We in Mumbai are holding or breath, as the first rains of the season flodded almost all the areas those were affected in 2005 July, when we had the worst floods in near memory.We lost over a 100 in those waters.The Government and the BMC(Municipal Corporation) had assured us that all the drains have been cleared.Had claimed the floods of 2005 were not on account of lack of preparedness but because it rained 290 mm in one single day coupled with the high tides, which prevented the surging waters from draining into sea. For two years since, we have been putting up with never-ending road repairs, claiming they were for saving us from another repeat flood.
Yesterday we had 29 to 30 mm of rain fall and all the areas which were flooded in 2005 got inundated.There was no high tide either! Wonder what the BMC will claim now. We also lost 19 mumbites in the rains in one day, with four buildings having collapsed and one major land slide.
We are shuddering to think of our fate in case it rains even a bit more heavily and in case the tide also turns at the wrong time. The memories of the two dear colleagues who left the Office at 630 PM into the rains to reach their homes where their families were stranded, never to reach their homes but to surface in far away beaches after 3 to 4 days, as floating bodies are still ripe. The story of Viswanath who had telephoned his haggered wife at 1130pm to tell her he was just at the corner booth and would reach home in another 15 minutes, only to keep his word to reach home,but not in 15 minutes but in 5 days in the BMC Ambulance, picked up from far away beach after the rains, still sends the shivers down our spine. We have still not stopped thanking God for the grace He showed when I did the heroic deed( or was it foolish?) of wading through chin deep water at 12 i n the midnight after a 7 hour car ride from the office to about 1km from home(which normally takes 40 minutes)to reach home at 2am (1km in 2 hrs).His grace was seen when we went out to see the damages after the rains ebbed after 2 days when we found all the drain covers washed away on the sides of the road through which I had walked, the very same drains which we read, had sucked in 15 pedestrians that night.
Yet, one thing which gives us the comfort is the warmth that Mumbai effuses in the face of a calamity.The camaraderie shown by the denizens in the concrete mansions as well as in the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi,when the floods ravaged us in 2005 or when a series of blasts in the suburban trains killed over 275 people in 2006, is enough for us to believe in the resisliance of Mumbai to come back to normalcy in the shortest time.
Yet we are praying, the BMC is proved right, the tides dont coincide heavy rains, the drains hold, the lids stay in place
Cheers!!!!
4 comments:
Sorry about some horrendous spelling mistakes that have come in the article.Guess I will have to get the habit of reading all over before publishing.Sorry if the mispels jars yoy
But Ammavan, how much can one depend on prayers and good luck when nothing is really done to prevent further calamities? Isnt it like expecting God to do all the work? As for things returning to normal, I doubt it would've for the families who lost lives. Agreed that because of the large
population, the death toll might be much less than the whole population of Bombay, but how could Bombay ignore the pain of those folks and not do anything at all to change a further crisis.
I heard several stories like the one you had, and I am so glad that you managed to reach home safe an sound. There was lots of time these past two years. If only!
So we had first heavy down pour from yesterday night and the whole of Mumbaiis stand still today.That much for the civic authorities' promise. True the quantity was high but at least cdnt the drainage have been repaired in time to prevent the water logging?
Who cares?
I was not depending on prayers and divine grce to save us this day.I was only being sarcastic about the whole thing.I knew it would be lie his and the promises and assurances wd all be hot air.It turned out just that way.
Thanks Ammavan, I understood you were being sarcastic, it is such a shame that we let history repeat itself time after time after time. Hope the causualities arent the same as last time. Hope nature takes pity and spares the Mumbites yet another tragic affair.
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