The rain, destruction, and the lakes . . !


FOR week I’ve been hearing the sound of the pitter patter of rain outside my window, but was told that though the rain was falling in the city, it wasn’t falling in the lakes, which meant that after the monsoons retreated there would be a scarcity of water in the city. “For the lakes to be filled, you need strong winds to blow the rain clouds inland, and over the lakes,” explained a friend to me.
The strong winds obviously didn’t come, and soon a twenty percent water cut was introduced in the city. A twenty percent water cut when announced transmits into a fifty percent cut, as the municipality never announces the severity of the cut they make. And then the strong winds came. They came with such force that today’s newspapers reported that trees fell, a landslide happened and old buildings collapsed, even as people got electrocuted because of the floods. “The lakes are filling!” said, the same friend to me gleefully.
“Thanks!” I told my friend, because he reminded me that beyond the immediate, which was trains not running and water getting into home and streets, there was a big picture being created, a picture that told you and me, we could be in the happy position of having water without a cut for the next whole year.
And my eyes stray to the same newspaper which reports the floods, the landslides and no mention of the lakes, is it doing the same with this pandemic? Is there a bigger picture forming in the background that no one is talking about? Has there been a bigger awareness that life is short and all the politics, and money building is futile because we may not be here tomorrow? Are we still involved in property disputes with a brother or sister, fighting over a piece of land, which this pandemic might never allow us to build on? Even as the newspapers point their cameras on the virus stalking outside our doorsteps, and forcing us to shut ourselves inside, have we found joy in a long lost friend calling to ask how we were, and being happy for the concern shown? Maybe, a relationship growing stronger, bonding taking place during this lockdown?
Have we found during this catastrophic time, that our faith has increased, our righteous living grown more pronounced and a sense of stillness and peace quietly taking over ourselves? That, dear friends, is the sound of the lakes filling even as the winds, the rain and the floods make their presence outside! Lift your gaze beyond the virus..!

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