First rainy day of the season

The parching summer is cooled off in Mumbai with the advent of first shower of monsoon. Everyone felt relieved…umbrellas, raincoats came back in action. As it is said and well experienced- nothing can stop the pace of life in this city. It was first day of it pouring down… morning rush hour; road was full of vehicles as usual, the traffic not paying too much attention to the thin layer of rain water sheet passing under it. I noticed few stretched umbrellas in the middle of the road. They were moving in a certain pattern… as my vehicle reached nearer I realized they were the municipal workers; clearing clogged drainage chambers..some of them had rain-shield, some didn’t but their work was on… ‘remove the sludge from the chamber and move it away’ . I was shocked to see some of them carrying the sludge in their bare hands! We all are well acquainted with our system’s late realizations regarding management of their responsibilities. If the cleaning job is done before advent of the rain then such critical situations could have been avoided. Even if it is too much of a responsibility to keep our over loaded public services out of menace; can’t the authorities equip their employees with basic accessories of gloves and umbrella or rain coat! Isn’t it a shame for all of us who call ourselves proud residents of the democratic India? Or it is best example of our negligent, reluctant nature! Workers whom we describe as fourth grade workers, who clear the dirt we all pass out from our homes to the public areas, are denied basic care for a living being! The sight was very moving…. I felt ashamed.. but what did I do… I only drove my car ahead.