I will narrate how I travelled from Alwarpet to anna nagar west and back to egmore on that ill fated day.
I had left my ticket to madurai for diwali vacation in my room in annanagar , now I am stranded in alwarpet. With no signs of rain relenting I decided to go come what may not realising the risk involved. My periappa came to help me in his horse, as he prefers to call it, the yamaha.
We decided to take the arterial roads as the interior roads will be potholed with open drainage.But no rain coat or other paraphernalias for rain driving. First went to luz corner hoping possiblity of water draining into the sea quickly into the sea, but there was a continuum of water from luz corner to santhome church and beyond. Tracing the highest points in the road we could manage knee deep water upto queen mary's college.
There after it was a smooth ride till napiers bridge. The flag staff road was under two feet water so was swamy sivanantha salai. we decided to take swamy sivanantha salai to reach central. There we were diverted towards vepery as there was a tree acting as a check post in poonamalee high road. purasaiwalkam high road was filled with water upto the median. Then we took the ayanavaram route to reach villivakkam and back to annanagar west. My room was in utter silence vinod(gilli) was studying with utmost concentration for the upsc mains( the problem with mains in tamilnadu is that north east monsoon coincides exactly with it. upsc has a better prediction rate than regional meteorology dept. so every time there is an announcement for rains it classically conditions fear response in you) oblivious of the situation prevailing outside.
I took the ticket and started my journey back home. This time we chose to choose the other route through CMBT. Problems started from the beginning, anna nagar west extention was under 3 feet of water. Literally swimming through the waters when we reached vadapalani our horse developed a snag, so I decided to take the most trusted saviour 12b to alwarpet. It took me safely to my place without any hitches as the roads were practically deserted but for our boat.
Now I have to go to egmore to catch the train. There were rumours all round that trains will be cancelled. but I started early(2 hrs to be exact) and reached the station. There were no announcements of cancelling the trains.I was happy but the trains were running late. Only the 4th platform was functioning. I waited for four full hours before the train arrived at the platform. I was welcomed with empty compartments, I had a feeling of all is yours when I entered. Then as usual all that begins well ends well.
Now some thought,
- The traffic dynamics is exactly opposite in case of a rainy day- arterial roads cannot handle traffic as the by lanes.
- Buses are not as bad as you expect. They can navigate in water levels that will kill the occupants of a car.
- Indian Railways don't cancel trains to their whims.
- People show benevolence during distress that is unimaginable.
- Until you are affected You do not feel the problems of others.( one of my co-passengers was commenting நாங்களெல்லாம் இந்த வயசுலயும் steady a இருக்கோமே நீ இந்த சின்ன வயசுலே இப்படி நடுங்கி கிட்டு இருக்கே.!!!! when no square inch of my body is dry for the past 8 hours)
- You plan but god dispose. The tickets in the train were booked on the opening day of reservation but could not be travelled due to rains as well as rumours( thanks sun tv). But some unexpecting persons got a chance to travel. one of them just crossed the track near the airport after his flight from mumbai. He did not get the ticket previously.
- I have almost mapped the hypsometric map of chennai.
- This may be lengthy and boring but to experience would have been thrilling.
1 கருத்து:
its very interesting, i did not know that time when you came to room with your uncle.but ungalukulla ivlo skills irukunu theriyama poche........
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