When the neighbours started talking....
Continuous days of boredom.I was like a new entrant in the middle of the academic year,longing to make friends. Recent floods cast a magic spell.No power. Entire Chennai was submerged.In the darkness of the day, slowly the doors became ajar. Irksome smiles on everyone's face.The conversation thus began- "Looks like a curfew.All under house arrest.How long will it rain?"
Total blackout paved way for more family time.We started playing together,drench in rain together,eat together and laugh together(It was fantastic!!).Could hear everybody's voice in the neighborhood(of course not talking over phone),friends playing UNO cards, little ones screaming around oblivious of things around them.Small groups of people gathered news from here and there. Yes,these moments had to be etched.
As we entered into third day without power,my UPS too got drained.Back to conventional modes of lighting- candles,lanterns and lamps.Luckily, weather conditions did not require fans. All of us became predators, scrambling for every possible thing.Newspapers, milk,vegetables,groceries,ATM ,candles and what not. Mobile networks were dead.Each of us were sincerely praying for other's safety.Next, came the worst,taps went dry.Many of us started heading towards the hand pipe on the road with colorful buckets and kudams.Every drop of water was deemed precious(living in islands with no water to drink).
Power started showing it's real POWER.The entire scenario reminded me of Krishna in Kurushetra, where HE signaled everything to a standstill. Realized how dependent we have become to the so called "power".No water,milk,TV,fridge,mixie,grinder,washing m/c,lift ,hence absolute standstill.
We started sharing newspapers, land-line numbers and names of neighbours(yeah!!).
At the end of three days, we were like drained batteries ready to be re-charged.Slowly, situation started getting better.Rains reduced, the Sun started playing peek-a-boo.Finally,the re-charger(POWER) was ON and slowly the doors started to close.
I should thank God for keeping me and my family very safe.There are scores of people who were displaced by floods.The tough( though I would'nt call it tough) times that we had undergone are minuscule comparatively..Thank God!!
Total blackout paved way for more family time.We started playing together,drench in rain together,eat together and laugh together(It was fantastic!!).Could hear everybody's voice in the neighborhood(of course not talking over phone),friends playing UNO cards, little ones screaming around oblivious of things around them.Small groups of people gathered news from here and there. Yes,these moments had to be etched.
As we entered into third day without power,my UPS too got drained.Back to conventional modes of lighting- candles,lanterns and lamps.Luckily, weather conditions did not require fans. All of us became predators, scrambling for every possible thing.Newspapers, milk,vegetables,groceries,ATM ,candles and what not. Mobile networks were dead.Each of us were sincerely praying for other's safety.Next, came the worst,taps went dry.Many of us started heading towards the hand pipe on the road with colorful buckets and kudams.Every drop of water was deemed precious(living in islands with no water to drink).
Power started showing it's real POWER.The entire scenario reminded me of Krishna in Kurushetra, where HE signaled everything to a standstill. Realized how dependent we have become to the so called "power".No water,milk,TV,fridge,mixie,grinder,washing m/c,lift ,hence absolute standstill.
We started sharing newspapers, land-line numbers and names of neighbours(yeah!!).
At the end of three days, we were like drained batteries ready to be re-charged.Slowly, situation started getting better.Rains reduced, the Sun started playing peek-a-boo.Finally,the re-charger(POWER) was ON and slowly the doors started to close.
I should thank God for keeping me and my family very safe.There are scores of people who were displaced by floods.The tough( though I would'nt call it tough) times that we had undergone are minuscule comparatively..Thank God!!
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