Rain brings more agony than cheer

GURGAON: Early monsoon showers on Thursday evening turned out to be a bane for city residents, leading to water-logging and chaotic traffic, instead of offering the expected relief.
Though there was no significant change in the temperature, which dropped from a maximum of 36.9 degrees celsius to 28.5 degrees celsius on Thursday, the showers brought the city to a halt by causing heavy water-logging at major junctions.
Udyog Vihar was chock-a-block after the rain, which continued sporadically for around two hours in the evening. Traffic moved at a snail's pace as cars, auto-rickshaws and trucks moved bumper-to-bumper on all roads leading to the national highway.
It was much the same on Old Delhi Road, which was inundated with office cabs and private cars in the evening throughout the period it rained. "It took me nearly half an hour to enter Delhi from Kapashera. Traffic snarls are common during peak hours every day, but the showers made it worse," said Sumit Dagar, an executive with an IT firm on Old Delhi Road.
Things were not much better on Golf Course Road, where the rain added to the woes of pedestrians, left with little space by the ongoing Rapid Metro construction.
"The road connecting Golf Course Road to Sector 56 was water-logged and jam-packed today," said Deepak Sharma, a social activist working out of Sector 56.
Traffic was held up on MG Road too. "We avoided MG Road as the entire stretch from Building No. 5 in Cyber City to Sikanderpur was blocked, and took the highway instead," said Ashok Kumar Singh, who works in Grand Mall.
Megha Jha, who commutes daily from Gurgaon to Delhi, said, "It took me around two hours to reach home from office today. Usually, it takes 40 minutes."
"We changed routes thrice to avoid jams, but all routes were the same due to heavy water-logging," Jha added.
Ashita Modi, a student who lives in Sector 7, said, "Jams have become part of our lives in Gurgaon. It is an unpleasant experience for all, and today, killed any respite we might have felt due to the rains."
Rainfall is expected to continue in the coming days too. A Met official said, "Skies will be cloudy and the city will experience light rainfall all through the week."