PART - II, Where am I??

As Ravi edged his behemoth harder, he filled his faith on two things.. One off-course one was himself and the second was the 268 hp engine under the hood of his car. He turned up the volume of his music and oblivious to him, he had switched on a loud Hindi hip hop music which was never his taste. It some how soothed his jittery feelings. He was finding it hard to feel the road, but he kept raving the engine up. All off a sudden he realised that the water had climbed up to his window mirror and he could not see the car hood. He did not know what to do, and in all that his leg seemed to have automatically kept pushing on hard on to accelerator. The only solace was that there was no body in front of him.. His BMW felt like a bullock cart trying hard to move. He could sense that his back tyre was drifting towards right and it was having difficulty to find a grip.

He yelled out, "Good Lord, once more pls... I need to reach home... Help ME!!!"

It was as if his words were heard, the engine roared harder and made its way ahead, he sensed the water level around him was going down. He was able to see his car bonnet clearly now. Water kept receding. He looked at his rear view mirror for a second to see what had happened. That is where he realised that the water seemed to have been gushing out through one of the streets like a river and he happened to have just crossed a "Sangam" (River meeting the sea).  He made a silent prayer and thought all was over and he is now safe, oblivious of what was waiting for him ahead. He kept pushing his car and finally took a sharp right as he entered the community complex. It was a big one with apartments and Villa houses in the community. Ravi had never bothered to take notice of any of these or anything. Most of the times his focus was on the client calls that would last him till the time he reached home. Today he realised that it was after years that there were so many families and he had never bothered to think about any body there. He crossed the apartment complex and turned left towards his Villa rows which was lined with shrubs and some trees on both sides of the road. His house was the fifth as he entered the street. He could see Maya on the porch, eagerly waiting for him to come home. He cut left to park his car on the dry porch. He missed to see that there was a small stream of water flowing on the street. As he got down, he could not resist but hug Maya. It was Ravi more than Maya who was searching for reassurance of things being ok!!

They got in and Ravi got into playing with both his kids who were oblivious to what was happening outside. Ravi did not talk about his recent experience with Maya. He felt at ease. As the evening went on, the rain went on pounding as if it was angry with earth for some reason. By 10 pm he stepped out to the porch and was surprised to see that the water was at the porch and he was not able to see the small grass patch in front of his house. He sensed the porch bulb flickering. At that point he felt things to be really going bad with this non stop rain. He thought of the rain water drain and made a point to talk to the association, with whom he had never connected. He checked his car lock and then stepped back into the house, locking all the doors. Maya had ensured that the kids were tucked well in their bedroom in the first floor and had headed back into the living room on the ground floor. Ravi was in the kitchen making a coffee for them. He loved his late night coffee which he had got addicted to for the past three years now. He gave a cup to Maya and sat down on the sofa watching the news. News as usual was about things that never bothered the common man in the country but with sensationalisation every time. He was switching channels to see if there was anything about Chennai rains, but that did not seem sensational compared to the stupid clips being played over and over. Five mins later Maya asked Ravi "if he heard something unusual". He turned the TV mute but could not hear anything. At that moment he felt his feet wet. He looked down and looked at Maya asking if the Kitchen sink was open. She rushed in and found everything in place. She could sense that the water was coming from somewhere else. She looked around. By now Ravi was curious too and he looked at his main door and realised that the water was seeping in through that. He rushed to open the door. The moment he opened it, a gush of water rushed in. With lots of difficulty he could slam close the door. Water had entered his house and was seeping through the gap below. Not sure what to do, he told Maya go to the first floor, she insisted to stay on... Maya freaked out saying water was coming in through the kitchen door too... Now water had spread all across the ground floor like a carpet cover. Ravi put all his DVDs and surround system on the sofa and started to move up on the stairs. As they both moved up, the electricity went off but he knew that the DC will be up and running any second now. They waited as the seconds turned into minute, Ravi was slowly feeling the panic that he had inside the car. "My Car!!!"  Ravi freaked. Even before he could take a step forward, Maya held him saying "not now, let the water drain off. I am sure, this will go away". In the darkness he thought that was a better option.

They headed upwards as they could hear the kids calling for them. They got into the kids room and stayed there. They kept talking to kids and to each other as what would be happening below. Ravi said we can check it in the morning. In the darkness both of them slept off along with the kids in the same room. Ravi woke up and checked his pockets for his cell phone but then he realised that he had left his cellphone in the ground floor. He scrambled for a torch that he had never used. It had been lying patiently there in the cupboard gathering dust. He fumbled on the torch switch, which was not willing to switch on. He yanked it and at last there was light. He headed down towards the ground floor. He could hear the gurgling sound more clearly and now he was feeling tensed. As he reached half way down, he saw that water was already 2 feet in his living room and the steps seemed to be disappearing faster under water.  He felt scared, in the darkness he stepped back not sure what to do... He went back into the kids room and woke Maya up quietly. He told he what the situation was below. They both stepped out and watched what was happening to their beautiful house while feeling helpless. Maya reached out to her phone and checked the time, it was 4.30 am in the morning. Day light was still away!!! Maya thought for a while and left to her bedroom, she pulled out a bag and put in some of their clothes and also of the two kids. Ravi asked what she was upto, she stated it is a feeling if the water comes up at least we could have some for a change. Ravi did not argue with her as he was more lost in a state of shock.

The minutes were horrifying to wait, they could not sleep. Ravi could feel that the rains have abated for a while and now there was a mild drizzle. By 5.45 am there was a little bit of light, and he rushed towards the balcony to make sense of what was happening. He was shocked at what he saw and stood by the door of the balcony. He felt as if he was on a boat with water everywhere. He had a helpless feeling.  Maya came behind her and freaked out... she could see cars floating on the road right in front of her house. The next thought was where is their car and how would it be. By now, Ravi had reconciled to the fact that, save ourselves and survive. This is not an ordinary day. The next biggest thing was hunger, what will they eat and their kids... They had to hold on... Fortunately the rains had stopped but the water was gushing out with ferocity in front of them. If was as if they were staying on the river banks. Ravi saw a lot of his neighbours for the first time. All of them started waiving to each other and asking about their physical well being. He was responding to them but they all were worried. As the day wore on, the food being less they were managing with some biscuits and the water bottle in the kids room that Maya had brought last night. Every hour was agonising and the feeling of helplessness was becoming stronger. None of them could come down or move. The only solace was the balcony as someone or other was there on their balcony. They were trying to call for help. Some how to reach one another. The kids were getting hungry so somehow he and Maya asked for some food help from their neighbours. With what ever they could manage to get, they fed their kids. They stayed hungry with nothing much to do. The evening was more agonising as it was pitch dark and the torch light was also dying. The kids slept off hungry and Maya could not bear the helplessness that she was felling. She broke down and wept hard. Ravi was clueless. They had tried to reach out to their friends asking for some help. More so, food for the little ones. But so far not much that could be done.

The second day by 6.30am, Ravi could see someone coming towards their streets. He was stunned and it felt as if someone had chocked him, his voice could not come out. There was some noise from the neighbours. Hearing the voices, Maya had come out onto the balcony and started asking for food too, with a hope. The boatsman had exhausted with what ever he had by the time he reached Maya's balcony. He said in a very calm voice, "Ma, don't worry help is on its way. I will come back soon with food and milk for your kids." It seems eternity when after 2 hours the boats man back again. He had given some food and milk for the kids. He turned around and was about to leave, when Ravi pulled out a 500 rupee note to give him. The man said, "Sir keep it, I do not need it. Take care of your family". He had made 8 more trips that day with many more unknown faces who had food and some bedsheets to use. Ravi had put his hand forward when ever there was a need. Now more shamelessly for his kids and wife. Maya had not been sleeping. She would be looking at the ground floor with fear of the rising water and the other was the anxious eyes searching for some food and freedom.

The next day, as the water started to reduce there was hope of getting down into his ground floor.. Ravi was stunned by the impact. There was still knee deep water but everything of his beautifully  decorated house was destroyed. The sofa was on top of the music system. The new gas cylinder was floating around... more so, there were fishes everywhere. He ran up with tears in his eyes. Maya understood that the house was in shambles... They heard some announcements happening outside, and realised that the association members on their big apartment complex are asking them to come out of their houses so that they could feel the dry places that they have arranged in the nearby school. Maya was in a state of shock. Ravi was no better either. They got their kids and the little bag that Maya had got ready on the first day and got into the boat without any questions. They wanted to get out. As they moved out and came to the school, they were given new mats and bedsheets by their neighbours.

They had a proper bath and got to a corner of the school room. Ravi had put forward his hand for food. Maya had clutched her kids and slept off knowing that they were far away from water and were in human contact. She had not slept properly in the past three days and slept off.

Ravi ate the sambar rice that was served to him. He ate as if this was the first time he was seeing food. He broke down and wept like a kid. What use was his BMW, Villa, position in office, bank balance, foreign travel when all he wanted was a safe place for his kids and a three time meal for them. All of this was just his ego which was of no use when he really wanted. He made a resolve then and there to start connecting with people, helping others there and support in what ever that he could do.

He had just stepped out of the corner to go and help in the cooking when he heard Maya yell, "the water is coming up... Ravi help!!!"... Ravi ran back to her and hugged her, trying hard to comfort her...

It is two weeks now, they had gone back to their house. Cleaned it and trying to settle things. But still Maya has the fear of water gushing in and was finding difficulty in sleeping. She would wake up every now and then and check with Ravi "where am I??" Has the water come into the house??...

This Chennai Floods has brought in many of us come close to reality and the real meaning of life....

PART I - Where am I ??!!

Where am I?? A question that the Maya kept asking every 2 hours...

After so much of struggle and having come to big city, Ravi wanted to make it big. A dedicated employee and had been a fast tracker all his life. If one had to look at his resume one would be stunned by the kind of growth and roles he had performed. He had always felt good about his growth and spoke about it often. He had been married for the last 10 years to Maya and have two wonderful kids both school going. With his hard earned money he had brought a villa at one of the posh and leading builders on the Old Mahabalipuram Road. The villa was slightly on the higher end but he could not resist his temptation to buy it. It very important as both Ravi & Maya as they loved to host small parties and to have a good social life this villa was perfect and idealistically located. He had taken a loan on 80% of the property cost and has been paying EMI religiously for the last 4 years. He was eagerly waiting to pay up the EMI. As time moved on he brought a BMW X3, which was now one year old was his darling. Well life was good and their other plans were building on. As the year end neared his plans for the much awaited family foreign trip was on. December was the month of holidays that this family of 4 eagerly awaited for.

It was 1st Dec'15 when the rain pour had started very early, rather it had started pouring on through out the night and early morning saw no stoppage. Well it was a big day at office for Ravi as he had some major deals to be finalised and was eagerly awaiting for its closure. He had rushed off to office by 8 am, inspite of Maya's insistence not to go. She was not feeling too good because of the rains and also wanted Ravi to stay and work from home. Well his X3 had ensured him reach office in luxury and quicker. It seemed to be a bad day for Ravi, the deal results were not out and the final results were getting postponed by another week. He was furious and was becoming impatient like the rains outside, which was pouring without a comma or full stop. It had been pouring continuously for the last 12 hours now. To distract himself he had poured himself into the activities and plans that he had kept aside. He had noticed that most of his colleagues had not come to office. He did not bother to call them, rather was more happy in the work he was into. It was 2 pm and he felt hunger pangs. He had not bother to look at his cell phone which was on the silent mode. As he got up he realised that there were 6 missed calls from his wife. He had ignored all her calls. As he called her back, he could hear a feeling of anguish and scare. Maya again insisted for him to come back as it was pouring outside. He said that he would leave in a while and be home and not to be worried. He did not check on the rains post that.

Finally at around 5.00 pm he left his cabin and headed to the car parking, as he found the office to be rather empty and everyone was running away. That was the point he realised what a mess it was outside. It was dark and rain was pounding earth as if the heavens have opened up with anger and frustration. He hurriedly made his way to the parking lot in the basement. There was 1/2 feet of water there. He cursed the admin folks for not having pushed the builder to make better water draining arrangements. He got into the comfort of the car and played the music as the engine came to life. As he got out of the office parking he was invited by table tennis ball size water droplets hitting his windshield and the intensity of this was real high. His wiper blades had come to life the very instance and were running a 100 mtr sprint on the windshield. As he got out of the office and took the left onto the main road, he found that his car was wading through 2ft water. He remembered to make a quick call to Maya and tell her that he had started. She rattled out that the roads were bad and he should hurry. He cut the call and tried had to focus on the road. At Sholinganallur as junction he pushed his car 3 ft water and he could here the engine struggle as his car exhaust was trying hard not to let the water come in. Ravi kept pushing the accelerator on a rated flooded free road. At last after having come to the Junction close to Sathybhama college he took the right to get closer to his home. House was hardly another 3 kms. He found a no water patch and was glad that now he would reach home soon. No sooner had he finished his thought he saw that he was facing a sea in front of him. He was wondering what happened to the road...

He now on his mental map and GPS that showed him the road. Having pushed his car for another 300 mts, he realised that he could not feel the road. His cell phone rang and he knew it was Maya. He put his car speaker on. Even before Maya could say anything, Ravi started asking about his kids and what she is planning for dinner. He did not want the surrounding impact him in anyway. Now he was more determined to reach home, and he never wanted Maya to feel panicked at this point of time. He said to her that he will be there in another 15 mins and cut the call...

To be continued.....

Nature Mr. FURY

Chennai, (I still love it by the name of Madras)... a growing modern city in India, has been my karma bhoomi for the last 16 years now. In these 16 years I have struggled and there is a constant struggle to keep pace with what my desires have been. A fight to always be on top... In this struggle, I have least been bothered about what is happening in my surrounding. It has largely been with me and my family. Life had been good!!!

They say, life is a leveller and a great teacher too. Like in Avatar, all things are interconnected. I do feel the nature does conspire around you to teach you and bring to your face what else you are missing to see the purpose of this life. The rains that lashed in waves after waves in the last few weeks, brought this whole city onto its knees. I could not be kept away from that. When the lakes and ponds surrounding my apartment complex breached its banks, water gushed out like rivulets with its intense ferocity... The night was calm as I happened to stay in a higher ground apartment. The next day morning as I took out my car to go to my office I was shocked by the magnitude of destruction that has happened. So many people have to leave their homes and move away with just themselves intact. My couple of attempts to use my usual road was pushed back but I being I, wanted to still make it. The statement was, "What nonsense, I have an office to attend and my life was dependent on that".

Water almost 3ft of water

Well somehow in the afternoon by 12.15 pm, I started in a taxi along with a friend of mine who was equally eager to go. To top it up we had a courageous taxi driver in his Indica who was eager to make the first buck of the day. Our first main road attempt ended in cops saying to turn around. Well we were a stubborn lot and wanted to make it through. After the being part of the slow moving crowd realised that there is a 4 ft water ahead. We could not anyway turn around as there were many more stubborn heads like us... :) Finally our guy halted for a few seconds and then hit the accelerator and waded through that 4 ft water. I almost freaked out but the guy did a fab job of making us reach the other side. Oh Boy!! I thought that it was all done now, least realising that there was more to come.

Water expanding
across the road

Well having reached by 1.15 pm, I started to focus on my work. Well that did not last long as my focus started drifting to the window pane which was getting darker and thunder clouds started to play beautiful music... I ran to my friend and started to edge him to move on. Well finally by 5.30 pm we started. Without any transport or any cab that we could not get from Ola or Taxi4sure, we decided to walk the 5kms back home. As we started to walk back, through the back road of Sholingnalur SEZ there was a good samaritan who was equally eager to reach office in his WagonR. He gave us the lift through the back gate.. well less that we knew that we were actually getting into the dragon's mouth. Wohoo... as we stood at the back gate of the SEZ we saw a sea in front of us. Well, a peculiar human tendency that when pushed and that too with strangers with you.. you tend to push yourself more. Well our wonderful person drove us right up to his office which was next to his entry point of the SEZ. At that point we had to get down into the water.

After profusely thanking him, my friend suggested to remove our shoes but then realised that we have no clue where we were stepping and on what. Better to sacrifice the shoe than our beautiful feet... There we started walking in 2 ft deep water. Our brave decision was being questioned by our own self after having walked 500 mts from the office. Now desperation took over, as the coldness took over. As I started heading towards desperation, my courage took over to look out for options. That is when one of the Wipro bus driver was about to leave the SEZ with his bus, I could only ask his permission to get in. He did not even blink once to say, "Do not worry, step in.. I will drop you on the way". Well our happiness had no bounds. Having jumped in we now had to be patient to reach home. As the bus rolled out of the SEZ on to the road next to the lake, the realisation dawned that it was a very daring step to even have thought to walk. There was 4 1/2 ft of water. The bus literally inched in the water at a steady pace keeping close to the median. I could not differentiate where the lake was and where the road. It was the median that made me feel that we are on the road. It was a scary scene. The place that used to be filled with birds and a beautiful life today looked like a murky brown sheet of death. Water had covered in every inch of the land as if saying this is my place and let me feel it till I can. One could feel that the road had taken a big battering and with vehicles coming from the other side on the same road, the displacement of water shook the huge bus... After the struggle for 20 mins we covered the distance of 2 1/2 kms and reached our cross road where we got down.

While getting down, I handed this humble driver 50 bucks which he was not even expecting. I just nudged it into him thanking profusely. As I got down, I was feeling so grateful to the lord in that bus and the cab friend who gave us a lift. Humanity comes touching us in many ways.. but the most humbling fact was that "Nature is a leveller and does tell that you that all are equal.. care for one another and you will survive".

Need.. The way we see it!!

The laughter, the wild gesture of this women playing in water, the giggle of the other women, it was really contagious.

It was the day when the sun was out in Chennai after the torrential rains that have lashed out in the city flooding. The heavens seems to have opened up and the city was submerged with 290 mm of rains in one day. It was a harroing time for me to drive back from my office back home to my safety net. My car had run through knee deep water on the main atrial road connecting Sholignalur and Medavakkam. As I was making my way through the water, there was only a prayer for my safety and the safety of car. I was oblivious of the others who were behind me. As I reached home, I was in a state of shock as to what I had crossed. The night was restless and the eagerness was for it to be over. Could not bear to hear the pounding of the rains on the tin roof of the adjoining appartment. The next day as the clouds started to clear, there was a happy feeling and the eagerness to see the sun. It was such an irony to be waiting for the sun in Chennai which has got a lable of being a hot city. As the news started flowing in, the realization dawned that I was in a place which was a lucky hole of being on a dry ground. But my neighbours were not so lucky, there was neck deep water and the sound of distress everywhere. Within a couple of days the rain Gods being merciful, and the downpour being less my friend Wasim and I went out to see what is the situation around. The worst part was the loss of connectivity and our cell phones being just mere boxes without any signals.

Slum board area with knee deep water

After having gone driven our two wheelers across some of the difficult stretches where it was difficult to state if there was road or only holes we reached out to a place which has been in the media for the last few days. This place has been in neck deep water. The folks near by had people who had brought villas worth crores. Their houses was in absolute shambles with watermarks still visible to have touched ¾ of the stilt. Thankfully that day, the waters had come down and was crossed the villas and reached the slum development board area. This place we could not dare to take the Activa any more as the water level was high. We decided to walk through. As we went deep into the place, the water started rising and we both were in stuck with the intensity of the impact that has hit the place. Most of the houses and shops had locks and did have signs of people having left the place in a hurry to safer places (I suppose).

The watermark shows how much water
this place has seen...

As we walked further where we could see young guys trying their luck with luck with fishes in the stagnant waters, some of them were jubilant too as they seemed to have caught a few. There was signs of team work too, as few of them got together to cast their mosquito nets to catch fishes. There were streams of water that were gushing out of the streets before meeting the main road. Those openings had a good current enough to push a small child out into the open lake which was 400 mts away. As we waded through that part carefully, Wasim and I started to talk about what kind of relief work that can we done here and we were thinking for getting food and other materials that we could collect and give it to the people here. All of sudden, something caught my attention and then I realized that there was a lot of giggle and laughter just a few 100 mtrs ahead.

And I was like, wohoooo… now this is a twist in the tale. There were many ladies who had come in from their appartments and were having a holy dip. There were a couple of ladies in their Nighty who had put their head against the stream current and were floating. They would bob out their head for a while to gasp air and then again go in. Oh boy!! They were in a delightful state. The other ladies who were around them were getting ready to have a bath and wash their clothes. A little further we could see a whole community of people who had come down to wash their clothes and have a bath. As if this was not enough we saw young men and women brushing their teeth in that same water. Cleaning themselves up and their vehicles too at the same time trying to fish too..

Wasim & I walking down

This was a contradiction to what we had been thinking as they would have been marooned and in need. When we caught up with some of these people they started saying that the sight was bad a couple of days back where water was running upto waist deep and there was no support that the government or any one could come in and do. While today, they were finding ways to limp back and they have found ways to have fun and enjoy. Yes, a lot of them have lost a lot but then one does not get this kind of water everyday so have fun and enjoy as long as it lasts.

As I walked back, I was lost in the fact that the need keeps changing with time. And the human being is resilient. He would crib but then survival is such a strong instinct that he will bounce back and find his way through wether one gives help or not. The question that I was left wondering was, So when does one say that it is a need for him or her? And how would one keep a track of the changing needs of people in such a calamity to help them or I may get really later and have spent the money and effort just to know that it is not the need any more at the time of serving them.