Four fall guys on the water front

R .K. Laxman once drew a cartoon showing the Common Man perched on the roof of a flooded building which bore the signboad 'Drought Relief Centre, and a chaprasi, who had arrived in a country boat, giving him another one to replace it. The new board read: 'Flood Relief Centre!

- R. PRASANNAN

India's cities are trapped in the same binary-between the heat of hell and the hell of high water. Look at Delhi. The city is thirsting for water currently, with taps having gone dry and temperatures soaring to Sahara levels. In two or three weeks, Delhizens-that includes me will complain of floods in some parts and of waterlogging on most streets. It takes only days for the city and its citizenry to switch from groaning about no water to wailing about excess water.

No different are most other cities. The streets of Bengaluru were flooded during the rains last year; this summer the city has been thirsting for water.

Who are to blame? In the case of Delhi, it is four sets of people.