Smart spells of rain over the past five days have wiped out the sweaty summer, pitting people against regular monsoon miseries.
Slushy streets have spoilt the pleasure of soaking in showers. The magic of music in moist evening balconies is getting drowned in fear of humm ing mosquitoes. Dark streets have swept post-dusk pleasure drives almost out of equation.
Still, people loved the sweet showers.
The city experienced 61.6mmrainfall from Wednesday to Sunday evening. More is in store on Monday.
The Patna meteorological centre has predicted light rain on Monday. It attributed the spells of light to moderate rain in the central and southern parts of the state to a low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal.
The low-pressure is expected to move from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh by Monday, reducing the frequency of rains. "A dry phase is anticipated in the next week because no fresh weather system is expected over the next few days," said a senior official of the city Met centre.
Residents enjoyed the debut of active monsoon to the hilt, especially in the weekend. Youngsters played soccer amid showers, inspired by Barcelona star Lionel Messi (Argentina) and his former club mate Alexas Sanchez (Chile) in action in Copa America.
"Football in rain is fun. We practice at Patliputra Sports Complex every morning. But players enjoyed the workout more on Saturday and Sunday amid showers," said Jai Kumar Singh, the coach and manager of Rainbow Football Club.
Soccer players and fans loved the sweet showers alike.
Sleeping till late in the pleasant weather conditions, architecture student Abhishek Sharma missed the engrossing Paraguay-Brazil Copa tie (from IST 03.000 hours on Sunday). "I watched the highlights later. The Brazil-Paraguay match, which the latter won in penalties, was a high-voltage encounter," said the soccer fan.
Abhishek was a tad disappointed for missing the live action because of monsoon laziness. But he, loved sleeping late amid the sweet showers.
For Boring Road resident Mukesh Kumar Roy, the showers made a perfect weekend. "The family spent the Sunday together at home. We had steaming pakodas in breakfast and a chicken dish in the lunch. If it rains like this, we might go to Vaishali next weekend."
Businessman Monu Agarwal did not wait. He went out on a long drive with his wife on Sunday morning. "Looking at the rain this morning, I and my wife decided to go for a long drive. We took the Patna-Bakhtiyarpur four-lane highway. Listening to romantic songs in the car amid rain in the vast landscape was simply amazing. While returning, we savoured delicious chicken nuggets at a roadside hotel."
Monu and his wife simply loved the long drive amid the sweet showers, which did bring with it a few sour side effects.
Unlike the businessman, several residents complained of dark and slushy streets. SP Verma Road, Sinha Library Road and Boring Canal Road were dug-up till Sunday for various civic works. Motorists had a tough time commuting on Kurji-Digha Road.
"The condition of roads is spoiling the pleasure of venturing out in rain. My mother slipped in a puddle at Shastri Nagar on Saturday," said Sheikhpura resident Gudia Pandey.
The death of a five-year-old girl after falling into a borewell on Sunday afternoon spoilt the sweet mood of several residents. "How come the authorities did not cover the borewell properly when it was located in a densely populated area? We will meet our councillor in a day or two and request him to conduct a survey of the borewells in the vicinity, said Amit Kumar Tiwary, a resident of Ashiana Nagar.
Against this backdrop, people turned wary sighting open manholes at Patel Nagar, Shivpuri, Anadpuri, Lohanipur and Kankerbagh. "We have targeted to cover dangerous manholes in the next 15 days," said a senior official of Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC).
The mosquito sting scare turned the taste of sweet monsoon sour for several residents, courtesy defunct fogging machines. "Residents in many areas have never seen anti-mosquito fogging," said a source.
Sweet weekend showers showered a few sour questions on the authorities for sure.
