I had waited for almost 5 years for this to happen - not in a bad sense, but..
The rain Gods seem to have taken notice of their long absence in the dry lands of Chennai and then decided to have a party there.
The rains and languishes in B'lore is passé, come to Chennai to see what it is all about.
Luckily the 2 days before Diwali and Diwali day as such were sparred. The Diwali upbeat mood was more than visible. You come to T.Nagar and you would get the impression that Chennai is the most flourishing spaces of all.
The ever thick traffic was even thicker, the shops were overflowing and the shoppers were searching for some scientific marvel that will bless them with more than 2 hands to carry their bags - Oh no! You can't blame the ladies when they have to choose from 50,000 odd colours for their saree!!
Anyway, I never crib about T.Nagar crowd - it would be an understatement if I say I love it. It gives such a festive atmosphere and lifts my spirits up!!
The rains started to arrive slowly after Diwali and after that lukewarm start strengthened to show their might from Friday onwards - just like the way I start lazily in the morning and then run with all my strength to catch my shuttle!
They were photographed as a flurry of white mass over the east coast. It appeared more to be like a tap which was opened by someone who forgot to close it, not realizing that the trough below was overflowing dangerously.
It looked like time stopped at 6:00 AM in the morning and the wall clock was just going around out of habit - low light, a dark sky and furious pricks of water drops (Man! never realized that they are so big!) kept the mood so somber!
And thanks to very loud series of thunder claps on Friday night, we woke up around 4:00 in the morning and were wondering what was happening!
If anyone had any leverage out of these rains, then it should be the TV channels - when one was talking of the relief measures taken by the Government to put people at ease, the other was talking of how prime residential areas of Chennai have now become pools, with people paddling out of their abodes in Keralian style, thanks to the poor check-measures taken by the Government. Now, is this what we call balanced information?!
I had to catch my train back to B'lore on Sunday night. But Sunday was the worst day of all, with the rains putting halt to all kinds of outdoor activities - all roadways were flooded, the subways were now leveled with water (can't imagine that water could swell up so much in the subways!!), the rail lines were under water.
The poor naive me, started for Central around 8:30 for my 11:15 train. To my horror, I realized that the metropolitan buses have called it a day and stopped plying. No one knew if the electric trains were still on - anyway none of the auto guys wanted to go in the direction of the stations. The rates were now flat, easy to remember figures -
To Mambalam station - 50
To Central - min. 250. Crazy! My B'lore ticket itself was just 175!
And call taxis - give 500 and you will be in Central!! I will travel to B'lore thrice in that money!!
Somehow one of the bold auto guys ventured to take me to Mambalam!! It was like a scene from the latest monster movie - 'The Cave'The streets were all deserted, dark (power was cut as a safety precaution) and there was knee deep water with ghostly reflections and shimmers - yeah there are some abyss of potholes and the general aberrations in the roads, whose depth you can't begin to fathom!!
Still I coaxed the auto guy to go further. And half way thru', water was in the auto and the auto comfortably got stuck in a furrow.
With the rain pouring, the auto guy tried to pull it off the ravine, but I definitely had to get down, roll up my sleeves (and jeans!), brace up and show my brawn to move it out of water. We managed to shove the vehicle to 'safe waters' (!), by which time I was fully drenched and the time was 10:30.
Realizing that reaching Central is more difficult than reaching Bangalore, I had to quietly resign back to the dryness my house.
I called up my friend to inform of this drama, hoping to get some solace and he started giving recommendations on how I could have reached Central!! Na, some people never change!
But I still loved my little adventure, if I can call it so... Ha! I just miss being in Chennai now!!
