Rain, rain, oh so much rain! It rained non-stop for more than twenty-four hours – starting late Saturday evening all the way to Sunday night. There was drizzle, there was steady rainfall, there was torrential downpour and then there were cyclone-like moments.
During the rain, I was either at home or out on the road. Sitting at home, having a cup of steaming hot, freshly brewed south Indian filter kaapi – ah! – just blissful! Standing on the balcony watching the rain and getting mildly wet – really refreshing! Driving through the rain for almost three hours – priceless!
It was an experience that I’m sure not to forget in the near future. I remember that the city was flooded back in late October 2005, but I wasn’t in the country. I’d just left for the land of the brave a few days before that. I’d heard the rain gods were really angry then and that they lashed out at the city, tormenting its residents. I’d always wondered what it would’ve been like to be in Chennai when it rained that much. Well, even though I didn’t get to find out what that was like, this was an unforgettable experience on its own!
Sunday evening. 6PM. My fiancée’s at my place and I need to drop her back at her folks’. It’s a 15-km drive through the heart of the city. On a Sunday evening though, the drive there and back shouldn’t take more than ninety minutes – or so I thought. There was a fallen tree on a major road, causing traffic diversion - nothing alarming - except that it was a really big tree. Reached her place in an hour, had a cup of coffee with the in-laws and decided to head back home around 8PM, figuring that I’d be home by 9 (even with the traffic diversion). Man, was I wrong!
I reached home only by 930, and in that time, I drove through water. And when I saw water, I don’t mean even ankle-deep water. I mean knee-high to mid-thigh-high water! (Taking into account the need for extravagant explanations, the water was probably only mid-thigh-high for short people.) There were a few stretches of the drive in which I was so sure that water was going to seep into my car, or worse, seep into the exhaust pipe and get into the engine or whatever and cause the car to stall! I was certainly not looking forward to getting out of the car and wade around in water. Not just water, but god-only-knows-what-else-is-mixed-in-it-water! Luck was on my side! Phew! I did make it home without any car trouble and without any water entering the car. But it wasn’t all pretty! I did see at least three cars that stopped in the middle of the road. I wanted to help them, but stopping my car would have been too much of a risk. I also saw quite a few motorbikes stopped on the road because water had found its way into the silencers - couldn’t help them either. In fact, the worst part was when I was very close to home. I couldn’t find any streets (really!) since they were all submerged in water. After a bit of exploration, I picked a street and decided to try my luck. Heck, worst-case-scenario, I’d have to walk home through the gross water for about 5 minutes. Nothing that a little clean water and a lot of soap couldn’t handle right? But, the Black Beast made it home - no stalling, no water inside, no problem!
Needless to say, it stopped raining a couple of hours after I got home. It didn’t rain much on Monday, even though I was really hoping that it would. Yes, my selfish being wants it to rain much much more. So much more that next time, water should seep into the car and it should stall. Now that, would be even more nerve-wracking!
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