After two weeks of heavy rain, I am breathing a little easier — as a resident of Whitefield in Bengaluru. Menacing clouds scud overhead, but the sheets of water have abated.
Meanwhile, social media reveals the pulse of the people. Viral content shows abandoned vehicles floating or under water, tractors and their trailers laden with software professionals commuting to work and inflatable rafts being hauled by rescue teams with residents on board escaping from flooded layouts that are home to luxury villas. Black humour memes flood our mobile phones, even as our feet swill around in the bilges. Some discussions have turned parochial and even racist, blaming migrants to be the prime culprits. Politicians have waded in — only figuratively, of course. Most blame previous governments, while some blame citizens. Those in the ruling party seem irritable; one of its own rich supporters, who is not known for the use of temperate language, has been castigated by another for sharing flood-related photos, and giving Bengaluru a ‘bad name’.
Useful discussions that involve water and climate experts have them repeatedly highlight how we have encroached into lakes and watersheds, destroyed wetlands, reduced greenery and concretised lands, thus facing the consequences of our actions.
