Flood of tears

A young, ill-clad woman, holding a baby in her arms, was struggling to wade through waist-deep floodwaters crying, "O Bhaiyya (O Brother) please take me in the boat as well."

But the swift current was thwarting her efforts to reach the Naval boat. Its occupants feared that the mother and child might be swept away any moment. The woman kept signalling frantically towards the people in the boat imploring them to wait for her.

Finally, she made it. After climbing on to the boat, she collapsed due to exhaustion.

TV footage of the havoc caused by last week's floods in India's northern state of Bihar showed that an old man behind her was also trying to catch up. He was at the head of what looked like an ant line.

But by now, the boat was full. The Navy sailor in charge asked him to wait for the second trip. The hapless old man broke down. He let out a full-throated cry with tears rolling down his cheeks.

The boat left. Some of those sitting in it said they had spent 12 days on a bamboo raft without food and water with a blazing sun over the head and swirling water underneath.

Moving scenes

There were more of such moving scenes. I could not stand them any more, so I switched off the TV. Escapism? Well, yes, if you want to call it so. Nevertheless, those horrid scenes kept flashing before my closed eyes.

As I pondered, I was reminded of my own family's tryst with floods in Lucknow several years ago. Following heavy rains, the River Gomati was in spate.

The floodwater reversed the flow in a big drain that carried the area's slush into the river. Along with the muddy floodwater, slush was coming back towards our newly built colony.

We stood guard watching the water level rising menacingly the whole night. Within hours, water was slithering on the roads. Soon, it started entering our lawns.

We decided it was time to act fast. First we put our refrigerator and other costly gadgets on the dining table. Cabinets were emptied. Wooden beds and sofa sets were made to stand on their side vertically, leaving them to their fate.

I dispatched the family to stay with a close relative elsewhere in the city. Now the water had entered our rooms.

Nervousness was overtaking me. However, I decided to stay back to take care of another family - a mix of about three dozen parakeets and other pretty birds.

Save my birds

I had shifted them to a make-do cage on our terrace. Even though we had vacated our house and access to the first floor was not easy, I had decided to save my birds, come what may.

Soldiers rowing army boats in the area came to our rescue. On seeing our birds, they, too, fell in love with them - love at first sight, you know!

For the next 9-10 days, they would ferry me with supplies of bird feed and fresh water. Their boat would be "anchored" by our boundary wall which I traversed like a tight rope walker to reach the first floor. It was a typical experience.

The floodwater started receding. The birds survived. The boat did not come the next day. I looked up and thanked God and the unknown soldiers whom I had waited for. The birds chirped, too, as if to express their gratitude.

Back to the present, I switched on the TV to get the updates on Bihar floods. A news channel showed a tearful man saying he could not save his ailing young daughter and that she died. He could not find a place to bury her body as all the land was buried under water.

I switched off the TV!

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.