STAY AWESOME

The Monsoon season just started here and has brought with it heavy downpour.Although the monsoon season is pretty dull but it brings with it interesting chain of events-flooded streets, water logged areas, trains moving through pools of water with the tracks nowhere to be seen.While I'm enjoying all this watching it on TV in the comfort of my home, there are people who are struggling to get to their workplace and back home after work.

A bit of background info:The Mumbai Local train-its like the MRT in Singapore but with open doors and it stops for less than 10sec at a station-is the lifeline of this city. More than 6 million people take the local trains daily in Mumbai to make their way to school, college or workplace as it is the only reliable means of transport in this congested city where traffic jams are very common. 8am-10am and 5pm-8pm sees the bulk of passengers[During this period you can witness people travelling on the train hanging from doors and windows or on top.I didn't know India still has people travelling on top of trains till I saw it].

Imagine this service which connects almost everyone in Mumbai/nearby areas from their Home to Workplace(or School or College) stops for a day due to rain.All services in certain routes "Cancelled" due to knee-deep-water on train tracks. People couldn't get to their workplace in the morning and got stuck on their way and those who made it for work couldn't come back. If you think the train service had taken a blow,trust me the roads were worse.Cars and buses floating in pools of waters.[When I say pool its really a pool- water is about a metre and half high on road with kids swimming with the help of water bottles tied to their shoulders to keep them afloat].So the people who went to work got stuck at train stations unable to get back home and had to spend their night sleeping at the stations itself. Some offices like my dad's arranged for their employees to sleep in the office itself - I'm guessing they used meeting rooms, conference halls and whatever space was available to sleep...almost like a refugee camp.If you are wondering why people did't go for Hotel rooms to stay for the night,it is because most offices are located in the business district and the hotels in that area are freaking expensive 5-star or 7-star hotels.If they go there they will end up spending the whole month's salary for a night's stay. And those who were stuck on the road ended up making their way through flooded streets to find a suitable spot to spend the night.I heard my dad's friend who was travelling by bus, was forced to spend the night in a temple as it was the only shelter he could find along that road.And next morning it was almost back to normal with only slight drizzle-roads cleared, trains running on time, water-logged areas no more and everyone went to work.By mid-day heavy rain started again and flooded streets, delayed/cancelled local trains, people stranded on stations until trains start running again,people reaching home past midnight,some haven't seen family for 2 or more days spending their nights at random shelters and the cycle continues.Whatever happens, life still goes on. And that is the story of Monsoon in Mumbai.

Life's a struggle, but that only makes it much more worth living.

PS: I felt you guys would find it interesting to hear about life at this part of the world. The floods that I've seen on TV looked pretty fun with boats running through roads and all.But I realised it is not funny when u can't reach home after work to your loved ones and are stranded on a flooded road for hours with nowhere to go. And I'm sorry for not having any pics to show u guys. I didn't want to risk taking my camera/phone out of the ziplock in the rain. I will put up some as soon as I have them :)

Labels: Monsoon in Mumbai

14 years in India : Montfort School, Orissa
4.5 AWESOME years in Singapore : St Joseph's Institution; Catholic Junior College; Outdoor Adventure Club; 102-C ; Frisk and Romp
Now: Back In India, Navi Mumbai to be exact.
Future: Wanna be an AWESOME Computer Engineer who builds cool,intelligent robots which can follow me on my expeditions to the farthest corners on this planet.
Interests: Mountains; Nature; Frisbee; Soccer; Running.