Nov 07, 2005

"RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, COME AGAIN ANOTHER DAY"

I always felt that this is a line which will never be uttered by the Chennaites. Rain has been so tantalizing to us for the past 5 - 6 years.

There had been times when we try to reach the water in the well, directly with the mug. My father used to proudly say that when we started digging the well, we hit the ground water at 25 feet. But, within a span 5-10 years, we saw the mushrooming of innumerable flats and the water level has taken a severe beating. The past 5 years of water scarcity made us bore the ground close to 150 feet in search of the waterbed. There had been special poojas to God in the temple, that the water level does not trickle down further.

But Sunday had been a worse day!! The torrential downpour had caused severe clogging. A special mention of the Govt Official who paid specific attention to the fact that the road work is not incomplete. It has not been laid for the past 1.5 years. To add to more woes, they took enough care in an uneven spread of the stones. It was pointed out very clearly that the road is slopy and the water may drain to one side of the road. The water started clogging in the house and had been to alarming level. We really got panicky as there was every possibility that the water will enter the house. All the important items were shifted to a higher plane, with the major confusion on what are the things that are important?

It is really disheartening to see how poor is the city infrastructure!! This rain has been the yardstick to the poor planning of the city. We always complain and crib, but the answer to the question,"who will bell the cat?" remains elusive forever.

P.S: Thanks to rediff and dinamalar for pics