Parmeshwar Devkota

Of four seasons, the summer is more disastrous when it comes to rain-induced calamities. In Nepal, natural calamities such as floods and landslides kill hundreds of people and animals, and destroy land, crops and property worth billions of rupees every year. Weather changes and natural calamities are interlinked. Meteorologists inform us about the weather pattern while geologists study the physical structures of earth. So their knowledge and insight will help us deal with the rain-induced disasters.
Meanwhile, poets describe the vagaries and beauties of seasons. Scores of poems written on summer by great poets around the world were scanned hoping that they must have contributed to human civilisation by making us aware of the summer disasters like landslides and floods as reported in Melamchi and elsewhere. It is said that poets possess far-sighted vision to see things far beyond than the ordinary beings.
In the medieval time, a poet wrote a poem titled ‘Summer is Icumen in.’ It is so superficial that the poet has just praised the singing of cuckoo, sprouting of seeds and bleats of lambs, cows and calves in this season. Similarly, Lu Sun, a great Chinese poet, gives huge importance to the season, but never complains against it in his poem ‘Summer.’
Famous poet Lekhnath Paudyal has written a poem ‘Barsa Bichar’. With 101 stanzas, this poem might be the longest one to praise the season. He has, on the stanzas 53, 58 and 97, cautioned about the damage it may cause, but his caution does not match with the destructions as in Melamchi this year.
William Shakespeare has written Sonnet 18 attributing to the Summer Season. But, the interesting thing is that he has neither cautioned the people against the devastations of the season nor has shown any example of destruction made by nature in the summer. He goes on praising, ‘…But thy eternal summer shall not fade. Nor lose possession of that fair thou Ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade…’. So, the Sonnet 18 is only a bunch of commendations for the summer season.
Such a great poet must have informed the people about the pros and cons of calamities in the summer. He spent his valuable time and energy just flattering the summer season. His sonnet has disheartened me. So, reading many poets, I came to a conclusion that almost all poets make an airy-busting, rather than an empirical observation.
On the other, geologists have geophysical and geomorphological knowledge of the land, vegetation and settlements they study. Mega projects like the Melamchi Water Supply Project hire geologists by paying millions of rupees in the hope that they would suggest where big structures and plants should be built. Geologists study rocks, muds and mountains and their strengths and weaknesses. On the basis of their study, they recommend right places for construction and relocation of the existing settlements and other structures. By seeing the Melamchi catastrophes, it can be said that if the geologists had given proper advice to the government and locals, there would not have been such huge losses of lives and properties.