BHOPAL: The city woke up to a sun-drenched morning on Thursday after a long spell of soggy weather. During the past fortnight while Bhopalites slept, and while they woke up, it was wet weather.
It rained drip, drip and drip by the day and night. A huge canopy of clouds seemed to have covered the city. It was upon the Upper Lake, upon the buildings, upon the hillocks and upon the woods.
So, it was not surprising that, the sunshine brought smiles to the faces of the residents in the state capital. They looked relieved. The weather was so bad during the past fortnight that, the liveliest imagination could scarcely apprehend that it would soon be fine.
It rained so hard and so long that the gates of Bhadbhada dam had to be opened 19 times. The amount of rain the city has received has surpassed the record of 38 years.
The roofs of most of the houses leaked. The clothes, the books and the unused utensils were sodden. As the sun showed its face from the partly murky and partly clear sky, people took their clothes and household items to their roofs to dry out such things.
The stray animals were seen roaming around the roads after lying torpid for a few days. They too seemed to have welcomed the sunny day.
Nevertheless, many villages across the state are still under flood water. The rescue operation by the teams of the army and those of the police are still going on in the flood-ravaged areas.
The bright day may have brought happiness, but such joy is unlikely to last long, because the weather will soon be sticky because of the heat the sunlight will spawn. As long as there is moisture in the air, sultriness will remain.
The Bhopalies then have to wait for some time more to get the real feel of autumn. It will begin only when the northerlies disperse the last vestige of rain.
The ferocity of seasonal diseases like viral fever, dengue and malaria will be terrible. Such diseases have already upset many a household in the city. It may continue till the winter sets in.
But the rain-fed city looks more beautiful. The trees are glistening. Nonetheless, since the school of clouds has yet to drift away, and since the flocks of heron and those of crane have yet to descend on the city, it is likely to receive more rain. It so happened in the evening after the sunny day.
By ARUP CHAKRABORTY
