HYDERABAD: The rains that swelled the Musi this season have reopened questions Hyderabad has long sidestepped. As B.V. Subba Rao, former chief engineer in the irrigation department, who has studied Hyderabad’s water bodies for decades, put it, “Musi abhi bhi zinda hai (Musi is still alive). Their relevance to Musi is direct since both stress that narrowing floodplains pushes water into streets once the river loses its soft edges. Narasimha Reddy, managing director of the Musi Riverfront Development Corporation, wrote: “Our plans are based on the floodplain and the impact studies, with an action plan for mitigation. It was in its space.” The river did what it always has, and whether Hyderabad chooses to respect that space will decide what floods look like in the years to come.