When Rain Turns Rogue: Monsoon Madness in Our Cities


Rain is something I adore. It’s like the best friend who adapts to my mood. It seems like the weather is gloomy, and sad, when it’s raining and I’m upset. Other times when I’m happy, the rain feels pleasant, and joyful. Unlike my overly-hygienic parents, I don’t mind being soaked by nature. To be honest, rain is therapeutic. Unless you live in cities like Buner. That’s when it becomes a pain in the whole body. Quite literally.


This year’s monsoon season definitely broke more than a few records. Even developed, metropolitan cities are going through serious hell. Let alone under-developed cities like Buner! The destruction caused was INSANE. Forget swimming classes, the monsoon teaches you the freestyle stroke whether you like it or not. I could’ve never imagined, the guy I assumed was my best friend, would have the ability to kill over two hundred and forty, living, laughing humans! I thought rain was that chill friend who brings snacks and vibes, but turns out he’s the kind who eats all your chips and leaves your house flooded.


And what about cities like Karachi? In Karachi, you don’t need to book a waterpark ticket anymore. Just step outside, and boom—free slides (courtesy of the open manholes). Water has flooded the streets like a whole river! Except this water is still, and can probably—definetely— help Dengue mosquitoes to breed. And let’s not forget typhoid, and malaria. How could they possibly leave Dengue alone? Of course they have to tag along. So, not only did this rain make the streets a literal swimming pool (with muddy water), it has also increased the risk of more deaths through the diseases! 


It’s like an endless death loop! Or we could label rain as a “serial killer”. First degree murders: directly killed hundreds of people by drowning them, or destroying their place of stay. Second degree murder: giving the opportunity for diseases to spread through the water, causing more illnesses, and deaths.


At this point, I’m scared I’ll get cancelled if I confess my love (now weakened due to broken trust) for the rain! I’ll never see him the same way again. I expected better from him. But, you can never trust anyone. They will always betray you, embarrass you, or leave you dumbstruck. But yes, I still love the rain (some habits die hard). But next time it knocks on my window, I’m double-checking if it brought an umbrella… or an eviction notice.


Ironically though, the monsoon is supposed to save us from heat-waves, and the blazing weather. Instead? It gave us boat-waves in the street! Like a child offering to help their mother in the kitchen, to make her work easier, but causing another mess. Funny as it is to imagine cars floating like toy boats; behind every joke is a family stuck in knee-deep water, praying their house survives the next downpour.

(Jokes aside, I hope the people of cities like Buner, Karachi (and other cities colossally affected by the rain), are doing all right. May they recover from the impact, and have patience in this difficult time. Maybe someday, rain will go back to being that chill friend I once trusted—until then, we’ll keep our umbrellas close and our patience closer.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Teachers, Give Us Our Lunch, Not Your Life Story

Image
A tragic tale students know too well.    This title is probably the most universally familiar topic among students. Doesn't matter if you’re a topper, or an average student. Every person has gone through this tragedy, where they have to give up five prestigious minutes of lunch break. Usually, it's the teacher explaining homework from 2070, or just summing up the lesson—which honestly seems legal, considering how often it happens. I mean, the teacher’s just trying to cover the stuff we are learning. But the only situation that gets on my nerves is when the teacher keeps us waiting, because she’s telling one of her old tales. Like, I'm sorry you didn't get into Med School—life's tough, but girl, this isn't therapy. We just want to have a bite of food to put up with another 3 hours of blabbering teachers. It’s even worse when the teacher isn’t even telling us some educational, or motivational story, she’s rambling about her dog’s death. Like... sweetie, you want ...
Read more

Over Thinking: The Hobby I Never Asked For

Image
   Over Thinking: The Hobby I Never Asked For By Hoor Fatima Listen up folks, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, we've all got that one prestigious, addictive "hobby" we never signed up for: overthinking .  My best hypothesis is that it’s high in nicotine, that’s probably why it’s so addictive. But, on a serious note, we are the chosen ones, the "Over-thinkers." Who else would meticulously plan every detail of a birthday bash or re-analyze that one millisecond eye contact from five years ago? Only us. Now, let's cut to the chase, the reality of being an over thinker is nowhere near fun . I don't suppose sobbing in your pillow for thirty-minutes straight just because you thought someone was waving at you, but they were waving at someone behind you, is fun. Being an over-thinker is like a scientist scrutinizing everything about their experiment. We just have this habit of re-thinking, and over thinking the most basic, harmless interactions. Why? Mostly because we'r...
Read more

Washroom Wars: A Tale of Two Toilets

Today was my first day back at school, and I have to say, the washrooms are still a disaster. I mean, we pay thousands of rupees in fees, but our washrooms are like a bad joke. Have you seen the state of our girls' washrooms? It's like they're trying to make us cry... or maybe that's just the smell talking. So, our girls' washrooms have these pathetic doors. The locks don't work, and you can't even close the door properly. It's like a game of chance. Will you get the one with the broken lock? Will you get the one with the door that's stuck? Honestly, what is the school staff even thinking? “Hey, let's just leave it broken and hope no one peeks in!” Like, who thought this was a good idea? "Let's not fix the doors, let's just hope the girls can figure it out!" And then there's the water situation. It's like a mythical creature – we've heard of it, but we've never seen it. Is water in the washroom? No, it's a le...
Read more