The Drought V/S The Flood

[Gopal]

You must have seen the damage and the loss caused by the floods in the northern part of karnataka and the andhra pradesh, in recent 15 days. probably the worse floods this part has ever seen. the worse for this region, because you would be surprised to know that these are (were?) actually the drought affected areas so far! yes..it is true. my own home town Bijapur, always recieves below average rains all the years. and this year...it is totally opposite. my grand father who is 90 year old tells us that he has not seen such fierce rains and floods never ever in his life. then you can imagine the situation...

i was travelling to bijapur for some personal work and when i my mother kept telling me over the phone about the fierce rains, i took it very causually becaue i always knew it would be raining for a day or two and it would be ok. but when my bus got delayed due to rains and when i actually saw the rivers and streams flooding the surrounding villages, and people walking in waist deep water carrying whatever they could to a safer place, taking shelter in the camps, or moving to some safer place in any means of transport, i was totally silent. because this was something which i had seen happening is some other areas, and watched on television. but i had never imagined that my area...drought affected all the time...would be flooded! this is where i learnt the difference of watching such a situation on television, and witnessing the same, and there fore being a victim of the same on the nex level...(offcourse i am not the victim here...but even i had to walk through waist deep water to get to my home in bijapur city...)


then...this thought was rounding me up for a long time. Bijapur is such a place where people are so strong...bith physically and spiritually....so much that while being in a drought...there was not a single farmer who committed suicide. people have been living in little, with wahtever they had, very happliy. because this is the part where you find people who live with the Divine, with an unshakeable faith in Him. even though they are not having a piece of bread to eat...they are happy because they have faith in Him, that one day He will bless thm with the food. if you wish to see this power hope you must visit this area and live with these villagers for a while.

i never saw people with tears in their eyes here, in any situation. but now...the things changed dramatically. many villages are washed out completely leaving just a trace of someone human habitat. when eople see the remains of their homes....there are tears in their eyes...a sense of loosing something...offcourse not everything....but certainly something which belonged to them since ages and was standing unflattered so far.

when they see their farms washed out...theri efforts washed out....i felt this time they have also lost the hope....something which was so far not known to them....because for next one year....they dont have anything to satiate thier hunger, even minimum, which is grown by themselves....and not whty have to ask from others....

so was the drought better than floods? certainly..because there was hope...there was a hope that there will be a better tomorrow....

may be even now it is there...lingering somewhere in the corner, hidden beneath the cries and worries about the tomorrow....but till this hope surfaces.....the loss is still there..

may Her will be done...and may She heal the sounds....and may She bring the hope back to Her children....

[Barindranath Chaki]

Several part of India are suffering due to flood and drought and terrorism and economic failures, along with financial setbacks.

God is there. The Mother is there inspiring us ever with Hopes in spite of all the havocs.

The Governments are incapable of managing and preventing the situations. Perhaps, these things do not touch those who are in power and authority. Some of them evn think that the general people, who thus suffer. belong to 'the cattle class'. And the Honorable Prime Minister thinks that that was a a 'joke'. But a cruel joke indeed!

The People should be more conscious and awake and demanding, so that thesose in the management of the nation really work with responsibility.

Thanks, Gopal, for the vivid description!