It so happened that me and my sister decided to go on a drive in the city in the beautiful monsoon weather on our scooty. We decided to have a drive of 11 kms to the P&M mall and way back to our houses that would give us enough time to enjoy the weather. Our notion about the ride was a lot of fun, but the fate had thought something other way round. Being new to the city, we had no idea what trouble could monsoon bring to us in the city.
We started our ride with the perfect weather. Cold breeze was blowing that seemed to soothe all our inner anxiety. The clouds were on the sky and sun seemed to be so merciful, unlike the hot summer days. Seeing the beautiful ambience outside, all the distress about the busy city life was vanished. We pulled up our socks and started the expedition with high hopes of finding the city a wonderful place to live in. But the stars had something else in store for us.
We reached the P&M mall in the city and found it really exciting. We had a lot of fun there. But as soon as we stepped out of the mall we saw tiny beads of water dropping from the sky. However, the rain was not so heavy that it would make us wet. We decided to pull on our scooty as soon as possible to avoid a heavier rain. On our way, it seemed that heaven had actually burst upon us. It was raining cats and dogs outside. Near Gandhi Maidan, we decided to take shelter. But looking for some place to stand was not possible. There were only males in every shop that we could find. Considering the recent Mumbai rape case, and the Delhi rape case, we could not have the courage to go and stand in a shop filled with men.
We moved forward despite the harsh rain drops pricking our bodies like needles. In Ashok Rajpath, there were young boys from 16-20 years of age howling and splashing water on each other on the empty street where the only vehicle seen was our scooty. They had cricket wickets, bats, and hockey sticks in their hands, as if they were going to thrash someone. They were 10 – 15 in number and seeing two girls alone on the road in such heavy rain; they could not resist but pass comments.
We finally saw a shop with two women and a man standing in the shade. We were going to park the scooty in drainage as the water had assembled over it and we could not see it just when the man warned us. We were thankful to him. We waited there for almost half an hour when the rain finally stopped and we started moving.
But this was not the end of our agonies.
In the Khazanchi road, water was knee deep and we had no idea about is so we moved in. Half way long our scooty stopped and it ceased to move. Just then, an uncle travelling in a rickshaw asked us to drag the scooty because it won’t start in the mid of the ocean at any cost. Fruit and vegetable peels, plastics, papers, and any kind of waste you can imagine was floating in the knee deep water. How could people be so careless to throw such things on the road. It was awful to put our legs in that dirty water. The guys swooshed apart us howling and passing comments on their bikes.
Fortunately we reached home safe and sound but the hospitality that the city gave us was no where next to nice. I acknowledge the good parts, like the people who helped us on our way and the mall that gave us the metro-city type feeling, but after that the rural part of Patna was portrayed on our heads as well.
This was an adventure but it could have been omitted just by the proper functioning of our government. I have never been able to understand why don’t they prepare good roads and drainage system in the city that could prevent water logging. I mean, if they eat up all the money required for this, don’t THEY face problems during such conditions? Why don’t people throw their wastes in the dustbins, don’t they feel bad about their own city being so dirty? Do the people in the city feel good when their boys come back from one night stay in the jail due to eve teasing or some other such crime? Why don’t they teach them moral values? If people are selfish, can’t they use it for good? Do they feel so glad when they see their very own Patna getting dirty, the place and the minds?
