Mumbai deluge
It was an unusual tuesday.I had my best clothes on . It was raining heavily - and to the people around it seemed normal. I did ask a few people does it rain so hard in Mumbai. Most people replied in the affirmative, so i in all the non-chalence went to the computer lab. Here u are insulated from the vagaries of the weather. Water had started to fill up on the walkways as the drains had begun overflowing.It was a just a heavy rain.
The real power of the rain flew in my face only at about 8:30 when I decided to end my cyber-adventures. Water had entered the coridoor leading to the lab. I started walking back to the hostel. Workers were trying to prevent water from entering the library , mind u its at a high level and the sheer force of water was forcing it up the walkway into the entrance. As I made my way down in the incessant rain - the roads were full. Walking was getting dangerous - luckily i got hold of a buddy amd we made our way thru the roaring road.
As we neared the hostel , the water was unsually rapid.The grounds had overflowed and water was going over the roads. I had a feeling that hostels would be saved - we had the lake nearby and its can be relied upon to keep its level. But the hopes were dashed people were wading in knee deep water. The hostel lounge had become a big dirty pool. My heart sunk - i knew that with so much water and a lot cot that i had i was sure to have a drenched bed. I was so sure that i decided not to try to save it. I went to the mess.
The mess was in a mess , but luckilly they had made us food unlike other flooded hostels. As i was having food the power was switched off. Dark in the flood is terrible feeling. Mobile phones with torch lights came to the rescue and i was able to get out of the mess. I was still a bit afraid to go to my room. I went to the porch to find no one and a survey of the people i knew turned up negative. So all alone in the muck (alone in the crowd) i decided to rtry my luck with checking my room . I navigated by stray lights on the street (the street lights were'nt somehow affected. and feeling the walls. Found my room with the plywood in the cot detached and floating with my bed on it. Found a torch , i made my way back to the porch. This time i made a quite a lot of friends as people wanted the use of my torch. The next few hours were spent assessing the damage in other rooms. Computers on the floor were in a nasty condtion so were boxes and bags. Luckilly i had thought those of mine to be an eyesore and put them up safely on a high shelf.
No power , a lot of mumbaiya mosquitoes - they have a different kindof sting. It would't alloew our group to sleep. We had thought of going to other hostels, but had dropped it as dangerous in the flood. The water had begun to recede and the rain to stop. We were refugees in the hostel 5.
Dawn broke - i returned to my room to find it filled with slush ankle deep. Cleaning it is another story.
This was just about a thousand times less tham what Mumbai suffered. Not only did they have water in their room - no power , no water even to drink , toilets that did'nt work . It was hell to most of others. Thank God that it was just small demonstration of Nature's powers here at the IIT.
It was an unusual tuesday.I had my best clothes on . It was raining heavily - and to the people around it seemed normal. I did ask a few people does it rain so hard in Mumbai. Most people replied in the affirmative, so i in all the non-chalence went to the computer lab. Here u are insulated from the vagaries of the weather. Water had started to fill up on the walkways as the drains had begun overflowing.It was a just a heavy rain.
The real power of the rain flew in my face only at about 8:30 when I decided to end my cyber-adventures. Water had entered the coridoor leading to the lab. I started walking back to the hostel. Workers were trying to prevent water from entering the library , mind u its at a high level and the sheer force of water was forcing it up the walkway into the entrance. As I made my way down in the incessant rain - the roads were full. Walking was getting dangerous - luckily i got hold of a buddy amd we made our way thru the roaring road.
As we neared the hostel , the water was unsually rapid.The grounds had overflowed and water was going over the roads. I had a feeling that hostels would be saved - we had the lake nearby and its can be relied upon to keep its level. But the hopes were dashed people were wading in knee deep water. The hostel lounge had become a big dirty pool. My heart sunk - i knew that with so much water and a lot cot that i had i was sure to have a drenched bed. I was so sure that i decided not to try to save it. I went to the mess.
The mess was in a mess , but luckilly they had made us food unlike other flooded hostels. As i was having food the power was switched off. Dark in the flood is terrible feeling. Mobile phones with torch lights came to the rescue and i was able to get out of the mess. I was still a bit afraid to go to my room. I went to the porch to find no one and a survey of the people i knew turned up negative. So all alone in the muck (alone in the crowd) i decided to rtry my luck with checking my room . I navigated by stray lights on the street (the street lights were'nt somehow affected. and feeling the walls. Found my room with the plywood in the cot detached and floating with my bed on it. Found a torch , i made my way back to the porch. This time i made a quite a lot of friends as people wanted the use of my torch. The next few hours were spent assessing the damage in other rooms. Computers on the floor were in a nasty condtion so were boxes and bags. Luckilly i had thought those of mine to be an eyesore and put them up safely on a high shelf.
No power , a lot of mumbaiya mosquitoes - they have a different kindof sting. It would't alloew our group to sleep. We had thought of going to other hostels, but had dropped it as dangerous in the flood. The water had begun to recede and the rain to stop. We were refugees in the hostel 5.
Dawn broke - i returned to my room to find it filled with slush ankle deep. Cleaning it is another story.
This was just about a thousand times less tham what Mumbai suffered. Not only did they have water in their room - no power , no water even to drink , toilets that did'nt work . It was hell to most of others. Thank God that it was just small demonstration of Nature's powers here at the IIT.
posted by adarshnat at
6:17 AM
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