Hoorain woke up with the sound of little drops of rain falling on her windowsill. The refreshing scent of sand mixed with rainwater wafted into her room from the open window, reminding her of those beautiful times when she had danced in the rain with her friends.

The wind changed direction suddenly and blew into the room, bringing in the soft raindrops as a welcome guest, touching her skin and bringing a smile to her face.

“I wonder if mum would let me go out and play today? She would force me to eat eggs and bananas for breakfast first. Ugh!” Hoorain said to herself.

She was excited at the prospect of playing in the rain, running around the streets that would be so clean now, all the dirt washed off. The trees would shine greener too. The sky would be bluer.

“Everything is so perfect in the rain. I wish it would rain more and more. I wish it would rain all the time,” Hoorain thought excitedly as she ran to her mother.

“Mother please! Let’s go out and play. Ask dad to come home so that we can go somewhere. The weather is so good. I want to enjoy the rain.”

Her mother kissed her on the forehead and told her she could go out and play in the garden. She also told Hoorain that the rain is not always good for everyone. But Hoorain paid no attention to her mother’s words. She could not understand how rain would bring sorrows to anyone. To her, rain was perfect, Allah’s blessing. How could it not be good?

Hoorain prayed, “Dear Allah, please make it rain more. I want it to rain all day so I can play all day. I love thunderstorms. I love it when lightning flashes through the sky and turns the clouds purple. Although they scare me sometimes, I love them. I love seeing the rain. I hope it rains for the whole week.”

Hoorain kept praying and praying for more rain while enjoying her peaceful and fun-filled morning.

On the other side of town, Zainab woke up with the sound of her anxious mother, worrying about the water dripping down from the leaking ceiling. She was frantically trying to put buckets on the floor under the leaking ceiling, so the water would not go around the whole room. But it had already gotten most of the floor wet. It had been raining since the morning. Her mother had not slept properly, worrying about her home.

It was raining heavily now. Zainab’s mattress had started to get wet too. Worry lines formed on the forehead of her mother.

“I’m sorry my child. I am helpless. We just got the roof fixed. Now it’s leaking again. I don’t know what to do. Your father is trying to clean the road outside, with the neighbours. The street drain is blocking up. There is so much rubbish outside, the water cannot flow away. It’s not draining. If it keeps raining, the dirty water could come into our homes. Oh, I do not know what to do!” Zainab’s mother cried with despair.

Zainab tried to comfort her and kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t worry mother. It will be alright. Everything will be right.”

It had been so long since Zainab had been able to enjoy the rain. She couldn’t go out to play like the other kids when it rained. She had to mop up her house and help her mother. She had to clean the muddy unplastered floor of the house.

The condition outside her house, in her neighbourhood, was no better. The roads got brown and dirty with slushy mud. Plastic and trash would be swimming around. People around her street would be in despair, not happiness, whenever it rained.

“Dear Allah, I had always heard rain was a blessing. Why is it not for us? Why has it become something my parents dread? Why can I not play in the rain and enjoy it? Why does rain bring disaster and leaking roofs and floating rubbish for us?”

In her heart, Zainab talked to Allah, while looking at her parents’ worried faces. At that moment, the clouds clashed together with a thundering sound.

“Please Allah, make it stop. No more rain. Please!” Zainab pleaded. “Please don’t let the dirty water flood our house. Allah, don’t make it rain at night. I want my mum and dad to sleep peacefully.”

Zainab kept praying in her heart, waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for the sky to clear, waiting for the black clouds to go away and waiting for the sun to shine.

There are so many people in the world who dread the rain. Rain can destroy people’s houses and belongings because of inadequate drainage system in our country, most areas become flooded, with dirty water making lakes in the streets, getting into the houses of people, causing traffic jams and electric currents. As one drop of rain falls down, the power grid closes down, cutting off electricity all over the city and stopping the cycle of life.

But most people are oblivious to the havoc rain plays in the city. It is not at all wrong to enjoy the rain if you can, but being considerate is important while praying to Allah for more rain, not realising what it can do to some people. We should ask Allah for rain to be a blessing for everyone, not just us. We should care about the people who, through no fault of their own, become the victims of this tragedy heavy rain causes. We should assist people who are facing trouble, and help in clearing out the water.

We should refrain from throwing rubbish on the roads because in the end, when it rains, all this non-degradable plastic blocks the sewers and the drains causing streets and whole areas to flood which is the reason for many road accidents.

We should pray to Allah during these times to ease the hardships of the affected people. And, most importantly, we should try to remember that for maybe us, we can enjoy and have a cup of tea with yummy pakoras with our family, while not so far from us someone’s belongings, clothes, books and so many other stuff must be drowning because of the heavy thunderstorms we prayed for.

May Allah make this rain in our city, Karachi, a blessing for all of us. Ameen.

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 13th, 2021