Backwaters of Kerala on City Roads November 10, 2007

Just now came across this news item http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070032392

As you would have read, Kerala CM’s response is “When it rains, the people of the city will have to bear it, the way people in other parts of the state are doing. Nature gives us rains. We should accept it and bear the difficulties caused. If the water comes in, find a way to get it out” he said.

Or in other words “Mazha peythalum illengilum enikkenda? 5 kollam ee kaserayil pidichu toongiyal mathiyallo” (he didn’t say that, I made that up; plus its pretty obvious from his statements)

The funniest line in the news item is “So, if you visiting God’s own country, you don’t even have to go to the backwaters. Boat rides may be possible in the middle of Thiruvananthapuram (capital city)”.

This reminds me of my second year at Chennai when depression in Bay of Bengal bought down heavy rains in Chennai. It rained over night and the next morning the whole of Chennai was submerged in knee deep water. The photo above is the pic of kerala water-logging. Now have a look at the pic below. Any guess what it could be. Its a subway completely submerged in rain; there is a bus beneath the subway that’s completely submerged (that pic came in The Hindu next day, cant find it in Flickr). The other pic clearly shows the level of water in the roads which is definitely more that the water logging going on in Kerala.

Pic above: Subway in Chennai during heavy rains of 2004

Whats am I coming to? The rains in Chennai was unexpected. It happened overnight and it hadnt rained like this for the past 10 years. The city wasnt prepared for this kind of floods and even then, the water logging was cleared within the next 24hrs. Even during the floods, Onyx (Private contractor for Chennai Corporation) was cleaning up the garbage and fallen trees. A week later a report on NDTV showed how the Govt of Tamilnadu and Karnataka reacted when the capital cities were underwater. Even after a week, the flooding in even porshe areas of Bangalore was not cleared.

The points to note hear it:

1. Rains in Kerala happens every year. Even then the govt couldn’t be prepared for it. Whereas in Chennai it happens almost happened unexpectedly after a span of 10 years.

2. The Govt responded in an irresponsible way. In case of Chennai, the govt cleared the water-logging even before the media could report it the next day. Also the govt of tn received appreciation for media.

Hmmm… looks like I have to leave now for Saturday outing. Rest of the points readers can figure out themselves. See ya. Have a nice evening. And for people in Kerala… Happy Rowing

Walking alongside an angel… November 10, 2007

This happened a few days after I had joined college. Initially to make up some extra hostel fees payment, I had to use the college bus facility to get the amount adjusted. (which paid off really well coz the college bus was a airbus leased from TAT travels ). The bus came via velachery, take a left from the Nandanam signal and onto Venketnarayana Road (VN road) where I got down. The bus always got stuck at the VN Road Signal and would pass by when I reach the gates of my flat.

One fine beautiful evening after I getting down from the bus, I was lousily walking towards my home. As usual the bus was stuck in the traffic and I was walking ahead of the bus, anytime soon when the lights turn green the bus would wizz past me. It was just the third day of travel in the bus, and my friends in the bus knew that I was very new to the locality. I was planning to go to foodworld (now spencers) on the way home and have a bhelpoori. But suddenly, straight ahead I saw a beautiful angel in her 20’s (I was 18 at that time ) probably lost at the junction. She was wearing jeans and a tshirt. As I walked past her she said “excuse me”.

Me: Yes
She: Do you know the way to Balaji temple.
Me: (I dont think she could go in there in this costume) Yup. I am going that way, I will show you the temple.

(Foodworld plan cancelled. Social service was more important!!! Lead an angel to her destination ) And hence she was walking alongside me. From the corner of my eye I could see that my busmates had now shifted to the right side of the bus to see whom I was walking with. I slowed down my pace so that she would still be walking with me as the bus passed by. (evil me ofcourse) Turns out she was working at Xansa. As I reached the gates of my flat (Canara Complex)…

Me: This is where I live and thats the temple you are looking for.
She: Thank you very much.
Me: Welcome. Enjoy the evening

Luckily for me just before the above conversation started the signal turned green. The bus passed by tilting to its right as the conversation was on coz everyone in the bus had shifted to the right and awestruck looking out of the window. (funny scene and I was grinning to myself ).

The next day when I entered the bus, I was receiving special treatment. A seat had been reserved specially for me at the back and people had already gathered around.

Someone: Hey who was that girl da? Hope its not your sister?
Me: Girl? Which girl?
Someone: The girl who was walking with you yesterday and you were chatting with.
Me: oh that… just a good friend of mine

Reminds you of the conversation between Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee at Amsterdam in Hum Tum right. Yeah, it was kinda similar. Anyway this was another instance of Prathul’s “leela”.