Tryst with wanted turned haunted rains
Mumbai was once again under water-attack. The much-awaited rain performed well to break its own records. It rained heavily, with a record 677mm rain in 12 hours and 944mm in 24 hours starting 0830 hours on Tuesday, July 26, 2005.
Prior to this, I had an experience of facing similar conditions, in which case I reached home the very next day. But this time it took me almost more than 2 complete days to return to my hometown Dombivli*. I took the train, running on trial basis, from Ghatkopar* and reached Thane* at about 1930 hours. The trains were not moving beyond this point for the only reason that the rail tracks were totally submerged under the rainwater. Thane station was totally occupied by people waiting desperately for the trains to start on the down side. I was pleased to see humanity - a term generally used in speeches and printed on pieces of paper - put in practice. Residents of Mulund* and Thane did show humanity by offering food packets to commuters waiting on the stations for very long hours. The bank ATM centers were not operational, which laid Mumbaikars with no option but to look for survival with whatever cash they had in hand.
Some people tried to take road route to reach their destination. The state transport had made arrangements for the same. The queue to board these buses was about 1 km long. The scene of the bus horrified me. It was packed to the limits and had 20-25 commuters on the top, trying to depict SRKs Chhaiyaa Chhaiyaa dance in the movie Dil Se and around 10 dying to occupy the seat in drivers cabin. This scene reminded me of the Fevicol, an adhesive, ad wherein the passengers get hold of whatever they find to remain attached to the bus – not leaving a single bolt free.
I abstained from taking this route and shifted to my friends place in Thane to spend a peaceful night. I got up in the morning and left to see if there was any chance to get into the train, if they were moving towards my home town, or get into a vehicle which took the road route. The trains were in no position to move beyond Thane, so had to look for some source that took the roadway. Fortunately, I found an auto, a three-wheeler vehicle - rikshaw is what they call here, and shared it with three more people. The traffic of previous night seemed to be cleared and there were no signs of waterlogging on the roads except that filled into the ditches. At some places, as our driver pointed out, a couple of vehicles had been flown away in the floodwaters. The road was also uprooted at some places leaving small room for the drivers. I reached home after two long days. No wonder that the rain was pouring throughout the journey.
A very unusual tryst with the wanted turned haunted rains.
*suburbs on the Mumbai Central-Railway line
Prior to this, I had an experience of facing similar conditions, in which case I reached home the very next day. But this time it took me almost more than 2 complete days to return to my hometown Dombivli*. I took the train, running on trial basis, from Ghatkopar* and reached Thane* at about 1930 hours. The trains were not moving beyond this point for the only reason that the rail tracks were totally submerged under the rainwater. Thane station was totally occupied by people waiting desperately for the trains to start on the down side. I was pleased to see humanity - a term generally used in speeches and printed on pieces of paper - put in practice. Residents of Mulund* and Thane did show humanity by offering food packets to commuters waiting on the stations for very long hours. The bank ATM centers were not operational, which laid Mumbaikars with no option but to look for survival with whatever cash they had in hand.
Some people tried to take road route to reach their destination. The state transport had made arrangements for the same. The queue to board these buses was about 1 km long. The scene of the bus horrified me. It was packed to the limits and had 20-25 commuters on the top, trying to depict SRKs Chhaiyaa Chhaiyaa dance in the movie Dil Se and around 10 dying to occupy the seat in drivers cabin. This scene reminded me of the Fevicol, an adhesive, ad wherein the passengers get hold of whatever they find to remain attached to the bus – not leaving a single bolt free.
I abstained from taking this route and shifted to my friends place in Thane to spend a peaceful night. I got up in the morning and left to see if there was any chance to get into the train, if they were moving towards my home town, or get into a vehicle which took the road route. The trains were in no position to move beyond Thane, so had to look for some source that took the roadway. Fortunately, I found an auto, a three-wheeler vehicle - rikshaw is what they call here, and shared it with three more people. The traffic of previous night seemed to be cleared and there were no signs of waterlogging on the roads except that filled into the ditches. At some places, as our driver pointed out, a couple of vehicles had been flown away in the floodwaters. The road was also uprooted at some places leaving small room for the drivers. I reached home after two long days. No wonder that the rain was pouring throughout the journey.
A very unusual tryst with the wanted turned haunted rains.
*suburbs on the Mumbai Central-Railway line
posted by Jupiter at
3:05 AM
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