My husband generally comes home by 7.30 P.M. every day. But yesterday I didn’t hear the door bell ring till after 9.00 P.M. I greeted him with a snarl instead of a smile. But after my initial, unreasonable outburst I calmed down because it was actually not his fault. According to the metrological department, Delhi had received its highest rainfall for a single day this month on Wednesday. Till 8.30 P.M. yesterday, the city saw 58.8 mm of rainfall. Though the rain brought respite from the humid conditions, it also lead to massive traffic jams and waterlogged streets at several places in the capital. Due to the downtrodden condition of the roads, almost all roads get waterlogged in rains. This results in breaking down of several cars, causing further jams.
My husband told me that traffic signals had stopped working at several major intersections. Officials said that the signals were sensitive to moisture and sometimes got switched off due to heavy rain. Imagine the chaos on the roads when the visibility is already poor, the roads are in pitiable condition and there are no traffic signals to maneuver the traffic.
In retrospection of my days in Chicago, I can’t think of one rainy day (or for that matter one snowy day) when I had to face a situation like this, in spite of the fact that Chicago experiences more adverse weather conditions than Delhi. There, the temperatures dropped to even -30 degrees centigrade, but the roads were made drivable within minutes or hours of snowfall. There were cranes and heavy trucks patrolling throughout the time it snowed, to remove snow from the roads. And rains had never been an issue of concern as far as driving on the roads was concerned. The roads were never waterlogged, traffic signals never broke down (just because of moisture) and it had never taken us 2 hours to cover a distance of 2 km.
Just analyze the vicious circle we are in. Our mobility and activities are restricted when the sun blazes with full flurry. We pray for some respite from the hot and humid conditions. And when God answers our prayers with rain, we are struck again. The thermometer might show a drop in some degrees but the mayhem in our lives and growling of people continues……
What is our government doing to improve this condition? When will it stop waiting for the temporary patches of brick and sand (that it puts to cover the potholes) to erode with the rain water, so that it can repeat the process again? Why isn’t the budget allotted to the construction of proper roads used for the right purpose? When can we start to even dream about enjoying a long drive on a smooth road when it rains?
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