Date 25th July It was about 11pm and still Panditji was at our home deciding on dates when we can have 'Home' of our new home in Mulund. It was almost 12 am when the panditji left discussing all what needs to be done and brought for puja and announcing his avaliablilty for 2 dates one aug 14 and other one i dont remember. It was decided that we will have Puja on 14th Aug. It was almost 1 am for all of us to go to bed.
Sun rises.. Alarm rings and mom gets up just to realise that its almost 6.30 am and Dad had already missed his office. Weather outside was too glommy So dad decided to give a break to office and enjoy cool weather eating hot bhaji and chai. I was fast asleep when i could barely hear mom saying Poonam get up..your friend prajakta (name changed) has called and is on phone. I took the receiver from Mom's hand and could hear soft spoken voice of my friend who was coughing badly and trying to tell me I am not coming to college today.I was still not completly awake and just said 2 letters OK and hung up the phone.
Later Mom forced me out of Bed and here i was ready to go to college on heavy raining gloomy day.
7.30 am Kalyan -Dadar was the train which i would board for my college. I would be accompanied my Prajakta and Monica(name changed) . They were my school mates , then junior college mates and now were my degree college mates. Today after coming to platform i found all the trains were delayed due to rains my train being no exception. ( delay of trains is normal in mumbai. But who cares when u have trains every 2 min). Both of us were discussing how boring it is to go to college in rains. And even more when people are just standing on platforms and their are no signs of trains coming on schedule.It was already 7:55. Both of us decided if our train(7.30 Kalyan Dadar) wouldnt come in next 5 min we planned to bunk college for the day. (I love such plannings :)). Huh but Bad luck train arrived within that 5 min. And unwillingly we had to board that train. It was raining heavily but being a mumbaikar we are used to such rains. Everything was just like any other rainy day.
3 pm I was busy attending lecture least informed about whats going outside. Still remember it was BEE Lecture. Subject wasnt interesting but professor was :P. Something outside classroom door caught my eyes and sound enuf to notice that my friends were waving at me trying to say something. I felt they are actually playing dumb sharrads with me. They were trying to tell me c u cell. Huh took out cell from my jeans just to notice 10 missed calls.. and 5 unread messages. Whole world was messaging trying to tell me it is raining heavily leave college early. Trains might stop.
After reading that message i dint waste even single minute. Told the prof abt it and left the class. After coming out we ( Monica, Sujata,sunita,Namrata and I) hurried towards Nerul station. Till then I just knew sujata,sunita and namrata as Monica's friends. I introduced myself to them and even they showed enuf warmth and care to wait for me for almost half hour trying to grab my attention and doing all kinds of signals to let me know abt rains. :)
we waited for almost half an hr on Station for train to come. This was Belapur -CST train via harbour line. (To explain there r three main railway lines in mumbai. Central,Western and Harbour. My college was in Neruk which comes in Harbour line and i used to saty in Kalyan which comes in Central Line. Every time to go to my college i had to change trains at 'KURLA' and board another train to Nerul.) The train was fully packed . Actions of people around depicted desperation to reach home safely. I realized that downpour today is not at all normal It was much more than i expected. Ladies in my compartment were discussing about roumers or may be news of tracks being covered with 1 feet water and central line train service being discontinued. Many more news and with each one my heart sank. Was really scared of what if i dint reach home. Where would is stay..how will i reach home. All kinds of thoughts crossed my mind. We reached Vashi station where sujata and sunita had to get down. They asked us to join them at their home as it was not safe to go home till kalyan as trains would stop any time. But in desperation to go home we denied the offer and made a decision to carry on. Next to get down was Namrata. She got down at Mankhurd and made same offer. We again with strong will said no we will go home. Dont u worry. Hmm now it was only me and Monica. Phone batteries were dying , N/w gng down both were worried but still trying to comfort each other. Listening to horror stories and news that half hour travel seemed like half day travel.
Huuuuuuusssssshhh.. Here comes Kurla station. Both of us get down just to see that railway trackes compeletly submerged . Announcements of CENTRAL line being closed made us numb. We couldnt think of anything but go back to vashi and stay with our newly made friends. Coming back to Platform 8 from where Harbour line trains go we found that the harbour line is closed down. We were caught ungaurded. Blank and numb , sweating with fear we still managed to comfort each other. Suddenly bell rang and it was sujata on call. we updated her with our current status and she was quick enuf to let us know all bus route maps , bus numbers of KURLA-VASHI bus.
We made our way to Kurla East to find the bus stand. It was already flooded. everything was floating. Umbrellas were of no use. We were just trying to hold our feet on ground. There were mobs of people on street trying to get back to their homes. Few people being generous enough to offer Biscuits and water for tresspassers. Everyone was running after every possible bus. Busses were full to their limit. People clinging to doors. Tyre's of bus fully submerged in water. We tried our hand on 1-2 buses but werent sucessfull. Finally we found Bus no 203. Vashi depot. My frind plunged into that bus and pulled me in. It was an overcrowded bus with lots of stinking people inside. Never in my life before i have travelled in such bus. It was next to hell. I was standing on one feet and my friend manged to find some place next to the engine which is just next to bus driver seat. She was comfortable enuf. But for me it was like 10 people trying hard to knock me down. Few people were such that they were trying to take advantage of overcrowded bus. I had even piched one guy hard for trying to puch me hard. It was worst feeling ever. Normally bus journey from kurla to vashi would take 40 min but that day it took abt 3 hrs. Water levels were rising and so were tensions. Mom and dad trying to reach but N/w not permitting them. Fianlly after 3 hours we reached Vashi .
Getting down at vashi bus depot we thought first thing to do is to call our friend sujata who was supposed to come to receive us. Bad luck all the batteries were dead. It was worse thing that could happen as both of us dint knew how to go to sujatas place. We satrted looking for PCO to call her. After trying to hard found that even PCO's had big queue. I thought mobile phones were the best thing invented . But then nature showed no science works when nature is against it. We stood for almost 10 min in queue to make one call. Tring trin... the bell rings..we heard a worried vocie of sujata. to our releif we could properly descibe where we were standing. we were told we had to wait for 15 min for her to arrive at bus depot. Both os us were feeling lil releived that atleast we could reach somewhere where we knew we would be safe. I used that 15 min to call my parents and inform them that i was safe and gng to saty at sujatas place. Called even my bro and found even he had decided to saty at his friends place who live just next to his college.
That 10 min of waiting time we were thanking God almighty and discussing how worse it would have been to spend entire night on kurla platform as many people did that day.
Sujata arrived with her sis to receive us. That time i beleievd God sends angels on earth in form of friends. :) she was an angel for me :)
Gng back to her place was a adventorous experience. Water almost had come to my hip level. I couldnt walk properly but there were peopel helping out each other to cross the distance. I could see a pleasant sight of people standing by roads offering people tea, biscuits snacks. LEnding helping hand , Lending small place even in their match box homes. Lending each other phones just to let know loved ones that their stranger friend was safe and would soon see them.
It was a sight which i could see only in mumbai and no where in the world. People who are busy and running for life otherwise do stop and care for u when u need them. Thats what mumbai spirit is all about.
After 10 min of walk which seemed like long years we reached sujatas place.
The warmth shown my friend sujata and her family was amazing. We were made comfortable and treated with snacks and words of comfort. After an hour or so we all settled down .
Informed our loved ones with our well being . We shared our experience with her family , thanked God, laughed out loud, prayed for others ,chatted whole night and had fun.
It was most memorable experience of my life.
Everything outside was submerged in water but my heart was filled with gratitude and respect for Mumbaikars.
I thank God for being so kind with me. Many people lost lives during that floods. I really feel sad for them. All my condolences are with their families.
And yes to continue with my story. I went home on 28th of july. 2 Days i had stayed at my friends place. Who is now one of my best friend :).
