November 1, 2005
Water, Water EVERYWHERE
Most of you must be familiar with the calamity that hit Mumbai on 26th July, 2005. That’s right, the deadly rains. Here’s my experience and what I faced on that fateful day……
For the first time in my entire life, I saw the rain in its true colours: floods, mayhem, destruction, death. I don’t think Mumbai has faced such a disaster in a long time. Here’s my detailed word-to-word account of that soaking wet day.
Tuesday, the 26th of July. An ordinary day with college lectures for me, work for others, school for kids and light showers that kept the weather pleasant. At 2:40 p.m., our Vice-Principal interrupted the lecture and announced that we were to leave at once since trains were seemingly stopping. We rejoiced. It’s not everyday that we get to escape from our lectures with permission and free attendance. All of us gathered in the foyer (the college hangout) to find out if the rumours were actually true. Well, after taking one look outside, we finally saw the pouring torrents that we had missed in all the joy and happiness. Damn. We had to go home after all. But atleast it was to be fun what with the rain and all my friends.
We reached V.T. Station a little damp, full of energy and confirmed about the rumours. The Central Railway Line trains had stopped working. Most of us were lucky since we travelled by the Harbour Line and till date it had never failed us. So we all got into the jam-packed 1st class compartment and waited for the train to leave which was about half an hour later. Everything seemed to be fine and we sang songs, enjoying the wind and water. Then the train slowed down and came to halt a little after GTB station. We waited for a bit and tried to be as positive as we could till we found out that three trains were on hold ahead of us. Other women in the compartment were already disembarking and walking towards the Eastern Express Highway. At about 5:00 p.m., five of us friends got down and ran towards the 2nd class to get the other two from our gang. The rain seemed to have sensed our necessity to get home soon and came down even harder, fogging our sight and slowing us down immensely. The rails had disappeared under the mucked up, garbage filled flood. We just blindly walked till we reached the highway. We were somewhere near Koliwada and it was a long walk to Chembur (My homeland), so we decided to take a taxi and drop off everyone on the way.
Well, just imagine our utter helplessness when not a single taxi or auto would even move from their spot. And so, we started our trek to Chembur where we were to stay in either my house or Uma’s (another Chemburite train friend). Now let me tell you that Chembur is NOT hop-skip-and-jump from Koliwada, well, maybe by car or train but walking, nope. And knee-deep water did not make it any easier. We had to take a long-cut that would take us to Uma’s house, since the original route (leading to my place) was extremely flooded. This route involved a highway jammed up with vehicles and overflowing with water. The roads were filled with people like us, returning from work and college, who were also walking back from much longer distances. It was like some sort of marathon except that the universal purpose in this case was to get home. After about two hours of an exhausting walk, we finally got an auto to help us get to her place since we were bushed. It was quite a squeeze but we managed upto her place. Unfortunately, her colony was built on a lower level and her house was on the ground floor, so there was a risk of water getting into her place.
There was a total blackout, no water supply and Uma’s mother was kind enough to provide with towels and dry clothes. After calling up our folks and leaving all our stuff near the candlelight to dry, we all huddled up together on the bed and on chairs and once again, sang songs. It was actually fun, having a sudden, unplanned for sleepover. After dinner, each of us started taking turns to collect water and throw it out, as the water level in her house was a foot high. We had to move over to their neighbour’s place on the 1st floor for the night. After a rather uncomfortable night’s sleep, we went back down for tea, the next morning. The rain had reduced to a drizzle and the water had receded out of her apartment. Finally, my driver arrived and after dropping off the rest of my friends to the car that was waiting for them, he gave me a ride back home.
Well, it was great to be home again and towards evening the electricity and water had also come back. College was obviously closed since a lot of students and professors had stayed over there itself. It was definitely one hell of an experience and I can actually look back and feel happy that I got to be part of it. The aftermath of the rains wasn’t very pleasant as a lot of property and lives were lost. The government couldn’t have done much to help at that point. It was us, Mumbaikars, who took the situation in our hands and helped the stranded public by providing food, shelter and aid. Amazing, what we’re capable of. No one would have thought that so many people, young and old, would come together to keep the city from falling apart. A pat on the back for every person who helped the city through this rather splushy patch.
It’s almost been a week, and again the rains have reared their ugly head, except that this time, people were prepared for it and control measures were taken by the government too so that they didn’t have to take blame for maladministration. Although, at first, I enjoyed the prospect of not having college for a few days, I am thoroughly bored of staying at home now and am actually praying for the trains to start working so that atleast I get to meet my friends if not anything else.
Well, although this is the worst a metropolitan city like ours could go through, hopefully things will get back to normal by next week. Soon we shall get back to complaining about how hot it is and how we could do with some rain (its monsoon after all). And again the rains will be back as bad as before, pouring fresh pails of water over the city. That’s the Mumbai monsoons for you.
Warshhhh at 10:23 pm