Day 3, morning. Woke up, chilly. Went downstairs. Still dark. Not because it was night, but because the city was too affected for us to get any current. Paper had come that day, and the previous one, surprisingly. That day we saw pictures of the Saidapet bridge covered in water, the roads flooded, and a crazy 360 degree shot of the Cooum that made what was a curved stretch into an island. It confounds me, to this day.
Slowly everyone else woke up. I went over next door, to speak to my neighbors for a few minutes. They reported that it was amazing the number of frogs we had had. Only the previous afternoon, when I had updated them on the goings on of the city did they realise our true situation. Puddles and frogs were now not so bad.
Breakfast. We had started running a little low on supplies. The time had come to do shopping, but nothing was open. My mother had been in constant contact with her brother in law and father, trapped in Sri nagar colony, and told us that of the five phones there, they were only using 1(my cousin's) with 100% charge, with my grandfather's sim, which was the only one receiving signal. The water was now staying put at roughly seven feet at road level, and five and a half feet inside. You can see that the house sloped upward, and even then, water had entered!
After breakfast, my mother and I took our car out and decided to test the city. So we left the house with my father and sister, and went out onto the ECR. The road was not too badly off; water seemed to be going down everywhere. We turned into LB road. At the Thiruvanmiyur junction, there was a whole lot of water. Luckily on the other side. Amma said that if the water wasn't low where we were headed, we were turning around immediately. I hoped we'd make it to my grand uncles place in Gandhi nagar at least.
We drove down LB road. Amma found no reason to turn back, so we made it to Gandhi nagar. Over there, there were just a few puddles here and there, which we managed to avoid, and got to their place soon enough. There we all decided that we would go to Sri nagar colony and see what could be done. At that moment, a call came from Amma's brother in law, Inder. He had put my grandfathers sim in my cousins phone, (they had turned off all the others), gone to on top of the water tank, and holding it at arms length, was going "Hello? Hello?", as that was the only way he got signal.
He got a message across to us that they were fine for the moment, were supplied enough for the day, and the water level wasnt rising, as far as he could see. Somewhere towards the end he lost signal, and we couldn't didn't hear any more from him, but we managed to get a message across to him that we were coming to get them.
We took two cars, and drove down. At the entrance to Sri Nagar colony, water was bobbing up and down like waves. It was multicoloured in a few patches. There were boatmen driving boats up and down, into the colony, ferrying people out. There was a large crowd gathered at the entrance to the colony, some family, some members of the colony, and some police. We parked our cars a little distance away and walked in.
We decided not to enter the water, but stood by the pavement, where it was dry. Amma, after many unsuccessful attempts, got through to Inder again. He said the water level had gone down slightly, and to come back after lunch, as now, the water was too high to open the door. They would manage. So we turned back home, meeting some friends who lived in the colony, who said they would be temporarily moving away.
At my granduncle, Raghu Thatha's place, we discussed what we could do. My aunt in the US, still panicking, talked to a friend on the ECR, who had a large car, which we could drive into the water. My mother suggested we just use a boat. It would be much simpler. There was more talk on what to do. Amma went home, and came back for lunch. We had lunch from Sangeetha.
All day, we heard stories of bravery. How people were opening up their homes to anyone affected. How Chennai was the least Communal city in India, of temples opening their doors, of Muslims cooking meals in temples, of government schools packed full of people who had lost their homes. One of the places most badly affected was the slum in Saidapet on the banks of the Adayar, by the bridge,which had been covered in water. Immideately after the floods, they were evacuated. The picture shows you what the government did with the land.
Raghu thatha and I walked down to the Adayar bridge. I got a huge shock. Never in my life had I seen the Adayar flow so high, or so fast, or in the right direction.Mostly it stagnated, or flowed backward with the tides. Now it was flowing furiously, cleansing itself of over ten years pollution as it did so. The pollution is now back in the river within 2 years.
We went back to his house, and eating lunch, went back to the colony.
But first;
there was this thing on Facebook, to mark yourself safe during the floods. I went into the bathroom, and when i came outside, some relative in Bangalore had marked me safe! Apparently, she had called Amma, and finding out that we were all OK, had gone ahead, and marked us all safe. I messaged a few of my classmates, checked up on how they were, and then we left.
It was 3pm, when we got to the colony. Water had receded quite a bit, but rumours were afloat of further cyclones to strike Chennai over the next week. (Luckily, it didn't)
Amma rolled up her pants and told us to stay at the corner of the street, while she waded in to get them. She said she would hai down a boat.
As she walked in, the water climbed higher and higher. ne she turned the corner, we could't see her any longer. After ten minutes, we started wondering where she could be, and whether she had got them yet. So we crossed the road, and walked as far as we could. Unfortunately, a pile of bricks on the pavement blocked us from seeing the road she was on, so Raghu thatha jumped into the water. He couldn't see anything, so Prema patti(his wife), and I, went back to the end of the road. Now the road was almost completely dry. On the submerged cars you could see the lines of dirt and sediment, all the way upto the bonnet and the doors end. We looked down the road, and saw only rescue workers, eating lunch, and throwing plastic plates into the water. Twenty minutes had passed.
Just then. I heard someone calling us, and ther came two boats, carrying everyone, my mother, cousins, uncle, grandparents, dog, and all their luggage.
Apparently Amma had gone to the window, after five minutes of shouting, was heard by my cousin. She had come to the window, and told everyone. My grnadmother was miffed. "Can you come back in an hour? We just started eating lunch"
Amma found a boatman, who took them all. The boats were rowed partly by Ola, and partly by fishermen. Ola was doing this for free, and the fishermen were compelled to do so too, but they demanded anything upward of 1000 rupees per boatload per trip, and a maximum of 10000 for the same ferry. (They later told us they could hear the fishermen shouting these demands in the stillness of the night, as they ate dinner).
Luckily, the boatman my mother found was willing to go for 500 per boat, and so everything precious, and a few sets of clothes, plus anything important was packed up in the morning, and they were ready to leave at any given moment. Amma waded in, and opened the front door, catching a gas cylinder that floated away as she did so. The boat came into the house, and they climbed the stairs as far as they could, before climbing into the water.
Once back at Raghu thatha's place, my grandparents contacted a friend who lived nearby, and allowed them to stay the nights with them, until the house was back in living condition. My uncle would stay here at my granduncle/aunts place, while my cousins and the dog would go to a friends house.
But after finding out that the friend didn't care much for the dog, they quickly moved into my granduncle's place as well!
That evening, we enjoyed our basic comforts again, as Gandhi nagar had power, and went home to sleep, before dinner.
Slowly everyone else woke up. I went over next door, to speak to my neighbors for a few minutes. They reported that it was amazing the number of frogs we had had. Only the previous afternoon, when I had updated them on the goings on of the city did they realise our true situation. Puddles and frogs were now not so bad.
Breakfast. We had started running a little low on supplies. The time had come to do shopping, but nothing was open. My mother had been in constant contact with her brother in law and father, trapped in Sri nagar colony, and told us that of the five phones there, they were only using 1(my cousin's) with 100% charge, with my grandfather's sim, which was the only one receiving signal. The water was now staying put at roughly seven feet at road level, and five and a half feet inside. You can see that the house sloped upward, and even then, water had entered!
After breakfast, my mother and I took our car out and decided to test the city. So we left the house with my father and sister, and went out onto the ECR. The road was not too badly off; water seemed to be going down everywhere. We turned into LB road. At the Thiruvanmiyur junction, there was a whole lot of water. Luckily on the other side. Amma said that if the water wasn't low where we were headed, we were turning around immediately. I hoped we'd make it to my grand uncles place in Gandhi nagar at least.
We drove down LB road. Amma found no reason to turn back, so we made it to Gandhi nagar. Over there, there were just a few puddles here and there, which we managed to avoid, and got to their place soon enough. There we all decided that we would go to Sri nagar colony and see what could be done. At that moment, a call came from Amma's brother in law, Inder. He had put my grandfathers sim in my cousins phone, (they had turned off all the others), gone to on top of the water tank, and holding it at arms length, was going "Hello? Hello?", as that was the only way he got signal.
He got a message across to us that they were fine for the moment, were supplied enough for the day, and the water level wasnt rising, as far as he could see. Somewhere towards the end he lost signal, and we couldn't didn't hear any more from him, but we managed to get a message across to him that we were coming to get them.
We took two cars, and drove down. At the entrance to Sri Nagar colony, water was bobbing up and down like waves. It was multicoloured in a few patches. There were boatmen driving boats up and down, into the colony, ferrying people out. There was a large crowd gathered at the entrance to the colony, some family, some members of the colony, and some police. We parked our cars a little distance away and walked in.
We decided not to enter the water, but stood by the pavement, where it was dry. Amma, after many unsuccessful attempts, got through to Inder again. He said the water level had gone down slightly, and to come back after lunch, as now, the water was too high to open the door. They would manage. So we turned back home, meeting some friends who lived in the colony, who said they would be temporarily moving away.
At my granduncle, Raghu Thatha's place, we discussed what we could do. My aunt in the US, still panicking, talked to a friend on the ECR, who had a large car, which we could drive into the water. My mother suggested we just use a boat. It would be much simpler. There was more talk on what to do. Amma went home, and came back for lunch. We had lunch from Sangeetha.
All day, we heard stories of bravery. How people were opening up their homes to anyone affected. How Chennai was the least Communal city in India, of temples opening their doors, of Muslims cooking meals in temples, of government schools packed full of people who had lost their homes. One of the places most badly affected was the slum in Saidapet on the banks of the Adayar, by the bridge,which had been covered in water. Immideately after the floods, they were evacuated. The picture shows you what the government did with the land.
Raghu thatha and I walked down to the Adayar bridge. I got a huge shock. Never in my life had I seen the Adayar flow so high, or so fast, or in the right direction.Mostly it stagnated, or flowed backward with the tides. Now it was flowing furiously, cleansing itself of over ten years pollution as it did so. The pollution is now back in the river within 2 years.
We went back to his house, and eating lunch, went back to the colony.
But first;
there was this thing on Facebook, to mark yourself safe during the floods. I went into the bathroom, and when i came outside, some relative in Bangalore had marked me safe! Apparently, she had called Amma, and finding out that we were all OK, had gone ahead, and marked us all safe. I messaged a few of my classmates, checked up on how they were, and then we left.
It was 3pm, when we got to the colony. Water had receded quite a bit, but rumours were afloat of further cyclones to strike Chennai over the next week. (Luckily, it didn't)
Amma rolled up her pants and told us to stay at the corner of the street, while she waded in to get them. She said she would hai down a boat.
As she walked in, the water climbed higher and higher. ne she turned the corner, we could't see her any longer. After ten minutes, we started wondering where she could be, and whether she had got them yet. So we crossed the road, and walked as far as we could. Unfortunately, a pile of bricks on the pavement blocked us from seeing the road she was on, so Raghu thatha jumped into the water. He couldn't see anything, so Prema patti(his wife), and I, went back to the end of the road. Now the road was almost completely dry. On the submerged cars you could see the lines of dirt and sediment, all the way upto the bonnet and the doors end. We looked down the road, and saw only rescue workers, eating lunch, and throwing plastic plates into the water. Twenty minutes had passed.
Just then. I heard someone calling us, and ther came two boats, carrying everyone, my mother, cousins, uncle, grandparents, dog, and all their luggage.
Apparently Amma had gone to the window, after five minutes of shouting, was heard by my cousin. She had come to the window, and told everyone. My grnadmother was miffed. "Can you come back in an hour? We just started eating lunch"
Amma found a boatman, who took them all. The boats were rowed partly by Ola, and partly by fishermen. Ola was doing this for free, and the fishermen were compelled to do so too, but they demanded anything upward of 1000 rupees per boatload per trip, and a maximum of 10000 for the same ferry. (They later told us they could hear the fishermen shouting these demands in the stillness of the night, as they ate dinner).
Luckily, the boatman my mother found was willing to go for 500 per boat, and so everything precious, and a few sets of clothes, plus anything important was packed up in the morning, and they were ready to leave at any given moment. Amma waded in, and opened the front door, catching a gas cylinder that floated away as she did so. The boat came into the house, and they climbed the stairs as far as they could, before climbing into the water.
Once back at Raghu thatha's place, my grandparents contacted a friend who lived nearby, and allowed them to stay the nights with them, until the house was back in living condition. My uncle would stay here at my granduncle/aunts place, while my cousins and the dog would go to a friends house.
But after finding out that the friend didn't care much for the dog, they quickly moved into my granduncle's place as well!
That evening, we enjoyed our basic comforts again, as Gandhi nagar had power, and went home to sleep, before dinner.
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