded for transparency.  Licensing to ensure adequate parking facilities on upfront basis. Drainage is to be made mandatory for any building,  flyover or township planning.

All said and done, courtesy begins at home. It is silly to assume that if we will not be caught while violating our life and that of others will be safe. Enforcement can be an exception and indicative, never universal.  The responsibility of guiding the new generation is ours. As a dad flouts all rules of road only to drop his son to school on time , the little one understands it is fine to replicate it someday . The onus is on us to start on time before it will be so late that we will miss reaching the destination despite all our crooked means. The day we decide to reach late as a penalty of starting late rather than press our accelerator recklessly,  the rain will become a soothing experience and a spectacular sight again.

Hope we return to that day soon .