Monday, July 26, 2021

 Gujarat Rains :



3 comments:

Novak Nole. said...

26 July / 2005...... 16 years ago, Navi Mumbai 's Kalamboli area for my routine Dr's call promoting our product range. Also in agenda, the weekly office meeting that was scheduled to happen at Mahim West at 3.15 pm.
The morning of all I could remember even now was quite, calm, skies littered with some high clouds, Sun almost sort of playing hide & seek, almost pretending to break free in a peak monsoon month. Typically, the hustle and the bustle to catch the respective locals were seen in the way it is daily.. Business was usual on the roads, street corners.
The Mumbai's lifeline ( EMU) , the front line worker, the foot soldier was no different with the rakes packed like sardines, Commuters jostling for space if there was any...... Even a fly would think twice, thrice to squeeze its way in the peak rush hour commute... Yes... Everything was absolutely normal to the T......

My work schedule at Kalamboli meanwhile was in the last lap and I was so eager to push things quickly in order to get an hand at the finish tape and board the first available State transport bus to Kings Circle.....

It was 13.30 hours.. ...Almost a quiet and calm noon....From nowhere the clouds turned dark grey with a rumble here and there...The birds were looking slightly fidgety and were seen busier than usual....Probably they may have sensed what was coming in the next few hours...A huge thunder, almost an explosion of sorts...Few drops of rain which were getting slightly bigger by the minute...A sort of puzzling look at the sky to check what was this all about..
Few murmurs amongst the onlookers on the street...Before you could blink and think....The heavens opened up...........

The intensity of the downpour was such that nothing was visible even at a hand shaking distance.. leave alone the buildings across the road.. Yes, the torrential rains resembled a water fall in no time and the State transport bus driver was negotiating the highway towards Vashi purely by his own instincts with the head lights, high beam on as literally nothing could be seen except the wiper that was reluctant, struggling to match the sheer force of the downpour and eventually had to give up........
A sense of anxiety and fear slowly started clouding the mind as was the sky above.. The excitement of rains eroded very soon with nerves, seeing what was going on... Can I continue my journey till Kings Circle or opt to get down at Sanpada and take an another bus towards Ghansoli on the Thane - Belapur road... A decision had to be taken immediately..
Took a deep breath, decided against the travel further towards Greater Bombay.. In hindsight, that could be one of the most sensible decisions I had taken knowing what was in store later in the day / evening and the night..
Reached home drenched and saw and heard nothing but the deafening noise of the monsoon mayhem that would continue for a lengthy period of time.
The rains wouldn't stop or was in no mood even to relent a bit... Finally, finally out of sheer fatigue, after giving / throwing it everything including the kitchen sink the rains abated around 4.30 am on 27 July /2005...
No mobile phone images /cam/ a video to relive the memories..

But.. but. But....

The monsoon roar.. Yes, that day it sounded different as though some 1000 horses were galloping at the same time... The visuals in the form of a white / dark greyish screen will be etched in one's memory forever.. Close to 800 mm... In about fifteen hours..
Wufff.. My eyes are still wide open...

Rest as they say is Geographical History

NilaY Wankawala said...

Excellant effort Tejas to put rainfall figures for Gujarat on Map. Vagaries always in constant efforts to beat its own benchmark and continiously in pursuit of improving and making it more and more useful for its followers.

Vinod Desai said...

Yes, Mehsana was having very heavy rains yesterday evening..

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