Maximum City, under Water

Harrowing tales and images of people's experiences on that one day in Mumbai are still pouring in (no pun intended).

I read Boo's story and was horrified, knowing that what she wrote was no exaggeration, but an experience that millions of MW's had gone through. I hear stories of Mr.R's cousin, whose ground floor flat, newly furnished, was washed out completely. A lifetime's earnings gone down the drain, literally. And childhood, wedding pictures and documents that are irreplaceable. The cousins are safe, but going back 'home' is not an option just yet. Nor is it a possibility for the hundreds still on the streets, trying to get back some semblance of normality, making an attempt to trace missing family members, or earning a daily wage. I watch images on Star News of queues of people complaining about the 5 kg rice that is being given to them by the government and of relief efforts that barely make a dent. The horror of it all is evident even in the people I talk to here - strangers who ask me about my family, once they know I'm a MW.

I count my blessings. My first monsoon away from home and I was spared the horrors. Knowing how I used to work, I would have, perhaps out of some false sense of commitment, stayed at work till closing time, unless I was pushed out, and then found out that there was no way to get home. I would have stayed in the office - knowing that it was not possible to walk from Churchgate to Borivili; besides my office always has emergency arrangements ready, like a fully stocked canteen, provisions to hire mattresses etc (was done once a few August's ago, when people couldn't go home and chose to stay in the office). Not many others would have been so fortunate, but like Boo, would have had to walk through swirling waters in an attempt to get home.

Boo's account relates how men try to take advantage of a single woman trying to make her way back home, even in the middle of a calamity. It is sickening to hear and something every Indian woman comes to expect. Our instincts rarely fail us in these matters and it is uncanny how we can pick a 'decent' man on the streets to walk with at times like these.

Boo, I'm just glad you made it home safely.