Spirit of Chennai

It was a December night. I had switched my company from a software firm in Chennai to Bangalore. Officially it was my last night as a resident in Chennai. My friend slept too early that day since there were power fluctuations. I was packing my stuffs so that I can handover packed stuffs to Packers and Movers the next day. With lots of bargaining I finally agreed with a Packers and Movers group who charged nominally. They agreed to transport my bike as well.  The next day  agenda was to hand over the stuffs to packers and movers , and catch the train at 9 PM to Kerala. A small vacation which I get from switching the companies , I had planned to spent it in my home town.

After packing my stuffs , I also went to bed. Chennai was raining heavily. People in Chennai welcomes rain since it is a rare phenomenon. Even though there were power fluctuations I was happy that Chennai is witnessing a good rain. Gradually I slipped to deep sleep. I woke up early the next morning. It was still raining. The power had still not come. My friend was still sleeping. I peeped outside the window to see the rain. I was shocked to see the streets drowned under water. I understood from my first instinct that this is not a normal situation. By the time my friend too woke up. He was not exclaimed. He was telling me , because there is no proper drainages water gets stagnated in street. City is not planned . After our shower we waited for 2-3 hours for the rain to stop, so that we can go outside and have food. Rainfall is not stopping ,rather it was increasing every minute. The atmosphere was getting more and more darker and rain was at its peak.

By the time clock strike 10 , we were too hungry that we decided to drench in rain and go eat.The water in streets were above our knee. Drainage was overflowing. We went a nearby Iyer hotel and ate poori masala quickly. We rushed to our flat quickly. We again took another bath since we were very sure that rainwater in the street were mixed with the drainage water. Packers and Movers disagreed to come since the roads were under water and there was bad traffic jam. I literally begged the packers and movers to please come some how . I was afraid whether I will miss my train in this rain calamity.The situation was becoming worse minute my minute. My friend was continuously asking me to find any way though we both were not sure about the way out. Mobile phones were not showing network. No network provider had a working network except for BSNL which comes and goes . By the time it was evening , We are almost sure that packers and movers will not turn up. We were almost sure that we will miss our train. Atlast we came to know that , trains were cancelled.

People were stuck in railway station and Koyembedu Bus stand. So called the secondary bus stand ,perungalathur was also crowded. Ola introduced boat service. Hotels were closed . ATMs were out of order.Petrol pump had no petrol since Lorrys didn’t come. By the time , it was 9 PM in the night we were hungry again for the fact that we skipped our lunch. We decided to roam around and come since hunger has conquered us. Tambaram , where my flat was located was damn crowded. People were walking in the road despite of water. Everybody was in search of one or other thing. The feeling of panic , I could see in everyone’s eyes. We saw a super market.I rushed into the supermarket and immediately took a bunch of bread and cupcakes.Candles was one big necessity during this rainy day. We walked in the water filled road carefully towards our flat. We decided we will go tomorrow to Kerala somehow. We knew it was becoming worse. For bachelors like us, without cooking it was impossible to survive there.We both didn’t know how we are going to escape. But we were determined enough to travel the next day.

Some how we managed to sleep that very night. The feeling of uncertainty, the responsibility of the situation and the courage to face it. I was becoming more than what I was. I woke up early. Fortunately there was a break in rain , but the atmosphere was still dark, scary dark.

There was no time for break fast. I asked my friend to wake up. Even he got ready soon. We were out of money. It was highly important that we get some money from any ATM. None of the ATM in our locality was working. I took out my bike key and were all set to go in search of ATM.

The bike ride through the road which was filled with water was adventurous. We could see traffic was very much tightly packed and no vehicle is moving except for some bike riders who managed to do some stunts in between the traffic. Somehow we reached  perungalathur. It was the nearest Bus stand. There were couple of ATMs in that locality . None of it was working. We came to know that there was no bus running and all the train has stopped. Airport is under water. Now only way out is to wait one or two days more .We were not ready.

Since I know many short cut pocket roads in Chennai , I drove back to my room overcoming the traffic in main road. On the way I saw a petrol bunk. These Indian oil petrol bunks accept Cards.

I filled petrol and gave my card swipe. I was literally praying so that their Card machine works. It worked by Gods grace. Since we were out of money , I asked petrol bunk boy  whether it is possible to swipe my card   and give me the Liquid cash since no ATM was working. He agreed, but he need commission for it. Man’s desire for money making has no limit despite the emergency situation. We left the petrol bunk .By the time we decided to travel kerala in our Pulsar 180.

Quickly locked the flat door. We were heading towards the Chennai- Salem Highway .As expected drizzling has already started. Through the pocket roads which were full of water,it was very difficult to ride.I was not able to judge where is the road since everywhere was equally filled with water. The pocket road lead us to the Kelambakkam-Vandalur road which was comparatively big . Like the after-effect of an earth quake, roads were broken and small check dams which were on its side was overflowing. Somehow we crossed there and reached vandalur.The big walls which were around the zoo were completely broken and my thoughts were about the animals which were stuck in the cages.The cruelty of the mankind, including me is what we see in the cages.

Slowly we reached the Chennai Salem Highway.  Both the sides of the road were full of water.

Military has already taken control of the situation.They were helping people to evacuate the place.Cars were floating in the water. Since highway is above the ground level by some meters ,there was still some scope of transportation. Feeling of Panic and responsibility was there in my mind. The traffic block has started and people were saying that only bikes can go. I tried to move forward with some jiggling in between the traffic which all the bikers were doing. At last we reached the dead end where we were not able to move a bit.The Dam on the left side of the highway was overflowing.

There was a JCB which is trying to break the divider in between the highway so that water doesn’t get stagnated on one side of the highway.Bikers were trying to cross the JCB . JCB driver was concentrated in breaking the divider as soon as possible. He is not noticing the bikers crossing through the water filled road. Finally JCB driver succeeded in breaking the divider and the water was roaring with its full speed to other side.The yellow scooter which was just in front of me couldn’t bear the force of the water flow it went with the flow. Other bikers stopped and helped the scooter guy and pulled his scooter from drained into the dam.We were scared and even my bike was falling due to the water pressure from one side to other. My friend quickly got down from the bike and was trying to push the bike from other side so that it doesn’t fell.The face to face adventure or urge to get out of emergency situation made us get the energy to cross that over flooded area of the Chennai highway.After that I was totally tired and my hands were red .

I asked my friend to ride the bike. Rain was heavily pouring but we didn’t mind it. We crossed the major part of Chennai and we reached the Tindivanam which is almost 100 km away from Chennai. We found the first working ATM there and we took our money. Nearby there was a good vegetarian hotel. We ate which filled both our stomach and mind.After a 1 hour rest we again continued our journey. The climate was improving . At last the rain stopped when we were about to reach Salem. Salem to kerala border, it is another 200 km but we felt we have crossed the major hurdle. By almost 10.30 PM we reached our home.

When I look back now, it was a journey of adventure, friendship, courage and fear.But it is a memory which I always love to cherish.