Delhi Rains Waterlogged Roads

At last when the rain god sent showers across Delhi, it had a story to tell. July 27 was late enough for the rains to come to this part of the country. The earth was already parched and the agricultural fields had gone hard and dry showing off cracks, revealing their real account of thirst. The heat and humidity had become unbearable. With no timely monsoon, people were left with no other alternative except pray for the dark clouds to come and open up. At last the rains came bringing with it a mixed bag effect on the lives of the people.

As the drops of rain began to fall there appeared smile on the faces of the people that was soon to vanish when the roads began to get waterlogged. The early and late evening traffic had to spend long hours on the roads due to heavy traffic jam. Traffic came to a halt on waterlogged stretches sending the signal of the callousness of the civic authorities of this city. The rain brought with it water logging, caving in of a road, traffic jam, vehicle breakdown and long hours spent on the road to reach home. The traffic signals stopped working causing chaos and in many areas water entered into the houses. It was a wet day at Delhi’s airport too. There was rain water flooding at the domestic arrival terminal causing inconvenience to passengers. Many flights were delayed and many ended up missing flights as they could not reach the airport on time.

The MCD’s tall claims that the city would not face water logging this year was simply like words from a fairy tale. With more rains life in this city could turn nightmarish and one may have to take the help of boats to move about.

All this leaves behind a question; “How come the MCD is not prepared to meet such challenges in the capital city of India?”

Food for thought: This is Delhi Meri Jaan.

Delhi Heat and Humidity

The first week of July has gone but for Delhi it is still the hot summer days the people of this city are facing. Reeling under heat and humidity, the city’s demand for electricity is demanding. The maximum temperature at this time is above 40 degrees and the minimum crossing the 30 plus mark. There was fluctuation in the humidity level, moving between 70% and 42%. The high humidity level is making life so difficult with a feeling that the temperature is more than recorded by the Met office.

The Met department does not stop with their babble of the monsoon. They make predictions about the coming rains but their words end up with a blank. People’s faith has now revolved on God to whom they pray if not openly but in their hearts for the rains to come and cool this burning earth.

Without the rains and the rising heat and humidity, Delhi’s electricity demand has gone up. If we are to go by information, electricity consumption in this city on Wednesday was 4,408MW, something that Delhi is seeing for the first time. And why not, the air conditioners are running round the clock as most households use AC’s to get respite from the heat. The air coolers are non-effective due to the humidity.

The worse part is some parts of the city is facing power cuts and anger rising. There is no fixed time for power cuts, it may just vanish at any time of the day or night leaving the consumers facing heat and sweat with anger.

Now the only thing that remains is a prayer to the rain God to come and bless all with His downpour.