Dilemma over praying for rains!

‘Rain rain go away, come again another day’ is a hugely popular nursery rhyme and even at the age of internet, children love to listen to it online.

But people in Dhaka these days perhaps do not want the rain to go away. Most city dwellers pray for the rain to get rid of the scorching heat and humidity. Writers in Bangladesh have also romanticised rain through prose and poetry.

However, if it rains in this city, many of them, especially the commuters, regret their earlier wishes, seeing the collapse in traffic system and water-logging on the streets.

“Rain in Dhaka city is more of a curse than a blessing. It brings along a lot of suffering for the city dwellers,” said Monazzil Riyad, a private job holder, who travels around Farmgate, Karwanbazar and Panthapath areas.

He said he usually has to pay Tk 30 as rickshaw fare to reach his Karwanbazar office from West Razabazar. "Once it rains, I have to pay even double. Rickshaw pullers too face serious problems due to congestion and water-logging at some points," he said of his experience.

Dhaka in recent days experienced high level of temperature with rising humidity that made its citizens' life difficult. And so did the rainfall.

Dhaka roads see traffic congestion in time of rain and, thanks to the poor drainage system, many parts of the city remain under water for a few hours after the rain.

"Many may fantasise with the rainy season, but certainly not those who need to commute amidst rains in Dhaka city," said Naser Afzal, a banker who regularly travels from Badda to Motijheel.

"Roads in some parts of Badda see horrible traffic congestion during and after the rain. As some parts of roads are potholed, when it rains, they become deadly for motorbike and rickshaw riders," said Naser.

Rain is a respite for those who do not need to move, at least on a given day as the scorching heat affects life in every part of the city.

Many city dwellers express their feeling of rain on the social media. Some of them post photographs of rains and some even share quotes from pems and songs by the Bengali writers.

"After patches of such scorching days in the past one week or so, finally 'Here comes the rain again'!" Kamrunnahar Jebin, a student of Dhaka University's Rokeya Hall, said about the downpour she experienced on Monday.

"The cloud hovered over the Dhaka sky in the past couple of days but the much expected rain finally came today (Monday)," she said.

The day saw drizzles, if not torrential rains.

Dhaka city had a temperature of as high as 37.6 degree Celsius on last Thursday and it was mostly above 30 degree Celsius throughout the week.