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.