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Agnes hails from Fort Kochi. She
belongs to a middle class family there. Agnes had her education at a College in
Ernakulam where she had done her Post Graduation in Chemistry. Her parents had soon
arranged her marriage with Davis, a receptionist in the office of Air India at
Mumbai.
Davis played soccer well. He was
the goal keeper of the Air India Football team that had been at the top of the
Mumbai League for a while. As his appointment was on the sports quota his job
profile was cut out. He was under orders to practice and play the matches and
attend the office when there were no practice sessions or games.
The marriage saw Agnes and Davis
set up their home in Mumbai. Davis had been allotted a flat in the Air India Colony
at Santa Cruz. Agnes managed to find a teacher’s job in a private school at
Santa Cruz. The family life was happy and peaceful. As the years went by Agnes gave birth to a
baby girl. The baby, Florence grew up to a lean and tall beautiful girl.
Davis, as he became older had to
take leave of the game he had loved very much. Those were the days when one
could land a job in Kuwait easily if he had the right connections. Davis shifted
to Kuwait as an accountant. The move was to make up for the extensive damages
the family underwent due to the heavy floods in Mumbai at that time. The floods
had badly affected quite a lot of Mumbaikars.
Santa Cruz Air Port had to
suspend its operations due to the flooded runway. The flood waters had engulfed
the runway in a span of three hours. The fury of the floods was unrelenting. The
Air India Colony was inundated. The flood waters had entered the ground floor
and the first floor of all the buildings there damaging all the possessions of
the families that lived there. Agnes and Davis had to build their life anew. It
was a tough call.
The stint at Kuwait helped Davis
recoup the losses the family had suffered.
Life went on pleasantly. Agnes
and Davis carried on with their jobs.
David would come home on one month’s leave each year. Angry floods had spared
Mumbai for more than a decade.
Agnes and Florence were staying
in their flat. Agnes would go to her School to teach and Florence was attending
the Engineering College. Florence had to start early to reach her College in
time. One day a little while after
Florence had left Agnes to her horror discovered that the area they were
staying was a sheet of water. She could not move out nor go to her school. It
was heavy floods again in 2005. Agnes was confined to her home. She was tense as
she could not communicate with anyone at all. The lines of communication just did not exist. Agnes could not link with Florence or Davis who was in
Kuwait. She had no word from Florence for five days and the distraught mother had presumed her daughter
had met a watery end.
The agony was insurmountable.
There was a knock on her door on
the sixth day after Florence went missing. Agnes opened the door with
trepidation.
There she was. Her daughter
Florence with four of her friends stood there crying. They were all wet. They had waded through chest
high water for a long time to reach home.
It was a rambling narrative. Soon after the Suburban Train Florence had
boarded with her friends was on its way they could see that the train was stuck
in the heavy floods. The Train could not move and as the level of water was
very high there was no way for the passengers to detrain. Like the rest of the
passengers the girls remained rooted to their seats. They could not open the
windows as the rain came down heavily. There was no water to drink and there
was no food. They were at once thirsty and hungry. The day went off. Night was
scary for the girls. They kept themselves awake fearing for their lives. The
ordeal went on for the second day and alas the night too. The third day a few
good Samaritans who stayed close to the Railway line reached out to them with
water and food. It was a big relief. But there was no escape from the enforced
confinement. Relief operations were stream lined a little more on the fourth
and fifth days. The regular supply of food and water saved them from starvation
and a certain fatality.
They could move out of the train only
on the sixth day when the flood waters started receding. They however had to wade
through chest high water to reach Agnes’ place. There was no way for Florence's friends to reach their homes that were far off. Agnes profusely thanked God for keeping
her daughter safe. She provided food and fresh set of dresses for all of them. The
girls stayed with them till they could safely reach their homes.
It was a narrow escape for the
girls from a watery grave. The many shades and hues of the 2005 floods had
brought the shadow of death closer to many Mumbaikers who were out for a stroll
or out on any activity on that fateful day. Some of them had quietly disappeared into
open manholes as they were negotiating the submerged roads. A few of them who
were travelling in their cars had stopped their vehicles when they saw the
water level rising on the road. and chose to wait it out. They kept their windows shut to keep the rain
out. Unfortunately for them the water level rose sharply to immerse the
vehicles and slaughter them.
There was relief for Agnes’ agony
at the end but not for many ill-fated Mumbaikars.
The only prayer is ‘no more massive
floods in the maximum city anymore.’
