~~ Day 4: The Wait ~~

Originally written on Dec 4 2015 –

It pains me that I am able to type this when almost 75% of Chennai population is still stranded, most of my friends and colleagues are still not reachable, most are probably very hungry too. Of course, I know there would be no power and probably battery drained phones, but I still somehow want to know all are safe! I called,  I whatsapp’ed. . But no responses… finally I resorted to FB posts for few and FB messenger for most, completely aware that, when they cannot pick calls or respond to whatsapp, they might not be in a position to respond in FB too… but well, I am just hoping a different friend/contact/relative in their friend list might know about their safety and probably respond…! As I write this, I am still waiting for at least one person from my friend list declaring themselves safe…

Coming back to where I left yesterday of the ordeal in 2005, after the reality kind of sunk in, I looked up to notice the ceiling fan was still and not moving!! Of course, no power!! I woke my roommate who was equally shocked and while she was wondering how could it even flood in Chennai, I called up my parents to let them know and then called my project lead that I would not be able to make it to office as my house was flooded – I heard him chuckle and stifle his laugh…he said, What? Chennai? Floods? Are you joking?.. I realized then that rains had stopped and probably we were the only ones facing this wrath for being in a house located in a low land area! I asked him to check news and let me know if no other areas had this issues, as he mentioned his locality seemed fine. We then called our land lady who lived upstairs (and was also a family friend of my roommate) and she mentioned that there was a rumor about dam water being let out!  She asked us to come upstairs and urged us to stay with their family until the water drained out….

The rains had stopped already and the condition in 2005 was not as bad as currently is now in 2015, we came to know later that lots of areas were safe with no signs of even rain water puddles…… Ours was one of the very few areas which was affected…… The whole house stank as the water that had gushed in was dirty…We didn’t want to leave our beds and venture into the water, but then we were utterly scared as the house had poor ventilation and who knew what kind of creepy crawlies would have made themselves welcome in our house… So we gathered all the courage we had, to get up from the bed & with wrinkled noses, swaddled through the just-above-knee-deep-water in the poorly illuminated house, gathering our tooth brushes/essential items like clothes/phones/chargers etc. locked our house and went upstairs to my roommate’s family friend’s + landlady’s place! We noticed that the motor we switch on for supplying water to the tank in our terrace was completely submerged and well, even if it was not, well, there was no power to switch it on! We hoped someone had filled the tank last night so that there would be no water shortage throughout the day…

If our house was a nightmare, I am not sure how to explain the disgusting sight we witnessed from the window upstairs…! There was muck covered dark brownish-black still water everywhere our eyes could reach… 

We settled in with aunty’s family – thanks to the cold water bath arranged by her which was then followed by an equally hot breakfast!! As the day passed, we sat by that window, our nokia 2100’s holding up the charge as we spoke to parents, friends, waiting for the water outside to show some signs of draining! We marked invisible lines on the trees/lamp posts/vehicles/gates etc etc outside which would help us determine if the water was draining at all….

We waited and waited….