Water Water everywhere...

I am born Aquarian and hence have a natural affinity for water. At any given point in time, water is my favourite drink – the only thing that quenches my thirst.

I can quite identify with the characteristics of water as if it were a personality – its ability to take the shape of the container it is hosted in, its ability to quench thirst, its ability to support life, its ability to keep you afloat and drown you at the same time, its ability to cover the vast expanse of this universe….

Though I can't swim, I had no fear of water per se… Probably I had not faced its magnanimity, voracity and outrageous self before 26 July 2005. That was the floods that nearly posted me to heaven and threw me back to life in a matter of few hours.  After that, anything to do with water would make me have 'butterflies-in-stomach'. Not so literally, but yes there is a feeble 'fear of death' that I can't do away with.

Last weekend, I had a radically different experience. I happened to be at Nagaon beach near Alibaug with a group of friends. It is nearly 130 kms away from Mumbai. We were totally enjoying the elements of uncertainty about what we intended to do there, where would we stay there etc. The beach beckoned us…

While I was totally ignorant of the presence of water sports at the beach, my friends expressed interest in one or more of those water-based adventures. I blissfully succumbed to peer pressure soon and assured my attendance for 2 of them.

I find it worth a blog as this was my first such experience in life. Quiet synonymous with my high energy levels at that point in time was the speed boat. There was an option of doing it singly or with another friend. I safely chose the 2^nd one. So my experience is that of the backbencher and not of the driver, nevertheless pretty thrilling. One almost feels like sitting on a scooter which doesn't have its clutch and accelerator co-ordinated, in the initial stretch. Gradually the spirited waves surround you. My friend, as instructed by the boatman sped up as if we had to go touch the horizon in a matter of nanoseconds. While I exclaimed, 'Oh man, this is crazy!' She screamed back 'Rhituparna, hang on!' Truly, a friend in need is a friend indeed. J

As we went bouncing up and down on the waves, trying to reach for the sky and take the waves along on our voyage of joy, the crescendos of the moment were rapturous. On this voyage, I realized that if you pat the waves, they pat you back gently, if you slap them hard, they can almost send a chill down the spine with its retort. Well, God taught the 'tit-for-tat' policy to everything/everyone he created. J

Our laughter echoed along with the roaring waves as the water embraced our ecstasy from all sides.

The 2^nd one in question was the banana ride. While I had heard about it a lot, I was just not able to picture this. The moot question was – who wants to go? While 2 of us were quite gung-ho, 3 had reasons like 'I have a bad throat', 'The water is dirty here'. 'I have done this before in Goa', 'I don't know swimming' – After jumping for a few minutes on the horns of dilemma, I decided to get body-washed than brainwashed and 3 of us took the plunge!

After the speed boat, this tube like banana boat with a group of 6-7 people feels quite comfortable and easy until they take you in the middle of the sea. Then lo and behold, while we are still counting moments before the impending thrill, we realize we are deep down in the middle of the sea without any swimming skills. That was quite close to death, if we didn't have the life jacket. J Even while I write about this, I feel choked for a few moments. 360 degrees upside down inside water and tossed over like a particle!

In a matter of a few seconds, we surfaced with our heads popping above the sea level and I find them laaaaauuughing and abusing – 'What the hell!', 'What the f***'! I swear I wouldn't have enjoyed the moment without them – an exceptional one when humour overtook fear head-on. Priceless, whatsoever! I failed to adopt any technique as guided by the boatman and was nearly gulped down by every passing wave. Every sense organ was saturated with saline water, an add-on on my already congested respiratory tract. The vocal chords could not even move to cause coughing! While my friends learnt the art of staying afloat rather quickly, I was still dependant on the mercy of the boatman. He almost gave me yeoman's service that moment! I already commanded him to put me back on the boat first. ;-) Even while doing that, the law of floatation wasn't allowing me to climb back onto the boat so easily – they had to grab me by my jacket and pull me up like a sack of grain!

The next few moments I actually enjoyed watching the other survivors, some cool and some tensed. Some climbing on to the boat victorious and others making failed attempts and floating away from the boat again!

The next deemed question was where would they drop us next! The boatman assured us that it will be closer to the shore this time. While we were racing towards the beach, I uttered 'Itne kam paani me gira ke kya maaza hai!' Oh man! I was in deep sea again, unable to identify myself or even recall my name! I sank and swam, sank and swam some 6 times until I lost memory and grabbed the boatman, my support system there! Forget swimming, I couldn't even manage to stay afloat in 5 feet 4 inches of water!! The trick was to keep the legs down but some buoyant force would continuously make them horizontal. I could see my friends floating towards me, with a beaming smile on their faces and the sun rays blessing them.

Very very gradually, my cerebrum decided to adjust to the fact that I could now move towards the shore with my feet perched on the sands below. Every millimeter of water level going down was a welcome respite. J

We were welcomed by our friends on the beach like heroes of the war! We too had a million words to experience the wonder of a few seconds.  One of them looked at me and said 'Her face has turned pink!' 'Her lips have turned white!' Some picture was clicked apparently which I am not yet in possession of. My feet were totally numb, head was heavy, senses were choked but the heart was flying in the air!

I express gratitude with my entire self to those 2 friends whose insistence to accompany them made me experience this thrill! It is till beyond my vocabulary...

Simplicity Triumphs

Someone said to me "It's one of the most difficult things to lead a simple life". Ever since I have tasted corporate waters in a large urban island, I have felt this very often. Being genuine and simple at heart are rather cliched terms here. My profession has taught me to play articulately with words, control emotions, say the right thing to the right person at the right time et al but it is like a trap - the more you try to excel at it, the more you complicate matters! For sometime now, I was rather disturbed by people and situations that never allowed me to be myself, that did not allow me to answer simple questions in a lucid, speculation-free manner.


In November 2009, I had a chance to visit this very small place with very large iron ore deposits, namely, Meghatuburu, in Jharkhand. 'Meghatuburu' in tribal language means forests as dense as clouds. Beneath the dark, dense forests lay huge, simply huge deposits of iron ore. I am told these iron ore mines are nearly a piece of heaven for global steel giants.

The 'irony' though is that there are virtually no roads to get there. Huge bumpy mud pathways, metallic road in patches and no infrastructure for decent living in kilometres of radius of the place. The only real inhabitants of the place are the families of mining engineers who work in the iron ore extraction plant there and the natives (mostly tribals and other rural folks) of the land.

I had a chance to put up in the SAIL guest house there by virtue of my father's employment with the organization. While our day long stay was characterized by 'fresh air and peace', what really impressed me was the simplicity of the people serving us and other local folk.

I don't know how many of us will be able to picture this - their innocence was untouched by any fear, ugliness, worry, negativity whatsoever. In a place which doesn't even have a school or hospital in less than 10 kms, people do not complain about anything. And in this mega city that I live in, people are ever complaining - about friends, colleagues, people on the road, salary, traffic jams etc etc...

People who do not have adequate lights in the evening do not feel sad in the darkness but in a city that never sleeps and is ever bedazzled by lights has many people who feel 'darkness' in their hearts everyday.

People who do not get access to pizza, pasta etc cook and eat such lovely dal, chawal, aloo fry, salad and dahi that you only can taste it to believe it. And here the options are so many that people are now looking for 'health' food ;-)

People who have never been to school are so deep in their thought and sincere in their feelings even towards a stranger. This doesn't closely match even the most generous of friendships in this city.

I am really not exaggerating - I warmed up to it in just a day. Mosquitoes were hounding us but I didn't feel the pain, atleast for that day.

People learn 'art of living' and all sorts of other things to restore the peace and joy that's somewhere lost. On a more optimistic note, the stress levels of urban working people in India is lesser than that in some of the developed countries, I hear. I wonder what becomes of them in times of distress.

More we learn to accept people and things at face value, the more we learn to live in the moment, the more we learn to trust and love, the happier we would be..:-) No one's ever got peace by maintaining diplomatic relations. Not even two countries!

The Virtual Us!

Nowadays, very often we talk about how safe/secure is Orkut or any other social networking website? How reliable are the profiles on a matrimony website?
Though the fear for the unknown in human minds is believable, but I really can't understand why these questions are asked? After all, the users of such websites are human beings and they would behave exactly the way they behave in their real worlds. A gentleman cannot dupe anybody online and a habitual liar can't spell out the eternal truth online. In 99 out of 100 cases, I have seen people behaving exactly the way they are both in the real and virtual worlds. If we need to be defensive on the road against a common but an unknown man on the road, we need to be so even online. If we do not feel shy to approach anyone on the road, then we do not need to be so online. The only difference is the visibility of the face, but I am sure most people are not the best of face readers in this world. And given the very low Internet penetration in our country, it's considerably easy to figure out the nature of people on these websites.
In this ever shrinking world, where having the right information is a key driver in both our personal and professional lives, it would be rather foolish to not use these mega powerful sources of information. After all, the world is made up of 'We, the people' and with them alone lies all the knowledge and wisdom.
Orkut is often seen in the news for posed to have been instrumental in murders or other negative acts, but we forget that we derrive a lot of information in all of these cases from the same source.
Also, how many people have bothered to check the really exciting, informative and helpful communities on Orkut? Atleast I don't know of any survey that has ever shown the number of benefactors from Orkut.
I have been on Orkut since November 2005 and have seen it grown from a very nascent form to a very evolved one. In all phases, I have seen bugs which have been fixed by Google in due course of time. I have always had a very genuine and honest but detailed profile which has helped the right kind of people approach me - both acquaintances and strangers. Not that I have added all acquaintances and not that I have liked all strangers. So, it's very much like real life. It has aided me through thick and thin. Whether it was sharing a few lines of poetry with someone, or solving professional queries. Incidentally, it has helped me get married as well! I have a reasonably large number of people on my network and atleast 5% of them would certainly be ones whom I have still not met. Nevertheless, I share a good relationship with all of them - exactly the way I make new friends in the real life. LinkedIn, the professional network is also doing wonders for me these days. I believe, it's about the mind match and not about the face! That's why it is said - A man is known by the company he keeps.
I cannot imagine a life without Google. For me, it's a religion - whether it be Orkut, Gmail, Google search, news, videos, igoogle, blogs and many others. I feel empowered every time I am online as, without dislocating myself, I get answers to most of my queries.
So, those who are still negative about the virtual world, please come aboard and explore! There's a lot in life that you don't know about, you'll see through this medium. It's like scuba diving - discovery never ends!

Trip to Rajasthan...November 2005

I'm back from a very eventful 10 day trip...Me & my sister flew from here to Delhi & my parents from Kolkata to Delhi at the same time..We met at the Delhi airport while we were still frenzily waiting for our luggages to be downloaded..! I can never forget the exhilarated call of my sister when she saw my father..'Babaaaaaaaaaaa!" aloud with all delight! The entire mob, comprising partly of genuinely sophisticated people & partly of well-made hypocrites gazed at us both in amusement & annoyance..
A night's stay at Delhi..Next day morning, a car booked with Delhi tourism was waiting outside our hotel & our dream voyage began..We drove to Pushkar & Ajmer, then to Udaipur (white City), Jaipur (pink city), Ranthambore (National park, particularly known for tigers), Bharatpur (bird sanctuary), Agra, Fatehpur Sikri,Mathura & back to Delhi...
For the first time in my life, I entered an Islamic place..the famous Dargah in Ajmer.. Though its a well built place but they did try their best to make us pray the Islamic way... My father had his hands folded in prayer, & the priest reprimanded asking him to keep his hands in 'dua' position... (Normally the priests at Hindu temples are also quite a pain in the neck!)
Pushkar is unique in having a Brahma temple (perhaps the only one in the world) & both of them are twin cities.
Udaipur is a beautiful city...lakes as big & transparent as my heart..:-), & white all around..People must be damn wealthy to be able to have every square inch built of marble, which is very cheap in the city...
Jaipur is only conceptually pink now... At both these cities, we visited quite a few palaces & forts...It appeared that the kings had lots of space & wealth to show off!!
The king of Jaipur, Raja Mansingh had succumbed to Mughal reign, so they were sort of rolling in gold, precious stones, best of clothes & accessories, weapons studded with semi-precious stones... & they too managed to marry a countless list of women, only one of whom would politically be the queen....

My Dad had a big hole in his pocket when me & my sister merrily shopped away to glory at Jaipur!
But Mughals were ...!! Akbar, the GRRRREAT emperor, had 830 women in his harem, with each of whom he would have one night stands!!!! The plight of women has been as evergreen as the earth itself!!! (Jodhabai enjoyed the rights of being his wife politically)
& Taj Mahal is famous only because Shah Jahan loved his wife a little more than the other kings..:-)
So they call it.."A Tribute to the grace of Indian Womanhood", "A Dream in Marble","An epitome of Loveliness" & the last but not the least.."A Replendent Immortal teardrop on the cheek of time"..:-)))
& That too, it was built after demolishing an upcoming Shiv mandir...
But the two most exciting events were the ride in an open vehicle across the national park in Ranthambore & watching wild animals in their secluded cocoons & birdwatching at Bharatpur.. We had a big & powerful binoculars & could see beauuuuutiful birds...ones with pink feathers, yellow beaks, blue & green bodies, crimson tail..it was fabulous!! I saw a kingfisher at an arm's distance & to catch a glimpse of its flight is a dream come true..Its like 'Coming up with flying colours'..:-)
The near view is exactly as in calendars, picture postcards & books..
There were starks, green pigeons, a variety of parrots, some Siberian birds, some domestic but rare birds...
The sanctuary is on 30 square km area & even after moving around for 6 hours, we could only strech to 7 kms..
Ohh!!! Eagle has ferociously cunning eyes..! My Binoculars made them look all the more scary..
On the whole, Rajasthan is very colourful & has good people..The moment we entered Agra, I could make out from the faces & looks that it is ..Uttar Pradesh!

We had a few interesting encounters with the myriad foriegn tourists. Its, we in India, who give more importance to our guests only to earn a few dollars/pounds/euros...& Sometimes, we overdo it!!
At a restaurant, there were too many foriegners & the owner overlooked us completely! When he didn't even offer us water for quite some time, my father called & asked him whether they serve only beer & coke & no water... He then said "Oh..You didnt tell us whether you want mineral or plain water!"
At another place, a couple of French men & women were smoking & causing immense nuisance to my already choked nasal tract. On request, they put it off but when the waiter was asked if it's a no smoking zone, he said, "Its perfectly Ok...You can smoke at the other table!" My parents again taught them the country's moral basics...the fact that smoking is banned in public places in India. :-)
Most interestingly, for the stolen & assorted Kohinoor, now in British Museum is portrayed as a gift from an Indian king while the guides to foriegn tourists, even from the Consulates are not supposed to say that all the precious & beautiful stones in Tajmahal have been brutally taken away by The British... (As they only confirmed that history has it)
Save the country, my friends!!
The overwhelming sentiments at the Delhi airport while we were waiting for our return flights, (again the departure time of the 2 flights were same), was even greater than in the former case. The snobs of Delhi (Don't take this to personally, they indeed were snobs!) thought we were meeting for the last time. All of us didn't know when we would meet together again! We have only met in groups of 2 & 3 in the last 1 year......
Pics are still in the memory of our fondly bought, new digital camera :-)

Trip to North Bengal...May 2006

This time, I had been off to the hills!!! To parts of northern west Bengal...WB is though the state that I originally belong to but have hardly stayed there! Destiny had it that my mother is posted at an odd location called Binnaguri (has Asia's largest military cantonment, which in turn has more wild tigers & elephants than men & women..;-) )since last 3 years!

I flew down to Kolkata on the 29th of April (my first flight alone & the ticket was from my pocket!!! Though am hoping to settle the LTA claims..;-D). Despite my prayers to have a handsome co-passenger, two old, unassuming men were my co-passengers L on the left & an absolute 'chikna' (I don't know the appropriate word in English!) male was the steward!! Two snobbish ladies chatting endlessly abt their hubby's health & wealth ever since they boarded the plane, were on my right!
(Though they sounded very rich & travel by air as much as I have ridden my bicycle, I still felt like telling them..."Try & earn once, u'll feel better!..:-)")

From there, me & my Dad (who came down from Bokaro..:-) took off for New Jalpaiguri, which is the gateway station to most places in the North East.

There, we met my beloved Mother as per our plan.
Then followed our journey into the hills! It was fabulous! Though I am not very good at writing travelogues & at appropriate descriptions of places & objects, but you can merrily assume the best of adjectives describing nature at its best for places like these!!

Our first destination was Kalimpong!
By the way, Northern west Bengal is primarily inhabited by the Nepalis & so is culturally very different from the rest of West Bengal!
Though I haven't been to Kerala, But I guess this is God's own country too!!!
The royal Himayalas which stand in the defence of our country at its northern borders are majestic!!! Thickly forested in a green that's pure & colours one soul!
(hum pe yeh kisne hara rang daala..;-))
Flowers in myriad hues..& I mean it!!! Kids must go there to learn all colours...everything except black!!! The combinations that nature can create, man can never can!!! & I can bet, they are better creations than elegant shopping malls & cinema halls! I would very soon, provide you with my illustrative evidences captured in my digicam! Again, I m just an amateur photographer but few photos are at par with best of PC wallpapers that we come across...
Roads uphill are not only beautiful but are a potential test to the skills of the driver! We traversed hairpin bends, S bends....(some had a radius of 35ft!)
Sometimes, it churns up all lipids, fluids & hormones inside us!!

The other destinations were Lava, Lolegaon, Rishap & Tinchley! The beauty of each of them is beyond the scope of my vocabulary as well as the length of my mail! Our tour was what they call as eco-tourism, wherein the owners of the lodge are as hospitable as our own people, tea is from the tea plantations behind the cottage, egg & chicken are from their own poultry, honey from their beehive, vegetables from their kitchen garden , fish from their fisheries etc.. Campfire in the evening warming it up by songs from Darjeeling to ones from Bob Dylan to papa kehte hain..:-)

Rishap, which is at an altitude of 8000ft, renders a spectacular sight of the Kanchenjunga! As artistic people put it, its 'mystic beauty' indeed..:-) Just that, it was beyond the range of my camera! One needs to trek up the extremely scary way to the cottages.
Tinchley is at 6000 ft & the entire place has been developed for tourists by WWF.

Pine forests accompanied us all through.
Lodging everywhere, was in wooden cottages. That was a welcome respite from the suffocating urban flats that we live in! Life in those places is simple but clean, peaceful, beautiful...

By the way, we met a Bangladeshi (obviously Bengali Muslims) family who were quite amicable & the young girls were a feast for the eyes for men of all age groups! Unfortunately, they don't get to wear those hype clothes back at home.

On our way back, we went to a place called Mongpu, where Rabindranath Tagore spent quite some time & hence that cottage is a memorial now! This gentleman's work is galactic! & One Bong, I guess, can't finish it all in a lifetime...& Ones like me cannot even decipher them! (am extremely regretful about it!) So just managed to get a few rare pics of his work, belongings & himself...:-)

Way downhill saw an increasing temperature! Though lush green surroundings are abundant in those areas even in the foothills/plains!

The more I travel, the more I feel, there's lot more to see, know & be in...
Unlike my Rajasthan trip in November, amidst forts & places, other beautiful man made creations & birdwatching, this trip was amidst God's best creations, flower & butterfly watching!

I now realize why we mugged a 1000 times in Social Science at School.."India is a land of diversity"...For every reason we can think of, India rocks now!!! All we lack is the awareness that we are the best!!! (Am trying hard to generate revenues in dollars, for my land by working for the foreign clients!)
If I ever get a chance to go abroad, I would make sure that I leave marks permanent enough for them to respect Indians & know India!
(if you have read my mail about the Rajasthan trip, you would know what I am talking about!)

The 2nd week of my planned Earn leave was spent at Kolkata with Ma, at a place that's formally our residence, now turned into a fully equipped/furnished rest/guest house..:-)

On my journey back to this sleepless city, I was traveling by (Yours faithfully, Indian Railways) & had an interesting travel with a female from a 'not-so-nice' background in the opposite berth (not for any fault of her own) & a female from IIT kharagpur (Btech(mech)) on the berth above!..:-)

The mail below that I wrote as my experience in the floods in Mumbai on 26 July, 2005

So, for all who were waiting to here from me after the Mumbai floods, here's my story..
I too, just like everybody else, had always heard & seen about devastations in floods, earthquakes, tsunami, epidemics, blasts..but this time I was privileged & blessed enough to experience one such devastating flood & then LIVE to tell this tale!

My regular office hours is from 1:30 pm-10pm. & That day, that torrential & windy rainfall exactly coincided with the high tide (Please pool in your Geography!) in the sea between 2pm-4pm.
My boss, an extreme hypocrite, left office..When I called him up at 6, he had no option but to let me leave!
Then began my ordeal..the struggle for existence!
The Patni bus, which runs almost like an international flight takes me 45 mins usually from office to my place. That day,the rains had already rendered the roads & all other structures invisible upto almost 3 feet if not more...In between, an angry mob banged the door of the bus & threatened to puncture our tyre if not allowed to get inside..(as the trains, which is the lifeline of the city had already been suspended & buses too were running with difficulty owing to awful road conditions). We, the employees inside the bus, had then no option but to let them in..This felt almost like a hijack...
Finally in 2 & 1/2 hrs, I reached a place at least 5 kms or a little furthur from my place, where I had to get down.
Amidst heavy traffic, frantic crowd, muddy lanes & busy highways, when I reached a place 15 mins from my place (under normal conditions) & thought would somehow grope my way in the dark & reach my hostel in another 1/2 an hour.. But I had yet to witness & experience the
flood..
I was now all alone..It was pitch dark, water all around up to the chest, stranded vehicles, people struggling their way through & me stumbling over every rock & stone..It was 10:30 pm..I walked for another half an hour, & had to enter my colony called Tilaknagar, my hostel was still 12-13 mins far from me (under normal conditions)..Somebody, on my way had already warned that the water level is up to that of my neck or even higher...
He was a tall man, so I sheepishly asked him " Up to your neck??" He smiled & replied back "No, up to your neck!". I still sighed a relief! But being a solitary soul in this city,I had it in mind that I had to reach my hostel somehow coz owing to these conditions, I couldn't have now gone to anybody else's place & nobody had anticipated this severity ever.. Veterans in that area had never seen it before..!
I just took a turn towards tilaknagar & guess what.. The enormous & forceful ('mighty' is the word to describe them) water waves threw my down completely & I was flowing along.. I didn't know whom to recall last..;-)
In the flick of a second, I felt a rescuing force vertically upward & I could breathe outside water! He was a god's messenger, 6'2" in height & I must say, quite well-built..he pulled me by my sleeve alone!
In the meantime,I saw 2 females floating towards me who had attempted to go a little further.
I then was very sure that I wudn't reach hostel that night..Well, night-stand!!..;-) but where???
There's a Shoppers' Stop closeby, which we took another 15 mins to reach, wading through neck-deep water..& Finally we sought rescue at the 5 visible steps of shoppers' stop, 2 of which drowned over the night..Since I was already wet from head to toe, my mobile & every bit of item in my handbag was afloat..I had nothing to protect from water..Networks were jammed, mobiles were not working & no force on earth could improve our situation. I placed myself comfortably & watched people wading through water destined to other places, which were more viable. A Maruti 800 car got completely submerged over the night & only the roof was visible. Over the night, other people going towards Tilaknagar had to take refuge here..& They had no option but to enjoy my company..:-)
The fun began now..!
Since cars were submerged, owing to pressures & censors headlights started blinking..(only source of light at that time).
On my way, I had rested my hand on a Tata Indica for a few minutes & it floated away! I felt so strong that I could move the car with one hand!

There was a female who started crying that her parents would be awake all night. I rebuked & said "That's why I sent across wrong messages to my parents last evening. It's already raining enough :-)"
There was another female who said "I'll call my brother, he'll take me from here. I can't sit here all night". I looked at her with the corner of my eye & thought to myself, "If he can rescue us tonight, I'll tie him rakhi too! (which I've never done in my life so far & don't intend to do so ever)"
Then came a group of 4 rowdy but energetic boys who stood on top of the Maruti car & began performing 'Bhangra'..& dived into the pool of water in turns & competed for their swimming skills..! Ohh..What a sight it was..! Though others were complaining a lot, I was enjoying that thoroughly..:-)
Then came a couple..As is the case, the female was a namby-pamby type & couldn't bear the cold..(the guy had to leave his bike on some distant highway). I told her "why did u come so late, the 'chaay-wala' just left!"
I also took a nap in that horrible condition! (You ought to commend my anytime-anywhere sleeping abilities)
By 6 in the morning, our back & limbs were giving up, the intensity of rain was much less, the maruti's windows were visible & everybody gathered guts unanimously to make a move towards Tilaknagar.. Implementing Ringa-Ringa roses & 'kadam-kadam badhaye ja' fully, we waded through the water inch by inch..Though I was numb already, I was shivering involuntarily in the ice-cold water ,still up to a level little lower than the neck.. those relatively weak females held my arms so tight that they are still aching (apart from the war I had waged against water last night!). The water undercurrents still tended to draw us apart..but we realised very well that 'United we stand, divided we fall'..& I kept telling my cycling basics to them.."Keep peddling. Move your legs up & forward. Dont stand still". In 1 & 1/2 hrs, (that usual 12 mins distance), I reached my hostel & found the ground floor submerged (Thankfully only the office & mess lies there)! The mess workers did a yeoman's job by supplying us food for both meals even in that crisis. They had shifted parts of their apparatus to 1st floor.
My feet's flesh was looking like rotten flesh..! I somehow gathered strength to clean myself & A few girls who hadn't moved last day said "Go, hurry up & change..U'll catch cold!" Was anything remaining!..:-)
But the stories that I heard since last 2 days were terrifying..

A female stayed in a submerged train all night, with her legs in water!(Good sauna..!)
Another woman had already sought forgiveness from all her near & dear ones for this lifetime, when she saw Tata Sumos flowing, buffaloes flowing, Walls breaking, trees uprooting & people already dying! As is evident, ground floors of many houses were afloat..Selfishly though, I felt lucky not to have my house there!
People walked down from one end of Bombay to the other for hours together. The highest I've heard so far is 6 hours! (Not to forget, they were walking in water!)
Many people stayed back in their offices for that night & somehow made it the next day morning. Some people went on their way to heaven through manholes underground & other such things as is common in the news.
While sitting at those steps outside Shoppers' stop all night, the person I was missing most is Barkha Dutt! I thought if she could withstand the firing at Kargil, she could withstand this too. I'll never be as brave as her but I really feel like sending this mail to her too..(barkha.dutt@ndtv.com
??? ;-))
Since there was no electricity for 2 days, everyone's mobile's battery discharged & I still had no communication with my parents or even my sister, who also survived the floods in this city & whose status, was worrying me beyond description. (I hope none of you will ask me, why didn't you go to a telephone booth!). It took 36 hrs for the water to subside completely & it'll take a couple of days more for normal functioning of this city.
But I appreciate the energy & attitude of the people of the Business capital wherein, the transport (road & rail) were restored immediately after the water level subsided; people started moving to offices or their respective destinations in flocks, as if nothing had happened. Today, in my office, people are hardly wasting time discussing the tragedy. Everybody passes a smile meaning "good to see u back!"
I had tried sending messages through other people & finally I could talk to my parents with a wonderful piece of lie that I had reached my hostel in time & without much hassle! What's the whole point in taking their sleep away, after all I'm an adult! now!
By the way, My cell phone is working fine but the display's spoilt, cant see anything on the screen so could receive calls.. Now, it is with Nokia priority dealer, maybe for the next one week.

For the very short time, that I had charged the battery from an external source yesterday & had the phone with me, I received calls from people whom I was hearing from, for the 1st or 2nd time after birth! It really feels good when people seem so concerned about you & One of the unfortunate calls were from my Boss, who had called up to check if I'm alive so that he could employ an alternative resource immediately for my 'single resource, mission critical project' in case I were...!
Anyway, the experience was tough but worth it & my belief that the number of good people in this world are higher got affirmed.