KARACHI, Aug 3: After a prolonged cloudy, overcast month or so, it finally rained in Karachi on Saturday. There is a phrase in Urdu, abr-e-rehmat, which basically means a downpour after an inordinate delay signifying the blessings of the heaven above. It may have been the case, let’s say, 30 years back, when traffic, sewage and population issues hadn’t reared their heads the way they do now. In today’s Karachi, rains reawaken the romantic and cheerful person in you, but only for the initial 20 minutes. After that, it all gets messy, squelchy and soggy.

Those fortunate one who reached their respective workplaces before the skies rumbled and roared (and on occasion let out a sound like to a shotgun shooting competition) cocooned themselves in their offices or stuck their necks out the window to gauge how much water had accumulated on the ground. But those who missed the boat, literally and figuratively, by the narrowest of margins in terms of time went through a watery hell to reach their destination.

First of all, as has been the case with Karachi for the past decade, there was so much water on the main thoroughfares of the city, leave alone smaller streets and alleys, that they disappeared into the muddy water making vehicular traffic almost impossible to move and pedestrians to wade through. A colleague, who looked like something that the cat dragged in, said while driving to the office he couldn’t go beyond the second gear and will check the gear box of his car first thing Sunday morning, that is, if there’s no rain.

Some people opted to hoof it, no matter the distance, as could be seen at the Metropole roundabout where people lost hope in public transport and walked all the way either to their offices or back home. To be honest, nearly all of the public transport buses, whatever number there was on the (watered-down) road, were more than packed to capacity as commuters were seen hanging off doors or precariously perched on top of the buses with little support.

It is on such fateful days that you can sense how cruel as a society we’ve become. The cars and motorcycles that conked out due to excessive rain in the middle of the road had their drivers and riders in a tizzy. They frantically looked for mechanics and if someone was lucky enough to find one, the amount the mechanic charged merely to drain the water out of the vehicle’s system made the car driver look heavenwards helplessly.

The rickshaw and taxi wallahs had a whale of time. They charged as much as they wanted for as small a ride as let’s say from Lucky Star to Shaheen Complex. There’s no room for haggling with them. On a rainy day, Karachi’s rickshaw and cab wallahs become the epitome of smugness.

Having said this, it was not a gloomy day all along: some heartwarming scenes could also be witnessed on Saturday. For example, an old man who could barely walk was helped by a young man on I.I. Chundrigar Road, who held the oldie by his arm and made him cross the waterlogged road, waving the traffic to slow down with his other hand. Yes, both were soaked to the bone, but the elderly person managed to go where he wanted to.

And for those who screamed at the car and bus drivers who splashed water on them while they were trying to cross the road, well, it never rains but it pours.