This piece gives a true account on the 26th July 2005 deluge in Mumbai, India. It has understatements and I've given a relatively cushioned view but unfortunately none are exaggerations.1
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Tuesday, the 26th of July, in India, Bombay city (Mumbai to be politically correct)finally gave way of it's safe protective hold and we were left in shock, disbelief and harassed. There have always been disastrous weather reports and forecasts made, but never before did they come so true. I was lazing around the house wondering whether to go to college (in the evening) or no, as it was raining constantly since morning (I mean, “my” morning- I get up as late as 11:30 in the “morning” and sleep as late as 3 a.m.). It was not raining hard till 1 o’clock noon, but I just had a very bad feeling about the rest of the day. 3
I had a feeling that the trains might have a problem- they usually stop running in heavy rains. As a matter of fact, even with the trains functioning fine, travelling by ‘BEST buses’ (public buses) in the peak hours always involve risks- of accidental deaths (!) because the buses are overcrowded and people have to actually hang on for their dear life by holding on to a window or a pole near the door. It’s the same with trains but men face this problem more than women and I am a female (thankfully). Yes the Mumbai city is relatively advanced and modern, but all this is also true without any exaggerations. I might have made understatements for that matter about traffic and mumbai-life in the peak hours here. Anyway, coming back to this very grey and grave day… I was right. And seeing the disastrous disaster management in action (rather not seeing them) I realized how our city was only r-e-l-a-t-i-v-e-l-y advanced! 4
I don’t know why, but for some reason I kept thinking about a short story written by Stephen King, ‘The Mist’. I was spooked without a back up of rational reasoning! In The Mist, a weird fog breaks loose unexpectedly after a mini, not so disastrous cyclone storm hits a small city. Actually it’s the result of a “top secret” disastrous military experiment or project. Slowly people realise that it’s no ordinary fog. The insides of the fog carried dangerous creatures from probably another planet. The fog slowly started encroaching and started engulfing the place.. soon to take over the world perhaps. People fought and died. No one can fight the nature’s wrath; only this one was a man-made calamity. Very few of these people mange to escape (at least temporarily), but constantly thinking of the ones left behind, not knowing where they are or whether they survived. 5
That’s the story. I guess I must have made the connection because of the sky. While sitting on the divan (an Indian styled couch) and looking at the rain’s consistent streaming through the large tall windows in the hall (what you may call a drawing room) I couldn’t help noticing how eerie the sky looked. Of course I did not know what was to follow, at that time! The sky looked as if a huge plate of light grey was kept above- like we were all in a rectangular laboratory glass box with the top covered using an acrylic plate. What was bizarre to me was that it didn’t have any shades at all- just one coloured sheet! I have never ever seen a sky like that, anywhere in India! (Leaving out a few places, I have travelled almost everywhere in India). Not only did that “rectangle” gulp away the sun, but it also didn’t seem to have any outline! It looked as if it were to fall, any moment, down below, on us.6
As I recall, my mother had commented after the “incident” was over how not to word things like that, cause they might just happen and the after-feeling is obviously unsettling! What I had asked her that afternoon, was to imagine what would it be like if the entire huge cloud (with no outlines) was to fall on Andheri, Parle and Santacruz (3 adjoining suburbs- I stay in Parle) – with the water and the coolness and the emptiness in the air and of course the thunder and lightning all around us. I had said that as if it were a joke. But deep down I had ‘The Mist’ working up on me each time I saw the suffocating sky.7
The rains started in heavy torrents. And after that whatever happened is history- water logging, floods in the nearby lakes, aggravated high tide in the sea and even land slides. The destruction was enormous! Water level ON land had risen from three feet to ten feet in different places. Just to remind everyone here, we Indians are not very tall people (I barely reach 5feet). Cars were drowning, floating, had tumbled over and had even climbed one over the other in unimaginable ways. The small shops and big factories- most of which were on the ground floor- all destroyed, goods damaged, etc. In some places, walls had fallen off too. People were stranded for the whole day and even the entire night- on roads, railway platforms, and wherever they thought they were safe. The lights, phone line and cellular services were off. No longer were people connected to each other. We were cut off, left wondering what our dear ones were doing.. not letting the thought creep in that something might have happened to them. My father for instance was in his car, on the roads, just 2 train stops away at 4 in the evening. He reached home the next day morning, 11o’clock. That was still better. My friend’s mother managed to reach home day before yesterday evening! (28th July). Such was the condition. We still don’t have the phone lines functioning.8
People died tragic deaths out there, which we heard from my dad and neighbours and later saw it on TV. Then the landslide just happened and children died painfully under the walls at Sakinaka- not far from Andheri. The death toll over all is in hundreds. The property loss and danger of diseases is growing now.. specially because of the dead animals that floated for over two days in the city. 9
Everyone’s stunned and shocked here, though daily activities are slowly resuming in what is known as the country’s commercial capital. This is Mumbai- the city that never sleeps! Not once have the Mumbai people suffered nature's anger like this in a HUNDRED years! Something like this was not to happen here! But now, even with a faint shower, in the city where “shit happens” is considered a daily phenomenon, people, especially those living in the hutments, fear the dam breaking loose or the lakes flooding over and things even worse. Just yesterday, one such false alarm, killed 20 people- amongst which, 11 were children and the rest mostly women. And this is just one reported incident!10
The rains have created history. And my imagination has scared me. The measurement said, just 3 inches in proper town or South Mumbai, and approximately 40 INCHES in Santacruz and the adjoining places. These 2 sections of the city are not that far apart! Spooky? You bet! One needs to be careful now of what we’re imagining and fantasizing about… isn’t it?
Author notes
This piece gives a true account on the 26th July 2005 deluge in Mumbai, India. It has understatements and I've given a relatively cushioned view but unfortunately none are exaggerations.
Please feel free to comment - on content, style etc.
Thank You.
A contest entry
- A challenge to all: I'm not looking for a story. I'm looking for literature. by DreamWanderer.
1750 points, ended April 13, 21 entries
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
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Comments
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I thought I was going through the stories serially; I don't know how I wound up down the list on this one. At any rate, no disappointments, a haunting account of nature's terrifying power; on a whim she can turn our grandest monuments into nothing. Plato's Atantis did come to mind for some reason... Best thing for me, I think, was the use of restraint, no need for the macabre, the carrion and chaos and the pestilence I'm sure was floating everywhere. Good writing from a good writer, something to think about, next time it rains, or the ocean rises, or the land moves...
All the best;
Dw -
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Thank you dear DreamWanderer, your comment is uplifting.. it's very kind of you
Indeed the amount of chaos and tragedy around was shocking.. I did debate when I initially wrote this to include it or no, but later decided to change the focus onto something readable and more subjective. Thanks
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i liked the piece... lots of understatements though... but i suppose some things need to be 'censored' ...
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Well, I'd like to believe that disasters are occurring more often now.. and I really don't want to find out the truth about it..
Take care Jadey,
be well
kunjal.
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I'm sorry that something like this has happened to where you live. Imaginations can be scary places, but sometimes the reality is far more powerful and terrifying. It seems to me as i get older, i am either becoming more aware of the worlds disasters or the are happenign more frequently. This piece is a great description of how nature can suddenly change things and make its present felt.
keep writing
jade -
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Wow, this was really interesting to read. The way you wrote it was very powerful. You led up to the end, and then eased it into a conclusion. It was interesting for me to read a little about the culture over there, and a little bit about this incident and just how sad it is. Thank you so much for sharing.
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The thing you mentioned about thoughts and words becoming reality.. I think its a great idea for a horror story
I didn't think you'd read it.. as I wouldn't as I am equally averse and scared to reading sad bad news like these.. a confession- I don't read too much of newspapers as all they share are the bad gory news.
but i am thankfull you read it.
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I am glad you like it.
~kunjal. -
Thank you as I said before, this is a true account.
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Great Work!!!
Kunjal, yes, it is hard and these natural calmities are rarely what is expected and come on us so suddenly that we are numbed with fear. I have been to Bombay myself and have seen rains there. Even small rains would flood the roads and trains would eb cancelled.
It is really lucky that you were home did not leave for college. Glad your father reached home unscathed too. Yes, your report is cushioned a lot the reality is more gruel. But then the media is already scaring the masses and so no point in us joing in to make the situation worse I think.
In my today's mail I have received soem photos of the roads in Mumbai during the rains, where people on on the road in knee high water and even cars submerged.
Indeed we have to be careful with our words for words are powerful and can make things happen, even thoughts.
Love and blessings from Coimbatore - Uncle Joel - -
This is a profound piece. I have not read many stories here at AP. But, I certainly must confess of those so far, this is at the top of my pick. Thanks for sharing your story with us here at AP.!Imagination is sucha strong sense and to have it right in view is amazing!
ICUlokn -
Very interesting story that I liked very well, You have written this so vivid and with great descriptions. A great write you should be proud of. great job and thank you for sharing it.
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I thank you for reading it. I really want more people to read it.. but am scared to feature thi piece as its longer than wat people prefer to read here.
any suggestions? -welcome
I am glad the tiny descriptions hlped you being more worldlier as you put in. And yes, at times I too indulge in innocent fantasizing bout the sharing bit..
neway, all's well for now- with me and my family.
thank you for reading once again
love
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Kunjal, Thank you, for allowing me/us to share your experience. Thank you for allowing me/us a snapshot of your world and thank you for allowing me/us to see your descriptive creative writing.
You write an interesting story, I found it quite chilling, as I know it carries the personal suffering of reality. Your descriptions of your world allow me to expand my reality making me closer to being worldlier. Thank you Kunjal, I feel special and a little guilty, as in the last week here the weather has been quite magical with divine, warmth and a sunny sky; yet people would like a little more rain. What a shame we cannot share more of what we have imposed upon us.
Edited on Jul 31, 3:55 because ''.
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