Date 12th July 2001

Distinctly remember that it was ASHADHI EKADASHI that day. I had a fast on that day. It had been raining for two three days continuously and it was raining cats and dogs on that day as well. The central railway was already affected. But the western line was still on. So I decided to go to office. Somehow I reached office without any delays only to know that around 80% of the staff was not going to come. By that time the rains had started heavily. At around 12 management took the decision to let go all the staff so that they can reach home safely.

I was staying at Malad, and another colleague was staying at Bandra. So we started off. My friend advised that better we eat something. So he had a vadapav and I had one lassi. I had never imagined what was instored for us. As soon as we reached the lane that we use to take for Elphistone Road station, I was awestruck. I had come to office through the same lane, filled with water upto the knee. Now after four hours the water level had rosed to neck level. Only the roofs of taxis standing the lane were visible. My friend being from Mumbai, seemed to be aware of what we had to face in next few hours.

He said better we start walking immediately so that we can reach home till evening. It was new to me. I had experienced the mumbai rains but this was the first time I was stuck between office and my home. Going back to office was also not possible because everybody had left. And Malad seemed to be next to impossible. But I decided to take a chance. Prayed lord and started. We went from west to east using the flyover near the elphistone station. After reaching East we started going towards dadar. After walking for 45 mins in water upto the thighs, we were totally exhausted. When we reached the dadar station bridge towards elphistone road, the sight we saw was mesmerizing. Only water and nothing esle was visible on the railway tracks till the eyes could see. There was water  around dadar station as well. I had no clue where to go now, as the trains were not running and I had no idea about the buses.

My colleague said don't worry we will go to his house and you can go home the next day. I agreed as I had no other options. So we started our Dandi March again. We decided to go from the west, so that we can reach bandra, after crossing mahim and matunga. If we go by east we had to go to sion first and then towards bandra. The water was upto our waist around dadar station. People around dadar station, were helping those who were coming out by giving them water, tea etc. We had tea there to keep ourselves warm. As we had been in water from around 1 hour. After that we started our journey again.

We took a right from Sena Bhavan and started walking towards Mahim. The roads were filled with people like us who had dared to go to office. Who had dared to challenge the rain gods and he was now punishing them. People were helping each other by giving ideas from where to go and where to reach so that their journey home is safer and quicker.

As we were walking I saw a bus going to Goregaon depot. That was it. I shouted to my friend that I am going and off I started running like a crazy man to catch that bus. I ran around 100 mts like an olympic race and was able to catch the bus. The bus was crowded and I was standing. My legs were paining like anything. We had walked for two hours against the water. I desperately wanted to sit and God heared my prays. Near Bandra Station, I got a seat and sat down thanking the passenger who got up. He smiled and went away.

The Bus took almost another two hours to reach goregaon depot on the link road. Normally this distance would have been covered in max 45 mins. When I reached Goregaon I thanked Lord for his blessings. From there I took an auto to Malad Somwari Bazaar and reached home at around 5.30. So atlast, after 4-5 hours my journey back home was over.

Although I had to face hardships in this experience I consider it as a good experience. I saw a totally new city during this experience. I saw people helping totally strangers. Offering them advise, water, tea etc. This was totally new for me. Not that I had any bad experiences earlier in the city, but this was something unusual. On a normal day people just overlook others and head their way. Nobody seems to help each other. People seem to be just waiting for a reason to fight with each other in local trains, on the roads. etc. This helping nature of the mumbai crowd was unknown to me till that time.