When I read the articles watched the doom created by floods in the northern part of Karnataka & Andra. It really pushed me back into nostalgia not a pleasant one though. Way back in 2005, it was the most dreadful day of my life. It was 26th July & Vijai had left to Seatlle on 22nd July, my parents had left back to Bangalore on 25th July. As usual I went to my work in Koregaon Park. Unknowingly me & Praveen started home & reached Pune Station. As Susheel (Praveena’s husband) picked her from the station, I was left alone. I waited for long hours & there was no sign of any bus to Nigdi, people started talking that there was a red alert & no buses would be available. I rushed to the railway station, to my surprise there were no local trains either. I started getting panicky & my MIL called & started crying…… I was in a total confusion & a mess, dint know what to do??? I came back to the bus stand trying to look for any known faces, but in vain …. Just then one lady walked towards me & asked if I was going towards Nigdi I said ‘Yes’…. Then she said wait & came back with another lady… she said our common destination is Nigdi, we will all go together… I was relieved as Praveena & gone a long way… Vijai wasn’t there, or we cud make some alternative arrangement…. My MIL was calling on & on … My parents were unaware of all this. Then all the three of us got together to find a cab or a rick…. Normally they used to charge 200/- but thn they said they would charge 900/- we said ‘OK’ in chorus… & got in2 the rick, This is when the actual journey began…. Three strange people had become the BEST of FRIENDS …. We were glad that we will reach home soon & none of us could swim…. Pune is a city where 2 rivers flow inside the city & we had to cross two bridges if we would take our regular route, but the auto guy had taken a new route as we would get only one route….. It was pouring like hell, I never knew rain could be so dreadful & scary… We were getting on a bridge & this is where all began the water had begun to raise up to our knee when we were inside the rick…. & 2 our ill luck the rick came on two wheels & the front wheel was in the air…. We all had no choice but to get into the water now…. There were loads of people struggling, we in2 water & it was till the level of the waist, mobile signal & battery both had died…. Now was the real terror as we knew that man holes were open to discharge water & it wasn’t known where the man holes were located…. & the most dreadful thing for me was, on our regular travel I used to see loads of snake holes on the either sides of the bridges now all had vanished, I used to scream if something would touch my feet, in my entire life I never prayed for my life… today I dint want to die as a deserted soul & felt I could never see my parents, brother, vijai & my family … three of us were holding each other’s hands as the water current was high & we had to have a human chain, & we used to go breathless in between & still manage to walk…. All ill luck comes in one go, the best example is Lavanya (the friend who was with me) had an asthama attack …. I simply can’t describe my plight…. We some how managed to reach the road & we tried stopping the cars that were moving, human is human’s best enemy & none of them bothered to stop for us to give a helping hand… Lavanya was losing it bt by bit as her inhaler was not functional as it was drenched in rain…. We dint know what to do, by then a van was coming we literally begged them & reached Nigdi ALIVE… & it was 11:30PM & my Father in law was waiting to take me…. the three of us hugged each other with tears rolling & thanking each other we parted ways, this is the biggest lesson in my life that we met as strangers & parted as good friends… I reached home, I had never seen myself in such a terrible state I was trembling with fear & my MIL hugged me & cried & cried…. I went into the bathroom to take bath & put the tap on & cried loud… I donno I never fear death but I really don’t know what I feared… I came out I spoke 2 mommy & daddy they started crying… then I spoke to pushpakka, bunty & couldn’t reach my brother… Spoke to Vijai but dint reveal anything…. I couldn’t sleep the entire night I used to wake up in sleep & tremble…. To this day when I see floods due to rainfall I go back & know the trauma…
I felt like sharing my terrible experience with you all …..
