When Mumbai Sank

INTRODUCTION



It was showering heavily on BSE Tuesday morning with Sensex peeking just above 7600. It was a sight that gripped my attention and my hands did the same with our T.V. remote control. Roughly 2 hours passed by when I realized that I have missed 2 of my important lectures in the college and I ended up being a potato couch the whole day rather than attempting to go to college. How did I know at that point that something good was in store when I took this decision? No one else in the city could have predicted that I was amongst the lucky people who get the golden opportunity to avoid the mayhem that down poured the city.



TUESDAY 26th JULY

HOME
Very soon the CNBC and NDTV profit changed to Set Max and Zee Cinema. When things got bore even, I preferred to read instead. By now Aai had gone out for her classes and even Neetika was deeply buried in Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince. We both got out of our books when the vibrations of a huge thunder roared across the living room. The heavily splashing rain was now to be taken seriously. Just a peep outside made me realize that our building was now virtually an island and the efforts taken to avoid water logging two years back were all futile now. On the other side we could see about half a feet tall divider on the road disappearing. I had to capture this and thus I clicked the camera out of excitement wherever possible.



Later we called up Aai to call her back home. By the time she decided to come, water at some places was up to the knee height. She returned home by 4 in the evening completely drenched. Simultaneously Anju Atya kept calling me, as Neha’s phone wasn’t able to catch network. They were supposed to meet at Andheri and return home at Thane together. With the notice that the efforts to reach her phone were in vain she decided to actually reach her and set out in the waist high water. But for the best may be, the traffic didn’t allow her to proceed. Helpless, she turned back from Santa Cruz and came here.

NEHA
The torrential rains dampened the orange network all over the city, and unfortunately the missing girl out here, stranded in the waters of Andheri had the Orange sim card in her phone. Water was now almost up to the knee level just beside her office and as per decided to meet her mother she didn’t budge to her friend’s request to move with them back to home. Standing in rains with one useless umbrella she could get a perfect glimpse of the chaos around her.

Here was the time to use her presence of mind and thus she decided to hook at Bandra instead of going all the way at Thane. Finding it impossible to drive around a perfect road, her friends rode their taxi back to the same place. Perhaps this is a scenario all over the place, and its better to reach home soon. God helps those who help themselves and thus came the office peon, to the rescue. Guiding through the waters all the way, the two of them walked down from Andheri (east), to Bandra (east), a wonder ride that took more than three hours. She reached home by 8 in the evening to relieve a major pressure off us. All this while at home we could do nothing but wait. When we sat on our couches watching VCDs in an attempt to release some tension from Anju Atya’a heart, Neha was out there cruising her way through.

NIGHT TIME
“How come the electricity is still on?” was a question printed on all our faces. The clock showed the nighttime right angle and, we assumed that the water level by now had reached approximately to my chest height. So it was quite obvious that all of our electricity meters downstairs were soaked in water. Just as we didn’t finish up with this discussion the world turned dark and we could sense all of us, including the neighbors who had gathered in our house, smiling as if saying, “We were just expecting this.” A glowing candle entered the room and all we could now see were each other’s helpless faces. It was still raining outside, but the showers had calmed down a bit.

There are very few times in Mumbai that we actually get to use our age-old candles, thus when we do we use them generously. Even the battery-operated torch that we bought a year ago came to use. The high range torch was exceptional in guiding us analyze the situation in outer dark world, and it gave correct glimpses of the taxi getting slowly submerged just outside out back gate, the water swallowing the cars at our neighboring building and the compound wall of our building slowly disappearing. These were the indicators that helped us analyze how worse the situation was getting as time passed by.

The burglar alarms of majority of the cars mistook the water to be a burglar trying to sneak in and screamed to highlight its use. The circuits inside went lose and lighted the inside and outside of the cars when we watched this all helplessly from above standing in complete darkness. The headlights burning gave a wonderful Tyndall effect when water jumped above them. But this time it wasn’t such a good sight as we watched our car batteries getting drained.

Unfortunately my phone being old drained out its power too soon, and so did our landline fwp. Aai’s Orange sim card didn’t respond and so did Neha’s, giving indications that the Hutch dog cannot swim. So the only working phone left with us now was Neetika’s prepaid phone with unknown amount of balance. So obviously, the idea was to use it only for incoming calls only. We spent the remaining night talking to our neighbors and messaging few people about the condition we were going through.


REKHA KAKI
This may be a regular visit to the Mehboob Studio at Bandra, but its consequence wasn’t so. Rekha kaki along with Bappa set out at about 3 pm, Tueday, 26th July2005, in their Ford Ikon, with the faint idea of the sinking city. But the idea they had, was fainter than the reality. It took three hours for them to reach the Kalina fly-over from the Mehboob studio at Bandra, a journey that in normal course should not take more than 25 minutes. Had they not decided to walk down to their home in Parle from the Reliance Energy building, they’d have spent he whole night right on the top of the flyover.

The dipped themselves in the thigh high water below the flyover, and followed the clan when the driver volunteered to take care of the car. Watching them go, a lady in the back car handed over all of her shopping bags to the driver, to guard them and bravely or foolishly decided to walk down with her two small kids. It was but obvious that the water level was certainly more than her kids’ height. But she came back the other day at Ajit Kaka’s home to collect her bags, assuring that she did reach home safely, and so did Rekha kaki. But her story isn’t really too easy. On the way she apparently lost hold of Bappa, and that 89-year-old man was in the missing list for few moments. The water force at the Centaur junction was good enough to flow down an average healthy person. Thanks to the ropes fixed by the locals that they made it safely at home.

BABA
It was about 4:15 pm in the noon and the news was that offices all over the city have been evacuated. Baba opened the door and came out of the conference room to see a huge lot of people at their desks, in the office at the NKM building near the Marine Drive. If everyone were asked to leave soon then how come people didn’t budge to move out? The reason, it was too late. Water was splashing across the city; the whole system running the city had come to a standstill. Traffic Jams all over, water logging etc were the problems that advised people to stay safe where they were, in an anticipation that situation will get better very soon. This intelligent thinking was a result of establishing communication with people who’d left office three hours back and were still giving no signs of reaching home.

The Mumbai city was least hit on 26th of July. As a matter of fact when compared with the mayhem at the suburbs, we can say, it didn’t rain at all in the Mumbai city. Baba was amongst the lucky to be stranded in the city, enjoying the leisure of electricity and information sources. Night for him went really good with a brisk stroll at Marine Drive, watching movies like Sarkar and Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya (Salman Khan must be really happy to know that few people did watch the movie), and sleeping on cozy seats in a well air conditioned room. No one could imagine what was waiting for them soon ahead.

Baba along with three others decided to move out and make it home. The cab worked really well until Mahim, but its accelerator hardened and clutch-brake softened, as the traffic didn’t allow the yellow top to go across other numerous cars stuck in Jam. So all four of them took an obvious decision to leave the cab and proceed walking. It was good until they were at the Mahim flyover. They got the first glimpses of water logging when they got down from the flyover directly in the waist high water. Walking alongside the divider, they managed to reach the Kherwadi signal. Realizing how difficult the situation would be in near future, they became unanimous on coming at our place and then proceed, as situation would get better.

But nature was mocking at them. Zooming the eyes over the waters from the kherwadi signal to the Asara building, they got a clear vision of what seemed to be an average height man almost barely managing not to get drowned in that neck high water. Prompt came no from the rest three, and they took no time in preferring to walk down to Borivli instead. Baba took about fifteen minutes to get firm on proceeding ahead and then set out in the further deep water. I wonder he had ever swum in this deep water! Had it not been for Nilesh 6’1”, it’d have been a much difficult journey for Baba to reach home.

THE KHERWADI JUNCTION

“Yeh Sarkar kya kar rahi hai?”(“What is the government doing?”), Stated an agonized passer by.
“Isiliye toh hum yahan khade hai.”(“That is specifically why we are standing here”) I replied to that passer by, when I was within the waters right at the middle of Western Express Highway’s Kherwadi Junction in the waist high water. The smile that the passerby gave appreciated the work we were doing.

In the morning when I saw Nilesh helping Baba pass through the waters, I decided to put my not so small height to use. Just like me, many others including Amlesh and Sandeep got inspired by Nilesh and proceed with their helping hands.

We started by distributing the neatly organized Khichadi packets, courtesy Yamini. It came as no big surprise that the packets soon exchanged hands, and the needy consumed it to their delight. Next came the job to organize the flow of crowd. We directed at least few thousand people in organized manner so as to avoid the chaos and then stampede. This had to begin with rearranging the cars that were stuck at the junction. Thanks to 20 to 25 volunteers like us, that the job was made easier.

The compliment that we got from the passers by was the cream on the cake. It was sort of an adventure to walk in chest high water to the junction at highway, help people, and get their views, on the plight of the city. Santa Cruz wasn’t as bad as Sion- Ddharavi, was an obvious conclusion that we drew and passed on to the people who need the due information.

Two guys coming from Andheri, Saki Naka halted here to breathe some before going at Nerul. A lady walking down all the way from Goregaon, was destined to Dadar. It was an amusing site for few when they saw a dead crow on the top of a white colored Maruti 800, covered with flower petals, giving it as a scene of crow’s funeral according to one person.

THE NEXT DAY
“What a beautiful site!!!” exclaimed Baba, when, he saw land all around us. For two days we were stuck in an island, and had it been a continued process for another week or so, we’d have experienced the life of Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away.

After yesterday’s adventurous day and the dark night that allowed us to have candle light discussions about the people that created History, we saw a comparatively bright morning the next day. Me and Baba, after examining the cars neatly, decided to survey the whole area. All we witnessed around was the resilience of the city. Shopkeepers, throwing out wasted goods, people cleaning their cars, and most important happy faces of the rag pickers.

Anju Atya and Neha, made their way back home, and completed the journey successfully.

The day was spent in cleaning cars and storing water in our water hives. Electricity was still seen very far. Reliance Energy failed to respond, and so did the BMC with water supplies.

So apart from water level sliding away completely, and the positive attitude of the city, nothing else seemed positive.

The dark night was again spent in candlelight, but staring at that dim candlelight, we all could recollect loads of experiences to tell the future generations, and smile at the next morning to come.