By the Yamuna

Last week, heavy rains in Delhi brought life to a standstill. There were unimaginable levels of water-logging in many parts of the city, proven by shocking photos in newspapers in which a bus and an elephant were almost submerged!

Water levels rose rapidly in the Yamuna river, which flows through the city. Usually, I don’t give much thought to the river; it certainly does not seem very beautiful or impressive to me, sadly due to lack of action by our authorities. (Where do those millions go??)

But over the last two days, this perception changed as I went to work early morning. Driving past the river, I could see a noticeable rise in the water level, and was shocked to see the trees, farmland and huts, in the low-lying areas, almost submerged. I take the route every day but had not seen this scene before. People who lived in those tiny huts were now putting up in tents by the roadside. Till now, I had only read about these reports in newspapers. On the second day, as we again drove by in the relative calm surroundings at 6.30 a.m, I noticed the people going about their daily lives. A tea stall had come up near the tents, children were running about and one woman, oblivious of her surroundings, was busy in tying her sari.

Their uncertain fate made me think. How more days would they have to live this way? The government must had provided them these tents. But I don’t think these people would receive any more attention from the authorities, given that everything in Delhi right now centres around the Commonwealth Games and even if any activity isn’t remotely connected to them, it can still be safely attributed to the CWG.

Watching those people in the tents made me wonder how life would be if we had to live like that for a day. I don’t know how those people earn a living, or what they think of the future. Blame it on my city life, but their lives certainly don’t seem planned, considering even a place of living is not permanent. But such are their circumstances.

Final thought - the swollen river looked beautiful to me for the first time yesterday, as the sun rays glistened over the vast expanse of water. Isn’t it ironic?