Tuesday, 27th July 2005, would be remembered by nearly every Mumbai resident. The sudden rainfall (nearly 994 mm), the highest in the last hundred years, caused so much disaster and chaos in the city that there was no breathing space left for people and their kin. Mumbai was flooded and there was a total transporation break down; as if that was not enough, electricity went out and so did the most needed cell phone networks. Even the landline telephones went dead.
A city booming on the peak of technology was suddenly shadowed by a gloomy acceptance of this unfortunate breakdown. People ended up spending more than 15 hours in buses and rooftops, without food and water. Those who were lucky to be at home ended up being tensed about their near and dear ones who were stuck some place or the other. Disruption of communication networks resulted in increasing the panic and worries.
Incidentally, Mumbai has a Disaster Management Unit, which was created in the early nineties to bring a rapid action plan into play. But the existence of such a Unit seemed like a far fetched fantasy. With people stranded all over, there was hardly any presence of rescue teams. It is the sheer valur of the people of Mumbai that came out shining. Self driven rescue operations, people distributing biscuits and tea, providing shelter to the stranded - all this once again proved that the spirit of Mumbai lives high, come what may.
I was a part and parcel of the experience that millions of Mumbaikars underwent. I would not say that it was traumatic, as it was for many who were stranded far away from home; but it was full of amazement and thrill at the same time. I shall be putting up the videos of the rescue operations that took place outside our office on Andheri Kurla Road, which were captured live through Nokia 6680. Check them out to see what was it like from our office.
Note: The videos are in the .3gp format and you will need the nokia multimedia player or quicktime movie player to view these. You can share, distribute and download the videos, but it would be great if you can inform me about it.
Video 1 - This is taken from the fifth floor and gives a panoramic view of the chaos building up on the Andheri-Kurla road.
check this out :
where the bollywood stars were on this day
http://www.musicindiaonline.com/n/i/hindi/2394/
~ Vani
Hey Aasmaan,
Watched you video..Infact showed it to my Hubby, Granma and cousins too.. Nice video..
Wow I cant believe it flooded that much.. Good thing you were on the 5th floor..
Do you take a camera to work everyday? How did you manage to get a camera there?
Aight Man,
Catch u later…
Vani