Karachi and the ‘joys’ of rain

The ‘joy’ was short-lived and electricity suppliers, waste and gutter managers seemingly disappeared from the city

Finally it poured and it really did. Karachi and the rain gods rarely bond, but when they do they create quite a show. Generally, the rain gods are mild and pleasant. Thankfully, despite glimpses of their anger, they haven’t unleashed their full fury on the city yet.

In the days leading up to the intervention by the rain gods, Karachi was sweltering, the sun scorched remorselessly for months as a vast majority of the 20 million inhabitants cried to the Almighty for mercy and cursed the authorities for power outages.

Once the rain started, the cursing continued and continues as the ‘joy’ of rain was short-lived and electricity suppliers, waste and gutter managers (cleaners) seemingly disappeared from the city.



For the umpteenth time came the realisation that we are rarely ready to embrace the joys of life, the chaos that has descended on this sprawling metropolis besides the lack of infrastructure has left us grumpy and nauseatingly annoyed to such an extent that the city has almost forgotten what happiness really means.

Heat is a test, rain is a test, winter is a test, spring and autumn are stern tests; Karachi, with its mind blowing population growth has increased in numbers dramatically, but perhaps has decreased its capacity to celebrate life almost as rapidly as it has ‘grown’.

But all isn’t doom and gloom yet, while driving around the puddles of water, one saw hundreds of children enjoying the rain with the innocence and uninhibited happiness that can be only experienced in our early years.

The children, whether from poor localities or the most affluent of neighbourhoods, cared little about their whining elders, they were hardly cursing at the authorities either, for them those puddles of water meant more than an Olympic-size pool. All sorts of games were being played, there was fun and unbridled joy for all.



These are the moments that they will cherish the most in their years ahead before they embrace adulthood and jump on the bandwagon of their cursing elders.

For the next few seasons though the children in their single digits and early teens will continue to pray for rain, more rain, more power outages and more puddles of water, hence more hours of unbridled joy will surface all over Karachi.

Rest assured in the meanwhile we, adults, will continue to rain down curses.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.