
Connected with covalent bonds of one Oxygen and two Hydrogen atoms, I am a typically colorless, tasteless, odorless and harmless fluid. Regardless of the politics of the city or the socio-economic status of its people, I follow two simple rules — the laws of physics and the laws of gravity. I must confess that I also love to follow the principles of Greek mathematician Archimedes, while deciding to float or sink the ego and the vehicles of the rich.
Cities like Karachi have been doing their best to trample and suffocate my existence by blocking every passage, slope and artery that restricts my natural flow. They built houses and roads on paths that were mine, leaving me with no option but to look for new by-passes. Little do humans realise that they exist because of me, and not the other way around. I was choked to an extent that I had no choice but to fall back on physics and gravity. Executing the old adage, “water seeks its own level”, I decided to enter the homes of those whose insatiable greed for “plotting” and incomprehensible incompetence in planning had caused me much pain and anguish. I entered their basements with vengeance, destroying their fancy furniture, fittings and facade. I submerged most electrical installations to give them a taste of life without light.
I demand an unobstructed and dignified gravity-driven flow, without ever having to come in proximity to your dysfunctional sewage system. The rich must know that I do not need the permission of their armed guards to follow the laws of physics.
Naeem Sadiq
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2020.
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