Sometimes When It Rains

By: Sadaf Chaudhry

When I think of rain I smile to myself and start thinking of times when being a child I used to enjoy it to its fullest extent, extracting all its pleasures. For me rain is always like a magical misty impression that brings the scent of wonderment and renewal.

It’s deliverance of eternal life by nourishing the earth and quenching the thirst fascinates me a lot. For me, rain is indeed a friend with many attributes that gives inspiration to poets, imagination to artist, scintillating face to earth, quenches the thirst of deserts, revitalizes our souls and makes us to forget our worries. But along with its mercy, it can also take vengefully. All its blessings are elbowed out when it rains for days without break and causes disaster in the form of floods.

Now rain makes me to think of people who belong to my homeland Pakistan, who are really in great nuisance, have nowhere to go because the over flow of water due to continuous rain has actually ruined their lives. The water of flood wiped off their homes, properties, livestock and their loved ones from the face of earth. They have no food to eat and no water to drink .The only water they have is rain water to drink. No homes just squatter camps and plastic shelters.

In 2010 it had its worst resulting from heavy rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions of Pakistan. According to statistics, one fifth of Pakistan’s total land area was under water, which is about 796,095 square kilometers; 20 million people were badly affected, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with the death of close to 2,000. The floods have ruined over 1,600,00 acres of crops and 200,000 live stock have died. The economy is at stake.

The devastation last year was not yet completely addressed and now we are facing it again.

Rain has its worst yet again this year and effected large areas in Sindh. Same hopelessness is prevailing again. Shattered and disappointed people are waiting for aid. Innocent children are roaming in rain water with bare feet with no worries of reptiles and dengue in search of food. T.V channels again started their campaigns for collecting funds for the victims of flood. Who’s going to get these people out of this turmoil? Are they meant to face this condition again and again?

Allah has given all the necessary things which a country should expect to develop itself. We simply need sincere efforts to get through from it. The cause of this flood in Sindh is that we don’t have enough Dams to store water. There is lack of determination on our government’s side which is currently a joke and has neither budget, nor the will power to help flood victims. So we have to recollect our lost will power and determination to make ourselves strong enough to plan draft of our own lives without looking for help from others. We have to stop looking for leaders to lead us we have to finds heroes inside ourselves.

Being a strong admirer of rain I frantically want to feel its pleasures again rather than its terror. As it’s so beautiful and evokes mirror interesting feelings, thoughts, memories and even hopes. I don’t want it to turn its mesmerizing effect to a disaster. I have always loved the rain and want to continue adoring it.

Photograph: Courtsey http://www.facebook.com/El.Arte.By.Reemz