While most of Mumbai was scrambling for safety, wading through neck-deep water, trudging for hours in a city besiged by floods, I was cosily tucked away in the confines of home, oblivious to the mayhem escalating outside.
We had no electricity, the phone lines defunct and the mobile phone battery went dead just when I needed it most. A friend dropped in to spend the night, as she could not get home. It was the scene of a pyjama party sans power supply and hence we complained about the power shortage and mosquito bites instead of being thankful for being alive.
Until the next day, when the full horror of the disaster sunk in. We looked with disbelief at the graphic images on television, as there was no newspaper to read. I just about managed to text my folks in Goa through my friend’s mobile phone, thus they were at peace knowing that because of my illness, I could not venture outside in the first place.
Every waking minute, I feel wretched about the people who suffered and are still suffering. Is this mother nature’s way of retaliating? ” The pollution levels will come down because so many cars are off the roads,” says a friend.
I don’t know about “mother nature” retaliating, but I do know I’m much relieved to hear from you and know you’re still in the land of the living.