Surviving the Chennai floods: A true life experience

Dubai: December 1. It was our last day of our term exams, and it was excitement all around. We were all flying home that afternoon. The light showers in the morning started getting a bit heavier, and we decided to leave earlier that what we had planned. So we all decided to skip lunch and get going right away. Little did we realise that we were embarking on what was to be the most adventurous and longest trip of our lives!

As the traveller made its way to Chennai airport, the rains got heavier, and in less than an hour the going got tough. Roads were nearly missing and it was a nightmare for our driver to negotiate the highway.

Very soon we stayed put in one place….simply unable to move ahead. And that misery lasted for about five hours! The view from the bus window only consisted of makeshift rivers all around …some of them enough to engulf small cars.

And then it was panic time….our check-in time was fast approaching and we were merely half way to the airport. Phone calls from our anxious parents were constant…and we had to ensure we kept our cool. A few jokes here and there..and some music kept our spirits alive.

 And after a near eight hour nightmare, we reached Chennai..only to be greeted by an even bigger nightmare! The airport was chaotic….there was water all around, and we learnt our flight was pushed for the next morning.  Could we check in into a nearby hotel?  Impossible. There were no rooms available! And so we camped on the airport floor, feeding on coffee and biscuits all night. In the meantime water levels rose outside the airport and we heard the airport was closed!

Meanwhile, tension rose inside the airport as passengers got restless and angry due to lack of food and water at the airport. Promises of food and water began at 6:30am..but arrived only at 11am. By the time we finished our Vada Sambhar we leant the airport would be closed for four days and our (Emirates) flight was postponed to December 7.

That was it! We knew we had to leave the place right away.  Hectic calls back and forth with our parents, and finally our friend Aditya’s dad’s friend arranged a transport for us to travel to Bangalore.

Given the condition of Chennai roads by then, “not a good idea” is what we heard from anyone who learnt of our plans…but we decided to try our luck and brave it out. Information that roads were caving in and bridges were being closed didn’t deter us…and we decided to stick it out despite no food or water and escape from this nature’s fury.

The trip to Bengaluru began with very little hope as water levels on the road were alarming. At some places we felt we were literally floating; but the driver came up with some escape routes and through countless detours, to finally get some clearer roads. Surely these detours cost us time…and what was normally a five – six hour journey turned out to be a nine hour ride.

This ended the adventurous journey for Joel  Alex, Naveen Kumar, Nandita Nayar, Arnav Arun, Jeena Yaldo, Adithya Srikanth, Gaurang Bhatt , Avinash Santosh, Job Mathews and myself.

Vaishnav Manilal is a student at the Vellore Institute of Technology