Deluge in Delhi

For those who believe that good and bad are relative terms, please read on. It rained in Delhi for an hour. It was a Sunday afternoon and after a week of high humidty and temperature rains were a welcome change. But for those who had to travel and for those who have some experience of living in Mumbai! I unfortunately qualified for both the categories. The eight km journey through the city to the railway station took me forty minutes on a Sunday afternoon on Delhi roads. Both sides of the roads were flooded and traffic could move only on the inner lanes of what are usually six lane roads. The entry to the New Delhi Railway station was in knee deep water and the site was more like a third world Venice than that of the capital of an aspiring nation. The two municipal bodies of Delhi have long ago abdicated their civic responsibilities and are engaged politicking, most of the work is outsourced to contractors although there are scheduled departments and workers for all the jobs. So it has been an excellent case of outsourcing without cutting back on internal staff [a situation Americans would have loved].

For once, I felt happy that I was returning to Mumbai. I of course with the typical survival instict of a Delhiite manged to board my train on time. Others I left behind were not so lucky. My neoghbourhood in Delhi was hit by a cable fault which was temporarily repaired late at night.

As my train sped away from Delhi, I was wondering what would happen if it rained for two days in Delhi. Thankfully mother nature has been very kind to Delhi and it is unlikely that it would ever rain as hard as in Mumbai and Kolkata. This would of course, leave the municipal officers in Delhi enough time to do what they do best - petty politics.