by Madanish K
It isn’t often that Chennai falls prey to a deluge caused by rain. Though Chennai has a location advantage being near the sea, the city could not withstand the test of nature. The misery was compounded by the release of water into the Adyar and Coovum rivers from reservoirs around the city.
I witnessed the fury of nature from safety, but not many had that option. They were in the midst of it all, watching their new LCD TV or refrigerator, purchased by scrounging for months, getting damaged by water. Others saw their houses collapse, important documents getting washed away and vehicles drowning. Working hard amid the destruction were firemen who selflessly rescued thousands.
It began spontaneously, with me buying breakfast for the firemen and the employees of Chennai Sewerage Board who were busy cleaning up the mess in Vilivakkam, one of the city’s low-lying areas. Spurred by the response and a desire to make our scattered efforts more meaningful, a few friends and I created a WhatsApp group of likeminded people who lived close-by and could contribute time, money or hands to the relief effort in Vilivakam.
For the first two days, we focussed on providing food and ration supplies to stranded families, helping old age homes cook food and supply ration to flood ravaged households. After this, we changed tack to providing people kits with clothes and sanitary implements. In our own small way, we tried to help those whose lives were affected by the floods.
As the city slowly gets back to normalcy and people begin taking corrective steps to address the damage caused by the rains, the one thing that stays on with me are the expressions of relief and thankful smiles that we got when we did our little bit to help. I will especially remember the zest and energy of the inmates at the old age home, who were doing their best to help in any manner possible. In between the flurry of activity – cooking, cleaning – a few of them took the time out to smile at us and say “You youngsters are not that bad!”
