Last 48 hours

Ok – so here’s what happened with me in the last 48 hours of the worst floods in Bombay in the last 100 years. Bombay was flooded with 37.1 inches of water – I think it’s a world record. I was in the office on Tuesday. When the rains got bad everyone started leaving the office. I was smart and decided to stay put because I knew the roads would get flooded and the trains would stop. And that’s exactly what happened – so everyone who’d left at 3pm were back in the office at 9pm – after having unsmartfully (new word coined by me) braved the rising water on the roads. So then a few of us from the office went to see a film at inox which is bang opposite the office. The film was the interpreter – quite boring altho’ sean penn was interesting to watch and Nicole kidman was impressive with her accents and linguistic skills. After the film – we discovered that cabs refused to go anywhere and the trains were still down. The army and navy hadn’t been called in yet but it looked like they would be required (how they help I don’t know yet). So the office was kept open for the stranded people. I went to parashar’s parents place in colaba (town was not flooded). So I get to parashar’s place after a bit of navigating – I’ve never been there before. The family looks after me well – I get their kids’ clothes to wear. And they have a cocker spaniel called leo to keep me company. The next morning (Wednesday) – I get one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a long while – alu paratha with about 250gms of butter! And then I head to the office – which is about 5 mins from colaba. I waited in the office for about an hour – checking out the situation. Found out that sion was completely flooded still – in shoulder-deep water to be precise. So what do I do? I decide to head to Bandra to mona and suki’s haven. And miracle of miracles – the roads are empty! It’s noon and people are partying on marine drive…there are splashers – some pee-ers also. There’s an ndtv van. Basically a whole lot of townies hanging around having fun. Heading to Bandra is turning out to be easier than I thought. There are a few crashed out cars – and I mean totally crashed out – the drivers don’t look like they would’ve made it. a couple is stranded in mahim – they ask if they can share a cab till Bandra – and I let them. They insist on paying their share but I’m being a good Samaritan (hehehe) and tell them it’s perfectly alright. As I pass by the reclamation flyover I look up to see tons of buses and cars standing perfectly still – and I mean perfectly still – there’s not an inch of movement – doesn’t look like there’s anyone inside the vehicles – quite spooky. Decide that it doesn’t make sense to take the western express highway just yet. So I get to mona and suki’s where there’s food, shelter and clothing. And the cable’s working too – so I check out the Bombay scenario. Needless to add - as we all know now – it’s dismal out there. Get calls and texts from various people – some just about to start the wading process – some asking if I’m ok – some telling me to stay put. Mona and suki’s place is a hangout on most days – in the floods it’s absolute heaven. Get a call from rohit who’s also loafing around in Bandra – having just spent the night in his bolero and after having crapped on the beach at mahim (disgusting – he’s just contributed to the toilet that’s mumbai). He’s rescued 2 baby birds (according to him they’re babies – when we see them they’ve grown into albatrosses!). Reluctantly Mona lets him place them in her balcony (mona and suki have had a terrible pigeon-parasite experience that has turned them off birds for life – that story’s for another time). They start drying themselves – their yellow beaks and talons make them look pretty fashionable actually. And they don’t look injured at all – rohit thinks he’s rescued them – I have a feeling he’s just picked them up to make himself more endearing in the eyes of the bspca. So there we are holed up in mona and suki’s beautiful apartment having eaten some good chola and rice that suki’s cooked. We’re joined by another colleague of rohit’s – she’s been trying to make her way to mira road from parel – I don’t think she’s still made it there because it’s truly far – almost in ahmedabad. And another friend Marj turns up – her story is mindblowing. She’s walked through waist deep waters of andheri with a colleague. Her Oberoi sandals broke while she was wading through the sludge with props like syringes and needles floating past her. She recounts how her colleague who’s now a good friend after having braved bombay’s bizarre monsoon – pulls out his socks and gives them to her so she doesn’t have to feel the sensation of creepy – crawlies of bombay streets. She’s come across amazing people at the intercontinental who’ve kindly put up a shelter from the slums across their hotel and who’ve kindly helped stranded folk with free rooms and food (five-star treatment I must add). An aside - someone else tells us that ITC Grand Central has also been kind to the numerous people who’ve straggled into their doors. Must add that another 5 star hotel - Grand Hyatt - has actually bumped up its prices to $500 / person to make the most of the terrible conditions outside!
So where was I? Right – Marj has survived. She’s traumatized but has survived.
I continue to look at the bright side – since we’ve just wrapped a film on early Tuesday morning (2am to be precise) I decide to make the most of the forced holiday and all of us take a drive to a dvd rental store – there are trees that’ve fallen all over the place – including on a cab. And we come back with icecream (since there’s no bread available) and movies. And we settle down to a cool quiet evening. All in all a good time for me - I got a much needed break!!!

The other various things that have been cropping up all of Tuesday and Wednesday –

- purvi has walked from byculla to sion
- anoop and bob have walked in waist deep water from khar to andheri and goregaon – they’re both down with fever
- Kenneth has walked from worli to Bandra with a friend
- Kareena was stuck in a bus from pune for more than 24 hours – she’s missed her delhi flight – but she did have an experience of a lifetime walking from a stranded bus in chembur to a friend of suki’s place thru waist-deep water – she’s been enterprising and has taken snaps of the floods to show all of us – horrifying stuff
- Our production manager’s 1st floor house has been flooded – still uncontactable
- People in sion and chembur and kalyan have been without electricity for more than 48 hours
- Noone in bombay can get thru to eachother but I do get a call from darryl in new york who wants to know what’s happening with his script!
- And finally – mr nandy plays a prank on anoop – telling him he needs to be in nariman point asap because someone from hong kong is waiting for him on a day when bombay’s been flood-hit!