The incessant rain has been rather strange for Bangalore. We do get rain but nowhere like the solid sheets that have been coming down the last few days. Infact the rain has been so heavy so many parts of Bangalore have been flooded.

Bangalore was a city with 425 tanks or more when it was first established. This was made in the wisdom of our forefathers as Bangalore is on a plateau and the tanks helped the farmer carry on his agriculture. The lakes filled up with water mainly during the rains and were lower than the rest of the city. They had Raja kaluves which were canals which helped channel the water towards the lakes. With the city growing like it has, greedily eating up all the land everywhere, storm water drains have been illegally been built upon and the lake beds which were dry have been surreptitiously turned into layouts.
So, where does all this rain water go to now?? It has no where to go, because houses and apartments are built where there were lake beds. So it creeps in and fills them up as water has to go to the lowest point. Nature is just recovering what is rightfully hers. Too bad if you have built there and parked your expensive car as well.

I stand watching the rain lash down at around 2:30am this morning. The branches of the tamarind outside are swinging around in the sheets bucketing down. I wonder about all the poor in their shanties. How do they handle the down pour? What about those who have no homes and sleep on the roads? They must be huddled in some corner away from the wet.

What happens to the birds and the stray dogs? Where do they hide? I can hear the neighbours dog set up a howl. He seems to hate the pouring rain even though he is tied in a nice little room. He howls till the security guard lashes out at him to shut up. He whimpers and is quiet.

And then I look down at the next door basement and I can see a huge flood of brown creeping in. It’s terrifying to see how it moves across the floor, spreading with immense speed and my mind goes to Hurricane Harvey and the devastation there. There are horrible pictures of people exhausted sitting on their roofs. Others are sleeping on the top of kitchen cabinets. Boats rescuing shivering and hungry people. Marines and veterans going out to lend a helping hand and save lives.

I finally shut all the windows after checking on the intercom with the security if our basement is safe and go to sleep. There is a brand new Merc there and I am concerned – not mine, but still.

The next morning I can hear the familiar sound of workers coming in to clean up the basement next door. Buckets and brooms and today a pump to shoot the water out.

Then I dress for college and decide to wear my water proof shoes to be safe. Thankfully I did as almost every building on Richmond Road that I pass has a pump going sending jet of muddy water out onto the road. I have to skip across the road to clear the crowd and land in a puddle which I safely tip-toe out off and onto the dry pavement on high ground.

Maybe we will soon need a wardrobe for the rain like my cousins did in Goa. Most definitely with the way the roads turn into rivers every single day.