BHOPAL: The citizens of Bhopal have had a real feel of the rainy season in this monsoon. The rain fell all over Tuesday and on Wednesday morning, yet the sky remained still and murky.
The weather can best be described as the one reserved for Ganesha Festival. The green leaves were being beaten off the trees by the steady downpour and were drifting about on the potholed roads which turned into puddles.
Darkness fell early — indeed there had seemed little light all the day. By the end of the afternoon, the dim daylight became dimmest, and the dusk descended on the city by 5pm.
The Upper Lake was full to the brim. Most of the rivulets, the streams and the mighty Narmada in the state were overflowing.
Cars drove fast and splattered the already soused pedestrians with muddy water, but the cool weather helped them keep their calm. Umbrellas and raincoats could barely help them shield from the pelting rain.
Clouds hang heavy over the lake, over the Shyamla hills and over the green trees that surround the state capital. It sometimes thundered with a lightning that pierced through the heart of the dreary sky.
The rainwater entered the houses in low-lying areas. For the slum-dwellers, the raw weather turned rawest. Power did not go off. Yet, darkness prevailed.
Old Bhopalites were, however, nostalgic about the day. They remembered how it would rain when they were in their spring.
The sale of tea, especially the one prepared with clove, cardamom and ginger, shot up. Pakaudi-makers added a few more pittances to their daily income. Every now and then a gust of wind brought more raindrops adding more delight to such a cup of tea.
Stray animals took shelter under bridges in Kasturbanagar and under staircases of old houses. They were also found at many ATM centres that they soiled. Some people fed them, but never bothered to keep the place clean.
The roofs of many houses leaked and rainwaterdripped down the walls which have been speckled with black spots.
Many a house owner kept buckets on the floors to prevent rainwater from spilling. The raindrops crept into rooms through windows. The sugar pots and the salt jars were, too, soaked. Everything looked drenched.
Chance foot passengers on the VIP Road were seen peep over the gray Upper Lake which, at some distance, seemed to have merged into the hazy sky. Clouds still cling to the dreary sky, and if it rains, the city is never weary.
