Sorry for taking such a long time to finish of this part even after repeated reminders. I couldn’t complete this due to unavailability of time. So here is the second and the concluding part of my experience “This day that year”.
After catching some sleep in the breezy night I woke up at 7 in the morning and went out near station to take toll of the situation, but it was still drizzling. There was no point in returning back home as most of the places would be still flooded and having just a little above 100 rupees I thought of going to the nearest STM to withdraw some money for some urgent requirement. Hoping against hope that the ATM would be working went to old panvel. Most of the shops were closed and hotels too. There was nothing to offer to eat at any hotels or the road side tapriwalas. I reached the ATM center only to find “This ATM is out of order, please nearest ATM center” displayed on the ATM screen. With no other ATM machine nearby I started to walk back to the station, luckily I found a place where there was something to eat. By the time I reached there he had only one samosa and he was preparing vadapav. Having the single samosa and a plate of vadapav. On the way back to the station I took some paracetamol tablets for emergency sake. In the station there were very few people and I could get a place to sit on the chair which is meant for waiting purpose. Sitting there I was listening to radio hoping to get some news of the situations around. It was nice to hear the RJ’s helping out people in locating their near and dear ones instead of playing ads in between songs. I couldn’t continue this long as I had to keep a tab on my battery too, so it was better that I had kept it switch off. Finally when the rains stopped I thought of going near my house. I could see about 2 to 3 inch of mud on the road which I normally used to reach home, most of the people out on the streets, some trying to find milk or eatables and some cleaning up their house which was filed up with mud which had come with the water. Reaching near the road near the garden I could still see water which had not receded yet. On inquiring with some people nearby they told that there is still about 6 to 8 feet water on the road and I had to cross that road in order to reach my home. It didn’t strike me that I could use the highway route to reach my home. I stood there for few more minutes and could see people helping others crossing road even with water at neck deep height. Finally I decided to go back to the station and try going back home a little later but also thinking about the damage the deluge would have done.
At about 2 in the afternoon I started back again but this time from the highway route which is very long one. Though there was water at thigh high level I could manage to reach my home. On opening the door I could find most of my belongings standing back at the entrance door. I had to struggle hard to open the door since it got bloated due to the wetness. It was a complete mess with mud all over the floor and most of my books, clothes bags in drenched with mud. Even the almost full LPG cylinder had floated to some other place in the water. With very little water, which I got from the still falling rains I cleaned the whole house and the clothes books whatever I could, getting it to some better position than earlier. My neighbors were also busy in cleaning their house. Finally after about two hours of cleaning I could get rid of the mud that lies in my house and moved on to my aunt’s house for that night. I had it cleaned finally only on Friday since water was supplied for the whole day and I could do the remaining cleaning of the house.
This is one experience I will not be able to forget in my life, though it was a real bad experience it had thought me something. Maybe next time I could handle such situations better.
After catching some sleep in the breezy night I woke up at 7 in the morning and went out near station to take toll of the situation, but it was still drizzling. There was no point in returning back home as most of the places would be still flooded and having just a little above 100 rupees I thought of going to the nearest STM to withdraw some money for some urgent requirement. Hoping against hope that the ATM would be working went to old panvel. Most of the shops were closed and hotels too. There was nothing to offer to eat at any hotels or the road side tapriwalas. I reached the ATM center only to find “This ATM is out of order, please nearest ATM center” displayed on the ATM screen. With no other ATM machine nearby I started to walk back to the station, luckily I found a place where there was something to eat. By the time I reached there he had only one samosa and he was preparing vadapav. Having the single samosa and a plate of vadapav. On the way back to the station I took some paracetamol tablets for emergency sake. In the station there were very few people and I could get a place to sit on the chair which is meant for waiting purpose. Sitting there I was listening to radio hoping to get some news of the situations around. It was nice to hear the RJ’s helping out people in locating their near and dear ones instead of playing ads in between songs. I couldn’t continue this long as I had to keep a tab on my battery too, so it was better that I had kept it switch off. Finally when the rains stopped I thought of going near my house. I could see about 2 to 3 inch of mud on the road which I normally used to reach home, most of the people out on the streets, some trying to find milk or eatables and some cleaning up their house which was filed up with mud which had come with the water. Reaching near the road near the garden I could still see water which had not receded yet. On inquiring with some people nearby they told that there is still about 6 to 8 feet water on the road and I had to cross that road in order to reach my home. It didn’t strike me that I could use the highway route to reach my home. I stood there for few more minutes and could see people helping others crossing road even with water at neck deep height. Finally I decided to go back to the station and try going back home a little later but also thinking about the damage the deluge would have done.
At about 2 in the afternoon I started back again but this time from the highway route which is very long one. Though there was water at thigh high level I could manage to reach my home. On opening the door I could find most of my belongings standing back at the entrance door. I had to struggle hard to open the door since it got bloated due to the wetness. It was a complete mess with mud all over the floor and most of my books, clothes bags in drenched with mud. Even the almost full LPG cylinder had floated to some other place in the water. With very little water, which I got from the still falling rains I cleaned the whole house and the clothes books whatever I could, getting it to some better position than earlier. My neighbors were also busy in cleaning their house. Finally after about two hours of cleaning I could get rid of the mud that lies in my house and moved on to my aunt’s house for that night. I had it cleaned finally only on Friday since water was supplied for the whole day and I could do the remaining cleaning of the house.
This is one experience I will not be able to forget in my life, though it was a real bad experience it had thought me something. Maybe next time I could handle such situations better.
