Well.. as you read this , you know I have been connected back to the internet ( and that has been since yesterday evening )., and I guess it would not have penetrated my mind even if the broadband network had not been restored. During and after the Chennai floods, the bursts of little signals we got in the terrace , to convey our safety to my dear ones through single sms after so many attempts , was for me the best network connectivity.....
Many a time over the past few years I keep to reading up on why the climate cycles changes , but once the North east monsoons were to set , I guess I got addicted to seeing weather forecasts , not the rain , thunderstorm sunny pictures you get as a summary but the details reports on how the rains are actually going to move. The sound of rain would make me grab the mobile , even at the middle of the night to check the weather reports , Insat pictures and websites which track cyclones across the globe.
The next reflex action on seeing heavy rains , was me storing water at home. We live in a gated township , where during heavy rains,the water supply and power is stopped... as result once during the initial heavy rains ( I have lost track of how many times there have been heavy rains in the past weeks : -( ) , we had not much water except a bucket or so .. and hence the reflex action.
After the loooong holidays , Monday, Dec 30th both my kids went to school and it started as a sunny day . Being to hooked to weather reports which were forecasting rains , I did land up buying all the food required for the house.....but bang monday evening, the sky unleashed itself. Five roads crashed to form mammoth holes in Chennai.
Tuesday , was a day of no mercy from the Rain God ( who insisted on showing his power in North Tamil Nadu ) ..
By tuesday evening , enough warnings kept pouring in, from individual weather bloggers ofcourse, not from the IMD which stuck to its forecast of isolated heavy to very heavy rain fall in coastal Tamil Nadu and Pudcherry ( before a flood !!! ) ........and there was an instinctive fear . Whatsapp was already buzzing with messages on which roads where blocked, where water levels were rising ..and next came calls from relatives and friends that water had started creeping inside their houses. I will never forget that night, where the priority was knowing their safety and roads leading to our township were already getting cutoff with water.
In spite of all this , that night took us by surprise .... our township itself was flooded as a near by lake overflowed.....all the individual villas were in water. We were in the first floor and water had crept till the fourth step ( with cars already in the water ) . We packed a few bags and were ready to move the fourth floor, in case water levels kept rising. .....and then the rains stopped ( Rain God must have got tired ! ) .
Neighbours started chipping in to help out and those from flooded homes were already evacuated to the in-campus school. Gas supply was also cut......no power , no water , no gas but believe me none of that mattered. We were in a dry place , had food , water and kids did not panic...... only issue was no network to convey our safety to my parents and sisters. We even had our own entrainment channel in the evenings because around 5 pm when I used to light the candles, my three year old daughter will start her singing ..and she used to go on non-stop. It was her way of handling the dim candle light nights
During the four days before the water receded and all the basic supplies were back , believe me, not one moment made me feel bad for the situation we were in. My heart went to those who had lost everything and they way human hearts were rising above Chennai waters....
Once connectivity was back , and when I mentioned those four days were luxury for me , one person remarked as to how I can call this luxury....if this is not luxury , what else is ?????
Chennai will emerge from this also !
.
Many a time over the past few years I keep to reading up on why the climate cycles changes , but once the North east monsoons were to set , I guess I got addicted to seeing weather forecasts , not the rain , thunderstorm sunny pictures you get as a summary but the details reports on how the rains are actually going to move. The sound of rain would make me grab the mobile , even at the middle of the night to check the weather reports , Insat pictures and websites which track cyclones across the globe.
The next reflex action on seeing heavy rains , was me storing water at home. We live in a gated township , where during heavy rains,the water supply and power is stopped... as result once during the initial heavy rains ( I have lost track of how many times there have been heavy rains in the past weeks : -( ) , we had not much water except a bucket or so .. and hence the reflex action.
After the loooong holidays , Monday, Dec 30th both my kids went to school and it started as a sunny day . Being to hooked to weather reports which were forecasting rains , I did land up buying all the food required for the house.....but bang monday evening, the sky unleashed itself. Five roads crashed to form mammoth holes in Chennai.
Tuesday , was a day of no mercy from the Rain God ( who insisted on showing his power in North Tamil Nadu ) ..
By tuesday evening , enough warnings kept pouring in, from individual weather bloggers ofcourse, not from the IMD which stuck to its forecast of isolated heavy to very heavy rain fall in coastal Tamil Nadu and Pudcherry ( before a flood !!! ) ........and there was an instinctive fear . Whatsapp was already buzzing with messages on which roads where blocked, where water levels were rising ..and next came calls from relatives and friends that water had started creeping inside their houses. I will never forget that night, where the priority was knowing their safety and roads leading to our township were already getting cutoff with water.
In spite of all this , that night took us by surprise .... our township itself was flooded as a near by lake overflowed.....all the individual villas were in water. We were in the first floor and water had crept till the fourth step ( with cars already in the water ) . We packed a few bags and were ready to move the fourth floor, in case water levels kept rising. .....and then the rains stopped ( Rain God must have got tired ! ) .
Neighbours started chipping in to help out and those from flooded homes were already evacuated to the in-campus school. Gas supply was also cut......no power , no water , no gas but believe me none of that mattered. We were in a dry place , had food , water and kids did not panic...... only issue was no network to convey our safety to my parents and sisters. We even had our own entrainment channel in the evenings because around 5 pm when I used to light the candles, my three year old daughter will start her singing ..and she used to go on non-stop. It was her way of handling the dim candle light nights
During the four days before the water receded and all the basic supplies were back , believe me, not one moment made me feel bad for the situation we were in. My heart went to those who had lost everything and they way human hearts were rising above Chennai waters....
Once connectivity was back , and when I mentioned those four days were luxury for me , one person remarked as to how I can call this luxury....if this is not luxury , what else is ?????
Chennai will emerge from this also !
.
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