The month of August proved to be testament of the people's fate in the small state of Kerala. This small state I call home faced one of its biggest natural calamities in the form of heavy rains and reading of the same only didn't quite put it all into perspective.
On my way to Trivandrum i was happy that i will be returning back to Calcutta driving my humble Ford Figo and the anticipation of the drive had a permanent smile on my face. Leaving Calcutta on a Monday I land in a relatively dry Trivandrum airport and head home nothing unusual about it. On reaching home I chat with family and retired for the day. The next day dawned dark and overcast. It has been raining cats and dogs ever since. As my car was not in use for several month and inspite of having it serviced ten days ago the mechanics failure to disconnect the battery post parking it back home had drained the battery almost fully and the car refused to start. A phone call to my mechanic assured me that he will have someone come and check the battery immediately as i was schedule for a noon start. The continuous pouring ensured that the person coming to me got in only late in the afternoon by which time I had decided to change the battery in foresight of the drive to come. Getting everything set and ready we were geared to head off on the first leg of our journey by road to Calcutta.
In the evening I head to my native place Kanjirapally through Ranny and Erumely, a route that i normally take as its a lot faster and also less traffic due to the winding roads. As we speed through the night and as it was dark and raining we hardly had any concept of what was happening around us as we ford on through our journey. It was only till we read in the next days newspaper about the true devastation that followed only an hour or two post my arrival at Ranny.
The entire town was submerged in water.
We stick to our plan and we leave kanjirapally, and head to Kochi, before continuing on to Bangalore. An uncle of mine, had missed his flight as it got cancelled ( due to the flooding in Cochin International Airport) and he had rebooked his ticket from bangalore, had left earlier that day through the same route I was planning on taking and we were getting a very comfortable report of the route so we decide to start a bit later than planned.
This proved to be a bad call as all through the journey we cross streams flowing on the road and every now and then not to risk being bogged down in a deep puddle of water we take a detour. These detours offer us a glimpse of the unparalleled Beauty that we miss as we zip through the little villages and head straight for our destinations. The highways cut through the landscape in an effort to save us some time that would be lost negating the traffic of the hamlets and the small towns that make up a district or a place. At times even I am in favour of the highways but it would definitely be worthwhile taking a longer route once in a while to check out what we other miss in our hurried run from point A to point B. Although today was beautiful it also was sad to see that most of the land was submerged in water. Lands that a few days back were paddy field, farm lands and the lively hood of the farmers.
The people of these little villages were out in full swing aiding the motorists in either trying to navigate through a deep puddle or giving the ones who didn't want to risk getting bogged down directions to an alternate route to get to the other side of the puddle / stream that blocked the road.
A lot of twists and turns, through a lot of little Hamlets, we finally got the arterial Highway. From there on it was a smooth ride to Bangalore with little trouble. This was an experience that was truly a test of one's patience and also resolve in finding ways to get to a destination. Also thanks to the umpteen times a stranger offered help and for all the prayers for a safe journey.
On my way to Trivandrum i was happy that i will be returning back to Calcutta driving my humble Ford Figo and the anticipation of the drive had a permanent smile on my face. Leaving Calcutta on a Monday I land in a relatively dry Trivandrum airport and head home nothing unusual about it. On reaching home I chat with family and retired for the day. The next day dawned dark and overcast. It has been raining cats and dogs ever since. As my car was not in use for several month and inspite of having it serviced ten days ago the mechanics failure to disconnect the battery post parking it back home had drained the battery almost fully and the car refused to start. A phone call to my mechanic assured me that he will have someone come and check the battery immediately as i was schedule for a noon start. The continuous pouring ensured that the person coming to me got in only late in the afternoon by which time I had decided to change the battery in foresight of the drive to come. Getting everything set and ready we were geared to head off on the first leg of our journey by road to Calcutta.
In the evening I head to my native place Kanjirapally through Ranny and Erumely, a route that i normally take as its a lot faster and also less traffic due to the winding roads. As we speed through the night and as it was dark and raining we hardly had any concept of what was happening around us as we ford on through our journey. It was only till we read in the next days newspaper about the true devastation that followed only an hour or two post my arrival at Ranny.
The entire town was submerged in water.
We stick to our plan and we leave kanjirapally, and head to Kochi, before continuing on to Bangalore. An uncle of mine, had missed his flight as it got cancelled ( due to the flooding in Cochin International Airport) and he had rebooked his ticket from bangalore, had left earlier that day through the same route I was planning on taking and we were getting a very comfortable report of the route so we decide to start a bit later than planned.
This proved to be a bad call as all through the journey we cross streams flowing on the road and every now and then not to risk being bogged down in a deep puddle of water we take a detour. These detours offer us a glimpse of the unparalleled Beauty that we miss as we zip through the little villages and head straight for our destinations. The highways cut through the landscape in an effort to save us some time that would be lost negating the traffic of the hamlets and the small towns that make up a district or a place. At times even I am in favour of the highways but it would definitely be worthwhile taking a longer route once in a while to check out what we other miss in our hurried run from point A to point B. Although today was beautiful it also was sad to see that most of the land was submerged in water. Lands that a few days back were paddy field, farm lands and the lively hood of the farmers.
The people of these little villages were out in full swing aiding the motorists in either trying to navigate through a deep puddle or giving the ones who didn't want to risk getting bogged down directions to an alternate route to get to the other side of the puddle / stream that blocked the road.
A lot of twists and turns, through a lot of little Hamlets, we finally got the arterial Highway. From there on it was a smooth ride to Bangalore with little trouble. This was an experience that was truly a test of one's patience and also resolve in finding ways to get to a destination. Also thanks to the umpteen times a stranger offered help and for all the prayers for a safe journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment