On A Rainy Afternoon...

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On a rainy afternoon, I found myself watching the streets of Mumbai filled with water. There was water everywhere. All the news channels were reporting the flood situation in Mumbai. It had rained 600mm in Mumbai that day.

I started wondering how much really is 600mm of rain?? I knew for sure that this kind of rain in a day would make life miserable in any part of the world. But sitting in my cozy apartment in Pune, I found it hard to imagine how people would handle so much rain.

As I kept watching TV, more and more bad news kept 'pouring' in. Numerous people were feared killed due to the flood and a lot of them were missing. There were serpentine queues of people walking in the middle of the road holding hands, since someone might slip into the man holes any time. Vehicles were literally floating around on the streets. Some people had climbed on the top of these vehicles to avoid drowning in the rain water.

My thoughts were disturbed when my cell phone started ringing. It was one of my friends asking whether I was safe. I assured him that everything was fine. But what was the problem in Pune? Then I looked out of the window and noticed that it was raining quite heavily outside.

I usually like watching rain. Its time have a nice ginger tea and have pakoras. The pouring rain enticed me to make pakoras. I was almost through with it, when the rains became heavier. Each rain drop was like a bullet falling from the sky on ground. I could see rain drops bouncing off the car shade below. The noise was growing louder by the minute.

Within half an hour it was raining so heavily on the streets of Pune that I felt god had left open a huge tap in the sky with full force. I gave upon the thought of having pakoras and was glued to the TV. I tried calling home, but the cell phone network was down too. While sipping my ginger tea the feeling of panic started gripping me.

BANG!!! There was a huge noise. And the electricity went off. Some transformer must have tripped, I thought. It was dark, but not quiet. The rain was quite scary. I lit up a candle and switched on the radio to get any latest news about the situation. I thought of stepping out and going to some friends' place. But quickly decided against doing so.

The rains grew stronger. Now almost sounding like a monster. I knew it, I could feel it. It was raining too much. The news on radio made me gasp for breath - the largest dam near the city had caved in and the lady on the radio warned that soon the city could be flooded with water.

Since I lived on the second floor, I thought I would be safe for some days. But what about food? What about my office? Panic gripped me totally. I was sweating heavily. And then, the last candle in home extinguished. Now I could only hear the tremendous rainfall.

What will I do, where should I go? Before I could think any more, I heard people screaming. I started hearing unusual sounds. Sound of water gushing through the lanes carrying and hitting anything that came in its way. It was all over I thought. The water entered our society. The screams grew louder. The water level was continuously rising.

I turned the radio louder in desperation to find out if any help was coming by. The lady announced that as soon as the help is near your home, they would blow an alarm. I was desperately looking forward to the alarm. There were only few minutes left now. I could see water almost at the level of first floor. Oh god, what should I do. I was completely drenched in sweat now. I could hardly move. The water rose very fast and in seconds it would hit my door and enter the apartment.

But then, as a god sent gift, I could hear the alarm. Yes, help was close by. I could still survive to see another day. The alarm grew louder and louder....

.....But wait a minute....why on earth does the alarm sound like my cell phone ring tone?? The alarm or the ring tone, whatever, grew louder. And then I opened my eyes.

It was actually my cell phone that was ringing. I got up from my ill-timed afternoon nap on the drawing room sofa. I answered the phone and instantly came back to reality after hearing a call center girl trying to sell me a credit card or personal loan. For the first time in my life I was grateful to these guys for calling me :)

As I became aware of the real world around me, I noticed that it was bright and clear outside in Pune. The rains in Mumbai had stopped too. I decided to go ahead with my plans to make pakoras.

Since then I always keep an umbrella handy. Just beside my bed :D