Rain Rain Come Again????

Monsoon and Waterlogging goes hand in hand in any part of City in India. Even though our Country is rain-fed country and our agriculture economy is dependent on rain, then also, every year as monsoon arrives in India, we can see a big hue and cry going on each and every channel and newspaper on how waterlogging and flood is devastating people’s life. In so many years not proper effort is being made by the people and the government on conserving this rainwater whose abundance for 2-3 months becomes a problem and then we keep  on crying scarcity of water in the country throughout the year.

At present around 9 states are fighting flood disaster in the country. Out of which the most surprising are cities and villages of Rajasthan.

Though I am not a technical expert but these water logging situation strikes every mindful Indian how come flood occurs in so many cities and towns at a time. A few days back there was hue and cry all around the country of low and scanty rainfall and suddenly 9 states are floating. Is there something we are missing?

Just a few observations which struck me and can be one of the reasons for rain turning to waterlog/floods are:

1. ·         Our city planning. As our population is increasing, the need for shelter has destroyed the drainage system plans. People have occupied the area found empty in and around the drainage area and slowly filled it up for their convenience.
2. ·         And in the majority of villages, no drainage plans or system exists at all.
3. ·         Same has been done in ignorance by government agencies responsible for repair and maintenance of roads and sewage lines. They cover all the inlets of drainage as there is no one to oversee the work when going on.
4. ·         Nor even the people are responsible enough, they cover the drainage line outside their home so that their home campus looks neat and clean not understanding they are breaking the whole sewage system
5. ·          Or throw garbage on drains, and thus the drains are overloaded with plastics and other heavy garbage, and not able to let the water move and flood the area.
6. ·         One of the other reasons can be cementing of lands for housing purposes. Due to which the seeping capacity of the land is decreasing and turning the area as waterlogged.
7. ·         The water bodies like ponds, wells, and lakes have been filled by the people to use it for their residence, where excess rainwater used to collect in past years thus saving the area from flooding.
8. ·         Lack of creating water reservoirs on a personal level, which can be later used in household.

In states like Rajasthan which were supposed to be drought proned and receive scanty rain suddenly gets flooded. It also can be seen positively as the area has been well planted with trees and thus resulting to weather change and area turning to rain-fed area, but it also shows how weak we have become in our civic planning. It also shows we being the heirs of Harapppa and Mohen jo daro, have forgotten our civic sense though we are much modernized than they were. We all have studied how systematic their city plan was and how well built and maintained their drainage system was, but in this modern era, we all have forgotten those civic plannings as we have become very self-centered. When we build our home, we keep in mind our internal drainage system, but forget the maintenance of public drainage system, nor do we bother to remind the public who is not maintaining it. Many places lacking public drainage system at all, people have formed their own small drain outlets and thus resulting in water getting logged in different places. It is also a surprise that in my region where the public is conscious, the waterlogging was overcome. While in other areas especially in small Galis(streets) and overpopulated areas where people have barged in footpath or drainage area, the area noticed waterlogging, slowly turning to flood after 3-4 hours of rain.

    In our area we make it point to clear all the drainage points as monsoon starts, we do not allow people to throw garbage on drainage line, and most important, while repair and maintenance were going on in our area we did not allow the drainage outlet to be covered with stone but asked to put stones with holes that were made to cover drains so that water can flow through it.  Majority of people all over India thinks it’s not their duty to see what roads construction and maintenance people are doing and ignore it, but NO, we need to understand, roads, its repairs, and maintenance are being done for us, and its being done from our hard-earned taxed money. So to get it right is our Right. We as a citizen need to get responsible in  our deeds towards the maintenance of places we live and in our civic sense too. After the country is ours, the city is ours, the area is ours, and the government is BY THE PEOPLE and FOR THE PEOPLE and not a separate agency.

            

The Systematic plans Indus Valley Culture

City Layout Of Mohenjodaro

A Cycle Ride that Changed the Trend of the Village

When I was in class 8 and my sister in Class 6, we were given a cycle to ride upto the school, since the transportation cost till our schools were an extra burden for our parents with high education fees. With that our frequently increasing school activities as we were going to the higher class, was difficult to manage through rickshaw driver as our commuter.

So on our birthdays, we were gifted a cycle to ride upto School. And it was a day of liberation, we could now not only go to school, but attend our sports day, and other activities in school which we didn’t earlier. With liberation, we also faced lots of criticism from our neighbors, villagers and many hooted, which we have to bravely face. Time passed by, we sisters graduated our higher secondary and left our village for our further study. But then came the change behind us. We were among few girls from the village, who studied in Convent school. In villages quality of education for girls was not bothered about. Slowly now parents in the villages wanted to educate their girls like us, but again the good schools were at least 5-6 km away from the village. Then came the mode of transport chosen by us as the only option for them. The cycle became a common mode of transport for the village girls who wanted to study in good schools or even pursue their colleges.

Unaware of all these, one vacation we returned to our hometown. The next morning I was amused by seeing so many girls on the cycle in their school dress. Later when my neighbor aunty came to meet me, hearing I have come, she told me that after you both left all those who opposed our school going on the cycle, has bought a cycle for their daughters and they are going to school and pursuing their studies. Also, I was told of the stories of groups of girls beating the hooters who tried to tease them on their way. I also met the girl whom I have taught when I stayed, she came and thanked me and said we sisters are an inspiration for all the girls in the village, we dream of studying like you and pursue further studies later. She also told me that since you dared to cycle to your school and college we were also allowed by our parents.

I never knew that one move of ours would become a reason for such a big change in the village. Though the whole school life we felt like an offender and unsecured and felt all eyes staring us, but our parents kept guiding us, motivating us and we also silently followed it or else we may have to drop our education. But our patience paid.  I was happy and proud of my parents; they trusted us and dared to take that first step which became liberation for the whole village.

I narrated this incident of mine in an effort to creating a book called “That Takes Ovaries” by Rivika Solomon. I am happy I became an agent of change for my village. And this change has lead to so many other positive changes, like coming up of good schools, girls into vocational courses, girls choosing a career before marriage, education being taken seriously…

Its rightly said If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a girl you educate a whole generation. 

Add caption

MY COMEBACK

2010....to 2019... it is a long time...but still not enough....

2010,I decided to bring my career life to hault for my family which I were trying to build.

Nine years were quite long and unending....lots of energy went...raising kids…..Fulfilling my family duties and trying to make society and family believe that I AM COMMITTED TO FAMILY AS I AM TO MY CAREER.

It’s a tough life of a girl in Marwari community who wants to pursue her career after her marriage. A conception is built around the girl, that she will not be committed towards family if she pursues her career, will not take care of the family, will escape her duties etc, etc...

Though the girls are allowed to study as much they want and parents are quite "Open minded" till it’s their daughter, but suddenly become orthodox and conventional as it fall down to Bahu or Daughter in law. They want a homely girl or the girl to quit their career and become a homemaker once married as making ends meet is not an issue.

But it becomes so difficult for a girl to been born and brought in one set of mindset, where there is no restriction or bar for anything and then have to live her second part of life in a very orthodox environment.

My nine years were full of  such emotional sway,  sometimes where I were proud of my decision to quit, sometimes I were regretting the decision. And later I understood it all depends on yourself, people in society are meant to gossip on whatever you do. So you need to be firm and know what you want from life and move forward with focus and determination. If things go right you become an inspiration for society and if things go wrong you become a matter of gossip.

These Nine years have been full of experiences sweet and sour, good and bad, and years of self exploration and exploration of family's and society mindset, Which I will be sharing in my coming write ups slowly.

But I am also happy that I can make a comeback for myself. I can again get back to living for  myself too as an individual, along with being a family member. And to tell you, living to ones satisfaction is very necessary to keep other in family happy; if you are unhappy you can never make others happy. Though it took  Nine long years to realize,but I am happy I realized.