The season of rain has now begun, officially. Freshness is all about. Our gardens, our walkways and our pathways are breathing life and hope. Flowers are in full bloom. There are colours and fragrance myriad in the air.

It’s a time of celebration, of things good and promising. Poets have hymns for this season. Philosophers have pondered at the magic and marvels of this wonderful time of the year. Growth and rejuvenation is by right our fare.

But this is also the season for some earnest soul-searching.  With rains come water, with water come filth and dirt floating and frothing on our roads and in our drains. Manholes burst to glory. All these, we bitterly bear.

More rains will come. Monsoon is in the offing. Soon our roads will be little lakes and small mire of dirty waste. Our drainage systems will all be clogged and strangled. It’s a picture that will turn bleaker for all we care.

And thus, the questions. Why do our drains flood wherever there is a little rain? And why do our roads hold water that makes driving or walking a difficult experience. And the flooding manholes are not a spectacle rare.

We are bad planners. Let’s face it, we are. It is the immediate benefit we look at and do not work for the long term.  We do not consider the public good so long as we are well satisfied. Good things come from thinking clear.

What we do not like, others will not either. But we go on with digging frenzy whenever we have a little plan for our house, for our office, for our cable lines. We tear the roads and bring down the walls without care or scare.

We all have our roles to play as members of a society to make our living space clean, safe and comfortable. We have laws and regulations. Too, we have planners and enforcers. Still rains continue to bring us woe and paining despair.

As monsoon arrives, it should prompt us to think how we should plan our roads and drains that will not give way to flooding waters. Standards and quality are the other names of development. Higher and better is what we must aspire.