Rain Rain....

I left home at the usual time on Tuesday. Even as I reached office at 9:45 am, there was no hint of rain, in fact the weather was almost sunny.

The first drops really happned in the early afternoon, thereafter what fllowed and still continues is a torrent of a magnitude that can happen only in Mumbai.

I started off by being stuck in a restaurant hardly 200 m from office simply coz I didn't bother to carry my windcheater. After asking for reinforcements (which was a HUGE pain coz the telephone lines were down and the cell sites were down); I managed to reach office in the late afternoon.

Even then the situation didn't seem so bad though many offices in the area had already started calling it a day. It just went from bad to worse as knee deep water collected outside my office (which is a HIGH lying area) by 7 pm. Traffic had come to a total standstill and the kilometres long traffic jam didn't budge for almost 5 hours.

We decided to stay back in office till the traffic cleared. Some brave souls ventured out from time to time but even they had to return. The restos were running out of food....but we managed to have a decent dinner.

Finally left office at 4 am. Reached home a lil while ago at 5:45 am. While I didn't have to wade through water, I had the unique experience of wading through silt-like mud deposits on certain key parts of the highway....

But somehow Mumbai dissappointed me today.

I saw a very clear demarcation between the haves and the have-nots. I didn't see a single car/bus/truck stop by to take in stranded people on the roads. On the contrary, they would speed up and try to spray water on the hapless people.

I saw ruffians leering and jeering at women, making life miserable for those wading through water. And I couldn't do a thing about it as I stared from my second floor cabin.

Maybe the day also produced heroes and there were good samaritan too, I am sure. I know a few myself. However, I saw a distinct difference between the Mumbai I knew a few years ago and the Mumbai I saw today/last night. And it truly wasn't a great experience.