The Day Bombay Flood

I was in the morning shift that day, deep into my work and no time to look here and there. Unaware of what was going on. Every time I popped my head up, I would see one of the managers, supervisor or someone else looking out of the wall-sized windows. I turned to look outside and it was raining.

The clock ticked three and there was no sign of anyone telling the morning shift to leave. Few people from the evening shift turned up; still there was no sign of leaving the place.

I was running out of patience, so when I saw my superior walking towards me. I got hold of him and asked him about leaving for the day. He took me to his superior asking if I could be released. “If he thinks he can manage, then let him go” was how he replied. I wondered why he would say that but I was going to find that out soon.

I was happy to leave the place and had given my usual Colgate smile to my friends who saw me standing at the lift door and telling them that I was leaving for the day. What I did not know was how soon the expression on my face was going to change.

As I got out of the lift on the ground floor, and walked towards the main entrance, I could see water gushing in and half of the building space disappear in it. I stood there for a moment and looking amusingly as the water was been thrown forcibly back on the main road from the nallah (drain) that stood besides our office building.

As I stood there contemplating my next action, I found two other colleagues of mine who were also wondering what to do now. Soon the three of us decided that we will go out through the second entrance which had the road connected to the main road which happened to be the only way out.

The water level was relatively low on the road but as we got on the main road, it kept on increasing and reached up to my waist height. That reminded me of someone telling in the office that two people had ventured out but came back as the water level had submerged their bodies with the exception of their heads.

The water had so much force that it was dragging people with it; human chains were formed for safe passage of people from one side to the another. Even the cars that were left on the road were moving with the current of the water.

We kept moving ahead only to find that there was a drain kept open in the middle of the road which was acting like a whirlpool, somehow we manage to keep hold of ourselves and overcome it. Once that hurdle was clear, the water level kept receding low and we kept walking towards the railway station which was at a good distance.

My colleagues made a call to their families through a local PCO as the cell phone networks were jammed and informed that they were safe and coming home. I on the other hand did not call up my family thinking that I had just a 10 minute distance to reach my house.

Once we reached the station we bid goodbye to each other. Normally, I used to catch a bus to reach my place which was not there today, thanks to the rains. There were auto rickshaws parked on the side of the road but none agreed to take me to the destination, so I ended up walking to my home.

By the time I reached home it was already 5:30 on the clock. In normal circumstances it does not take more than 15-20 mins to reach home and back to work by the bus, but it almost took more than an hour to reach home.

The rest of the morning shift stayed back till the next morning. To pass time they played antakshari and then they were back to work as there was nothing else left to do. There was hardly any food left in the cafeteria as nobody saw this coming.

I reported to work the next morning only to hear that people (the morning shift which decided to stay back) who come from far away places decided to walk all the way to their homes in case they don’t get a lift in between. The transportation system was still down but a few vehicles were plying on the road.

News channels kept flashing the news of people stuck in their cars, buses and how they were being rescued provided food and shelter by strangers and then they were people who lost their lives to this day. Stories were being told by colleagues about animal carcass flowing down and conditions in their area.

What is pathetic to see that even today the disaster management that was formed to tackle such situations is nothing but an utter failure where if it rains heavily, places still get flooded and every time we keep hearing the beaten line “This time we are well-prepared and equipped to handle such situations”.

Tagged: Seven Wierd Things About Me

It was raining tags and awards on the other blogs that I keep visiting, still the weather was warm and sunny during the day and cold in the night at my blog. I was caught unawares when Shewtz decided to send some tag clouds over to my blog. I could do nothing but let the tag rain.

Here are the seven weird things about me that you don't know:

Collection of Chocolate Wrappers: I have a large collection of chocolate wrappers. I am not chocolate lover but I do collect the wrappers. I also have collection of key chains and calendar cards. The only one active is the chocolate one. Read this post to know more.

Junkie: I am already preparing myself to keep busy with junk that I collect and hope to put some good use after my retirement (which has a very long way to go). Here is a snap of some of the junk I have. The only thing that I have created something is a fighter plane that was made from the wood chunks that I found on the terrace as a kid.

Gory Stuff Make Me Laugh: I find gory stuff funny something that others don’t.. I loved the scene in the movie ring (the Japanese version) where the girl comes out of the TV set. For that matter the scene in the movie Saathiya where Rani Mukherjee accident takes place, I found myself laughing amused by the way the accident takes place and so fast.

Adding Numbers: I picked up the habit of adding numbers on the number plates of the vehicles plying on the road when I used to walk to home from classes, due to boredom. The result of that act resulted in that I can add up numbers really fast and other things too.

Reading Newspaper Twice a Day: I read newspaper twice a day. Sometimes when I have nothing to do, I just go through it once again. On Sundays, I do it anyways as I keep some articles for later reading.

Watching Movies: I can sit and watch movies all day thanks to Star, HBO, Pix, Zee Studio and now WB channels. Sometimes I even watch them from in between or watch two movies simultaneously. Till now, I have watched three movies at one go.

Perfectionist: Yup I have the perfectionist keeda in me. If something is not done the way it should have been, it causes stress to me unless set right!!

I am sending this tag cloud to Rashmi, Deepali, Adisha & Chriz

Gals & Mate, Have Fun :))

Tales of A Tall Guy

 



Everyone has high expectations from the tall guy as he walks on the streets people keep looking up to him, which makes him happy from inside.

He is always susceptible to head injuries especially when he is getting down from the BEST buses (of which he got hit many times) and also while entering & exiting his building premises. The tall guy can also hurt himself when he enters houses with lower ceilings and the fan is going in circles and has to make sure that he does not raise his hands.

The tall guy is very easy to find when the meeting point is in crowded places. All one has to do is look up and there he is standing tall. He also has no difficulty in finding people in such crowds. The tall guy is smiling now.

The world is not kind to him as he has to struggle with his day to day routines be it with chairs which are shorter than his knee length, has to cramp his legs when in the backseat of cars and also been used as a height measuring scale for others.

Come rain or shine, the weather always plays tyrant with him. The sun rays often find its way to fall on him making him sweat, while others stand behind as if he is a big tree providing shade. During the rains, no matter what the tall guy carries to protect himself from the rains, he always finds his pants wet. Being tall helped him during the day when Bombay was flooded; the water was up to his waist height!!

The tall guy struggles to find a girl who is taller as he is. All he could see is pretty faces in small sizes :( Finds hard to maintain relationships with them as they keep looking up to him and he keeps looking down causing a sprain in his neck. Should he carry a small stool with him when he goes on the date next time? He is wondering what couple would they resemble when he gets married, the Amitabh-Jaya or Abhishek-Aishwarya?

People keep asking the tall guy about his secrets of him being so tall. All he would say is that it is in his genes :)

He would always find people trying to bring him down to their levels when he visits the hair saloon and has to lower himself in the chair. He even finds people trying to reach his level when they try to keep their arm on his shoulders.

He has a hard time finding variety for his shoes as getting shoes of his size are not available everywhere.

The tall guy always stands out, be it a group photo, meeting or get together. Even his attempts to hide himself to take a small nap or work on the small drawing etched on his notepad fails miserably. At times he finds others trying to hide behind his back but he has nowhere to go :(

Even the bed in which he sleeps is small, his feet keeps dangling out.....