It was raining heavily on September 24 in the year 2007. The rain started falling from yesterday. It was stopping for a few minutes and then again falling. People running to the local grocery for their rice and egg and other food items. Newspapers came pretty late today around 8:30 p.m. We generally read Times of India and at the top of the page which has become wet due to rain, I saw the T20 cup reminders and the hot story that India playing against Pakistan. The good news is that later that day India won the match.
I was trying to prepare myself for my office. Being a medical transcriptionist I work in a office at Gariahat in Kolkata. My shift was afternoon starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m. My father told me not to go to office. I became very angry and said, "No, I must go to office! You can sit and get your salary being a government worker but my company is not government sponsored, it is a private firm. I must go! I have some responsibility!" I dressed myself and took breakfast. I took an umbrella. I usually carry a 3-fold umbrella as it is easy to carry in a bag. I will buy a raincoat as I find that umbrella is no good when it rains heavily. Your shirt gets wet and in an air-condition room one catches cold easily! Anyway I went out wading through the dirty water clogged street of Northern Avenue in Kolkata. I started walking and went to the bus stand. I went into the bus but found that half of my pant got wet. In these rainy days, I had to use each pant and wash them everyday. Now washing machine has made it very easy to wash. Earlier you have to add soap and water in a bucket but mind that it is a good exercise to wash clothes and it helps you reduce fat from your body. Anyway, I should not give advise in this way. The rain was falling slowly and I went into the metro rail from Shyambazar. The metro railway provides its service from Dumdum to Tollygunge in Kolkata. The metro railways being more efficient the buses become empty during office hours. I took money from ATM and boarded the metro from Shyambazar. The metro ride being pollution free nowadays most of the people prefer it. The fare becomes cheaper if you use a multi-ride ticket. Spending Rs. 100 in metro you will get a card and you buy another 100 rupees ride you will get ride of Rs. 25 extra. In a Rs. 200, you will get Rs. 50 extra. So in this way your traveling to office becomes quite cheap. So I have bought a card which is magnetic and through a special gate which is at every station, you pass by punching it and the balance is struck off! So in Kolkata, traveling short or long distance has become quite cheap! Finally I reached my office in time and in metro you reach always in time. For this reason, there is such a rush. On the road, the signals and traffic jams spoil a lot of time.
I found that most of my friends came and after signing in attendance register, I started my work. It feels good when you come in a rainy day in spite of all obstacles to work. You feel you are doing something useful rather than a government office worker who just sign in and sign out giving hardly anything to the country. We try to make our job Export Quality. 'Export' is what I mean to say as the doctor's dictation gets typed here as per the American hospital rules and uploaded. This work done in India saves a lot of dollars and a large number of Indians engaged in this profession earns a living.
We work till we achieve our target as with this target and if you have the capability to score more you will be rewarded for it. So people try to work up to their capacity and the number of lines and the accuracy of each report is calculated to estimate the salary at the end of the month. Anyway my target was 550 and I achieved 572. I felt happy. In the lunch time, the rain was falling slowly and I took an umbrella to the local canteen at Gariahat where food is available. I took my lunch and came back. The drainage system still not improved in such a location as Gariahat and water starting to choke the area. I usually take a pan (a spicy preparation of betel leaf) but as it was beginning to rain heavily I never went there. I entered my office. The liftman goes to lunch and so I walked through the stairs. Walking up the staircase is good for your leg muscles. I worked till 4 p.m. and took tea. The tea is given not by any human being but a machine bought by my company from Nescafe. A coin inserted from the side gives you a cup of coffee or tea as you want. Two coins allotted for each person. The taste of the coffee or tea?? Robotic!! As I should say, done my machine, where you cannot say sugar less or give more sugar! As per standards programmed in it. Man is also like a machine, isn't it?? He carries on his roles and achieves up to his gene permits. In road, we have road permit that allows drivers to achieve upto a certain speed in their vehicles. In human life, his hereditary unit, the gene, is important that drives him and it is for this unit that he becomes a scientist or a layman or a writer or a philosopher!! We all know this but just trying to make a point in regard to this program. Sometimes I have seen people quite stereotyped in my office and you cannot imagine how boring a man becomes in this medical transcription profession. When I wanted to invite them to my birthday party, I mean "them" refers to my colleagues, they said later that they are busy or not possible as they have other important work.
My work finally ended at 7:30 p.m. My colleagues were leaving early. Some telling to supervisor about lot of water in front of office and near their home! But when I came out I was surprise to see for the first time knee-deep water at Nandy Street, such is the name of street my office stands. Actually we enter through the back side of the Ballygunge A.C. Market at Gariahat and the water has reached the stairs. The buses and cars are moving by and making huge waves. You will as if you are in the shallow river! I think that the drainage system should be improved substantially. Politicians do work only before elections and this work is nothing compared to the myriad problems we have in the city. The councilors do very little for the city. They only care for the city at the time of election when they need to get votes. They smile, talk sweetly with a lot of proposals they try to win the heart of the citizens! Anyway winning in the election is mainly through rigging and party influence in India. The party which is dominant in a region gets the maximum votes. Power is such a thing that it can turn a man into a devil. I say "devil" as the ruling party members are responsible for killing people and their sons do criminal activities and get scout free. Politics in India has become just like any other profession. Here you do not need an educational qualification. What you need is influence and good network! The party does nothing for the common man. Let me give you an example. Our tenant made a shop in ground floor. We want him to leave but in spite of notice, he is not ready to leave. We informed to the local party and the party member assured us that they will help us. But what we see is they are doing something which is for show! Practically they are doing nothing!
I walked with the streets full of water and went to the bus stand at Gariahat. Unfortunately there are no autorickshaw. There are water in the stand also. Many men and women standing there waiting for the bus. The cars are moving splashing water on us! We are standing as a crow soaked in water in the rain. The buses are coming and I took a bus to Rashbehari. The bus was overcrowded as people cannot walk in the dirty waters, so most of them prefer a bus ride! Anyway I took a metro at 8:04 p.m. and finally reached Shyambazar. But my worries did not end there! I was surprised to find that a lot of people standing in bus stand at Shyambazar Five Point Crossing. People running to and fro but unfortunately no bus of their desire. I had planned to take a bus straight to my home. But I found bus not coming which will take me to my home. So I decided to go near my home. I planned to go to B.T. Road. I took a bus and went there!! I found at the B.T. Road-Paikpara junction, a lot of people watching T.V. The final match of India and Pakistan are going on and people are enjoying the match! At the moment, I reached there India had already won and later I learnt when I reached home that the win is by 5 runs. Still India celebrates in a big way when it gets a win against Pakistan! Bombs are flung in air as the road is moist and full of water! The local boys are singing and shouting loudly in joy! They are dancing in the water! I felt a bit nervous! A guy in the street asked, "Hey! Are you a Pakistan supporter?" Then he threw dirty water towards me! I shouted and protested, "What is this?" Another guy chased me like a dog! I just walked calmly. An old man scolded and they finally stopped. I was walking as the rickshaw puller demanded Rs. 20 instead of Rs. 5 due to heavy rain! The charge is exorbitant! So I decided to walk. The rickshawpullers become sharks and the people who ride rickshaws are few in number. But does that mean that they will overcharge the few people who wants to go? I decided to walk. I walked through the waters and found another group of guys. This group is a mixture and they are singing but not shouting. I finally reached the road where my house is located. I found it pitch dark. The electricity not there! I carefully managed to get on the footpath as the road and the footpath is deep inside the water! So I reached the my home and shouted.
I washed my legs with antiseptic soap. The dirty waters can harm your feet and cause foot infection! In Hollywood movies, we see drains the size of a human being and even taller than him. A huge tunnel is built to drain water! But we do not have such drainage system! Our sewage disposal system is not up to the mark! If it rains heavily, waterlogging is a usual phenomenon. Whenever it rains, what happens is street gets waterlogged and internet connection is lost! We imitate Western culture but we cannot imitate their good habits! We have copied Western clothes, music, and wine above it. We take wine whenever we are sad and whenever we are happy! Under the consumption of alcohol, a man gets out of control and does what he is not supposed to do! The girls wear western wear and some guys rag them! The colleges are full of girls wearing western wear and the Christmas and New Year is celebrated in India as if it is our festival still the Christians are a minority in the country! Our society is changing. Globalization has changed human life in India. Now we have mobile and internet and some people have 2 mobiles. Sophisticated mobile phones are seen in the hands of ordinary men and women which proves that electronic goods are becoming cheaper and cheaper day by day.
Rainy season will be there but the rain is falling at the wrong time. The usual season for rain is June and July in India. But it is falling in September while in the rainy season, we do not see much rain. Climate is changing. Earth is gradually turning into a warm planet with the melting icebergs, and so low lying islands and people living near the water bodies are losing land. The melting ice in Antarctica may seem to be insignificant to our life but it affects the climate as we constantly pollute the environment more and more. So it is important to become conscious of the environment change and late little steps to protect our nature. It is this wonderful earth which helped our ancestors to grow up. It is this mother earth which helped us to evolve a culture suitable to our needs. So lets save the nature and prevent the loss of human, animal and plant lives from this global warming! I pray human being not to call God for a change but to use their brain to reduce the after effects of global warming! The harm that we have already made to nature cannot be reduced but we can always try to prevent further damage of nature.
