Chennai is limping back to normalcy. Got back my internet connection only just now. Maximum rainfall in a 100 years. Naive, gullible people, victims of demagogue culture for the last 50 years, people who can be easily satisfied, people who practice cinema and drama even in day to day life, sycophancy running in our blood, all of us were in for rude shock. Reality hit us hard. Victims of corruption of politicians and government when doing its full Nataraja dance. Reduced to begging for a loaf of bread and a bottle of water. Add to this the indifference/negligence bordering on contempt of our brothers and sisters north of Vindhyas.Will we ever learn from our mistakes? Very unlikely.

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Originally posted by ramar2005

Chennai is limping back to normalcy. Got back my internet connection only just now.

GOOD to see that you are back in your old stomping grounds and see it slowly returning back to normalcy.

Maximum rainfall in a 100 years.

DO YOU think it will help alleviate the water supply situation for the next hundred years there?

Naive, gullible people, victims of demagogue culture for the last 50 years, people who can be easily satisfied, people who practice cinema and drama even in day to day life, sycophancy running in our blood, all of us were in for rude shock.

JUST 50 Years you say?! AND you want to get included in it too!! I also thought that we all got a breakaway and skedaddled out of there, because the *VACUUM RIVER needed to get flushed out once in a hundred years. I hope this big rain would have done at least that for the locals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooum_River

Reality hit us hard. Victims of corruption of politicians and government when doing its full Nataraja dance. Reduced to begging for a loaf of bread and a bottle of water. Add to this the indifference/negligence bordering on contempt of our brothers and sisters north of Vindhyas. Will we ever learn from our mistakes? Very unlikely.

I GOT the Nataraja Dance part, then I lost you there. Thats O.K. too. They told me that the UPS Power supply units were flying off the shelves and They were selling all kind of adapters for numerous uses, such as phone charging, for all kinds of Electronic gadgets and type of pads and kindle too.

The best one I heard was that they normally don't allow ladies into the Mosques there, but this time they not only allowed the ladies, they also allowed even the Hindu women too to enter and take refuge. Just to seek higher grounds. These were unconfirmed reports, so it sure struck a cord when I heard it.

They wanted to know where to deliver some of the urgent requirements, because most of the homes were submerged and even then they did not want to leave their homes and go to a place where they could be a lot more comfortable. So, when they needed some special delivery, they used to say "Mottai Maadi...................." They used the roof tops to guard their fortresses.. Is it Tower number 5.. Well you can surely post here to us, whenever you have time to unwind and give us some interesting tales. Some even called it the VENICE of the South. (India).

We have seen the RED River in Winnipeg, we have seen the floods in Edmonton Alberta, We have seen the Danube eating away the banks in Europe, now tell us about the Millions of cubic meter of raw sewer that runs in that river is a lot better than the Shot floating in St.Lawrence River in Montreal.

This one they can't blame it on the politicians, are they saying it is because of "El Nino" there too. WoW, they all are very well educated...!!

Thanks for getting this thread started. Bon Voyage and a safe return.

FH.

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Thanks for your reply.

Usually, people from the lowest economic strata only become victims. They may be at worst a few thousands. But this time around even from the beginning of November and the rains before Diwali on Nov 9th, there were reports of flooding in residential areas around Tambaram and a few other outskirts. There were at least 3 periods of lulls during the month, when action could have been taken. But the climax was on Dec 2/3, when in a few hours of the afternoon that is between 2PM and 6PM, even areas around T.Nagar bus terminus was under 2 feet deep water inside the ground floor apartments of middle income group. This was how a large chunk of the population of South Chennai were brought to their knees. Without electricity supply 24x7 for several days, nights were eerie with buzzers from parked cars going off when flood water seeped inside. At least a dozen cars around my residence screamed in chorus in the dead of the night with owners afraid to step out into the flood waters in the dark. Quite an experience.

Now everybody speaks of spirit of Chennai, charity, social service etc. The calamity need not have been allowed to happen at all. Our street corner notorious for filling up the waters from our entire neighborhood was under 4 feet water. Even though power was restored in many other areas within 48 hours, our "current" man would not budge for 6 days. He wanted all the water to drain for fear of accidents. He may be right but he was the one who neglected the junction box at the street corner and left it with wide open doors even on normal days. The Sewage Board wise man had a small motor to pump out the water, but would take away the unit to mysterious destinations for "repair" frequently. We needed big trucks with 20,000 litres capacity to take out the water, but it appeared on Dec 7th after all the fun was over and could be seen parked in front of the famous Nalli Silks opposite Panagal Park. At least we now know that the Sewage Board has such trucks.

Eeven today the Electric Junction Box, which was the villain and reason for all our miseries still stands in all its majesty, not tall but like a dwarf and in dilapidated condition. Its doors are wide open, and any playful child coming into contact will be sent to heaven. But we the educated middle class move around the box as if nothing is wrong. When the next hour of rains occur it will be the same old story, with the Electricity Board man and Sewage Board man hitting us 4s and 6s from both ends. And this is our "normal" life in Chennai.

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I am sure things get much more normal soon you all will be back on track.
It is really scary to think of such conditions in Canada (having no electricty 24x7 for several days and "0" degree Celsius)

The sad thing in India is, few politicians have a vision to think ahead and build things for the future (though funds are available). Had they planned, maintained and improved drainage systems in Chennai .... things would not have been such bad.

This time around it was the lethargy, indifferent and arrogant attitude of the government servants. Most of them are habitual latecomers to their office, go away for tea break even during working hours and the seats are empty well before the end of the office hours. During a disaster like this we cannot expect anything different. JJ once decided to take them on and dismissed 100s of them in one stroke and appointed qualified temporary office staff. But their retaliation could be seen in the subsequent general elections.It is open secret that many of them do not have liking for JJ/AIADMK. On an year prior to the elections, JJ would have done everything to earn the goodwill of the people.

Though it may look entirely unconnected, the Central, State Governments and the Election Commission of India at the highest level should consider employment of field staff during general elections NOT from government employees alone, but from a wide cross section of the society encouraging private sector and even traders and petty shop owners. This will definitely check the arrogant attitude of the government servants and their intransigence even during a crisis. An off-shoot will be that governments need not be blackmailed into giving enormous pay hikes to an already under performing section of the work force. As per the recent Central Pay Commission the starting pay of a Class IV government staff is Rs.18,000, while the same cadre with double the skills and putting in double the work would hardly get Rs.8,000/. in private sector. Rewarding the government servants for their non-performance will only cause more misery to the people, like in the recent flood disaster.

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CD's live in every part of the globe and this allows everyone to have a ringside view of events that take place around the world.

Ramar2005: Thanks for updating everyone and we are all glad that you are safe. Hope the normalcy is restored to Chennai at the earliest.

I heard TK called the Canadian embassy for a boat to evacuate him alone.

Ramar2005, glad that everything is finally good with you and your family.

What you said about government is largely true - the existing loophole people use to build and expand cities without take care of waterways is really sad.

Here in western part of the world, we really see all natural springs, lakes, low laying land intact even in the most priced area, no matter what. Some of the states/provinces even go the extend to prohibit leveling your own lot that is uneven. India must learn from it.

However, I am giving some benefit of doubt to our poor government. (not the rich babus)
This scale of rain, once is 100 year, no-government in the world can prepare itself for it. Most of structures (irrigation, draining) are designed for 20 year return period - meaning every 20 years they can fail. Designing itself for 100 years is impossible. The US cities tend to fail with just a few inches of rain.

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A Proud Indian Canadian