driving in delhi rains


Rains Lash – Episode II

Rains lashed back with a vengeance, on Delhi.. yet again. Monsoons have arrived and as usual, this was followed by traffic snarls, water clogging and vehicle stalling everywhere. Somehow Delhi never seems to learn but I guess some things are never meant to change anyway. I was *REALLY* pissed this morning as I wanted to drive to office. Had some work to attend to on the way. With the heavens pouring their hearts out the way they were, I wasn’t allowed to take the car as I don’t have much experience in “monsoon driving” yet. There’s always gotta be a first step, but that was not enuff of a reason for my dad to let me take the car. “The brakes also seem to be having some problem and I don’t think you should be taking such risks”. Humph was all i could do. Eventually had to resort to going by the office bus. Gosh!! Such a waste of time and it also involved getting wet. (am not really fond of getting wet, am no rain dance person).
So there I stood infront of the gurdwara waiting for my bus, getting wet and wetter with each passing moment, clutching on to my pink (yes, that *is* the colour), transparent, Japanese umbrella as if it’s my boyfriend’s cosy hand (wry smile). Passing vehicles inevitably splashed me with more muck. Finally the bus came and thankfully the seats were not *as* wet as I had expected them to be. The rain had almost stopped by then.
I decided that I had had enough of a bad mood and decided to spend the journey (it sure is a long one from Delhi to Gurgaon) observing how monsoons change Delhi. Here are a coupla things I noted.
–Lush greenery was visible everywhere..everything was cleaned up and bright even though the same place would have earlier looked like a patch of wild weeds growing -unchecked.
–Birds dotted the electric wires! They shouldn’t have been doing that in this weather.. and surprisingly they were all sitting with regular equidistant intervals.. made me wonder about their sense of space and order :-).
–Monkeys (yes they are as free as us to inhabit Delhi) were enjoying the monsoon too. I spotted one looking heavenward and slapping his forehead. That one might have been imitating me had he seen me earlier :-P.
–Squirrels were darting about trees probably checking if their stocks were soaked or preserved.
–Waves and ripples forming in the water bodies that had appeared everywhere.
–There were no boundaries to the roads! All footpaths and dividers were submerged in water in many areas. One had to practically rely on instinct to drive or rather wade through the water.

Finally I reached *office*.. what an anticlimactic destination for such a weather!

Let the rain come down and wash away my tears
Let it fill my soul and drown my fears
Let it shatter the walls for a new sun

A new day has come-Celine Dion, A New Day Has Come
.. and a cathartic feeling has come over me…