Hindustan Times
Rained in
How many times will we say, “Delhi collapses every time it rains”? We have said that four times already this monsoon, or perhaps more. Though it hasn’t rained that much, but the few times it did, the city collapsed.
Office hour traffic, which is usually quite slow, goes down to a crawl. Distances covered in five minutes take an hour or more. Sometimes, the jam begins just outside the colony gates.It can get boring reporting the same chaos, with the same or similar heading, with the same quotes about how politicians are taking the country to the dogs and that the babus are all corrupt.
But should we stop reporting them, stop getting angry and let it become as much a part of our lives as is corruption?
Easy, no? Every time it rains, just stay home. What’s the point? Leaving home means getting stuck in a traffic jam. You may as well stay home and call Aroraji for a DVD.
But I don’t think we should give up. We will continue to get angry and continue to write about how the authorities have let Delhi get to his situation. Why is it so difficult to see the city through a rain?
Is it the metro construction? Or is it the Bus Rapid Transport System? Or the rapidly multiplying vehicles? Or the choked drains? Or all of these factors and a few lazy officials and politicians?
There was a time when driving around in Delhi rain was an experience, or just walking around.
It was especially beautiful in college – the plants and flowers looked livelier than ever, and the breathtakingly stunning Ridge across the road took on an eerie look, under a thin veil of an after-rain mist.
I guess you can still sit somewhere and enjoy the rain, as long as you don’t have to go out. But back then, driving or walking in the rain was never as daunting an idea as it is now.
But by simply getting angry about it in the newspaper is unlikely to bring some kind of sanity back to this most beautiful of cities. But what would? Nevermind.
We will do a big Page One package again today, and a double-spread inside, in the metro section. We hope and plan to put some senior minister of the Delhi government in the dock.
And the government has a lot of questions to answer — five girls died in a rain-driven stampede in an East Delhi school. Who is to blame – the school authorities or the government?.
Delhi is in a bad way. And only a miracle can help it through the Commonwealth Games next year without an incident. Can you imagine what a rain as big as this can do, with the world watching us?
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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If national capital can collapse within half hour of natural rainshowers and chief minister openly admits that nothing can be done regarding traffic jam and waterlogging on roads ,then it shows what kind of governance we delhiwallas possess.This also tells about the utility of crores of funds spend on drainage/,roads etc.Govt and MCD are busy in mud slinging at each other as usual.
Its not only clouds but also crime and lawlessness which are raining in delhi in full bloom.
Fate of commonwealth games are quite obvious in such precarious situation.
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yashwant raj Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
a very grim picture that one, and every bit true
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I completely agree with you. When civic chaos reaches this frequency and magnitude, the most we can do is drill the point home to the authorities - that this is not ok! Yesterday, on the radio, one channel was speaking to representatives from the various concerned agencies - the MCD, Jal Board, Traffic Police etc. and all of them had the exact same answer. There is lack of coordination among the various agencies. There needs to be a coordination committee. And with that one statement where the buck was passed to a nonexistent ‘coordination committee’ all the speakers decided that the fault was not theirs but of the problems of a larger ’system’. How can we get any of these agencies to at least take some measure of responsibility??
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yashwant raj Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
really don’t know what will work here — inspired leadership?
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D10 Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Perhaps… inspir-ing leadership might be a start. Of course such a leader will need to be superhuman to survive in the murky mess that is our ’system’!
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Iron gets corroded, but it has to be repainted to save it from deteriorating..can we live with a rusted iron fence until the day it rusts away and no longer acts as a barrier. Its the same with news, we all know whats happening, we all bear the traffic jams..but how many of us raise our voice against it, even if we do, is it reaching where it should?Accidents happen, laws are broken..but can we make it a part of our life. We can’t and for that we need someone to wake us up and drill in some sense. News has a major role to play in our life, it encourages us to speak up, it makes us aware of the fact that we are not alone who are facing certain difficulty, there are many others…the so called rooz ki baat would one day become our past if we take a responsible step today………and who would ring a bell……. its a folded paper that knocks our door every day waking us up from our lazy slumber.
A newspaper is an extension to the common mans voice..so that it reaches where it must reach….its only then that loads of such questions would find their answer.
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yashwant raj Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
u r right. some of us will be soldiering on, no matter what
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Oh why is the life of poor Indian children cheap? Neither heads will roll nor anybody responsible be punished or corrective actions taken?What would have happened if a VVIP’s relative had been killed?Why are Indians so callous and indifferent to lives of the poor can anybody answer truthfully?
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yashwant raj Reply:
September 12th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
i guess we don’t care about anyone, not the rich, not the poor
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If Kalidas had been born in Delhi, there would have been no Meghdootam. He might have written something about deluge, even when Delhi has scanty rainfall all its history.
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