The trauma of having to come back home only to hear someone say, “I told you not to do so!”, is horrible. And to know that your mom is trying to say that loud through her intimidating silence and vaitherichal, is petrifying.
I walked into the house at 11.00 A.M, the same time I had left home the previous day. And it rained. It rained and rained and again, it rained. It only rained.
Five girls, inspite of repeated warnings, we decided to brave the rains. Indomitable human spirit :P At 8.00 P.M, we realised that the city had been flooded, including the main roads, and our homes were practically inaccessible. Not that we didn’t, we did TRY to reach home, and Frantically.
This particular auto driver charged us 250 INR for a distance of 5Km. With Aniyayathukku oru alave illiya looks on our faces, we quietly declined the offer inviting some really bad words from him. To add insult to injury, blessed Vodafone network wasn’t at its best (on my phone, atleast)there. And when it was, my dad’s netwok screamed, “Neengal thodarbu kollum vaadikaiyalar thodarbu nilaikku appal ullar” HOW CAN I BE BLAMED FOR THAT? Enna kodumai Sir
Somehow dad managed to contact me, thanks to Vodafone :P The conversation or rather, monologue that followed cannot, due to various reasons, be explicated here. Amma did not speak a word, leaving daddy to do all the talking.
We could have taken that auto but what if the tyre had been punctured midway? Or the vehicle got stuck in the waters? Ultimate ‘what-ifs’ Phew!
At 12.00 A.M, we managed to arrange transport and reach one of our places at Annanagar. I need mention here that Annanagar, otherwise could be reached in just 10 minutes from where we were. It took us 2 long hours without the ubiquitous ‘Take diversion’ signs, since even the cleanest of Mugappair roads was flooded! With heart in mouth, we reached home. Ah, bliss!
On T.V was this tired news reporter doing a live coverage of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. The day’s experience all forgotten on watching the bloodshed and killings. This continued till 3.00 A.M and at 4.00, we slept, feeling blessed to be alive!
Next morning, before it could rain again, we packed home. In 10 minutes time, I was home, to be greeted by my poker faced bro and amma whose silence seemed to reiterate, "Onnu sol buthi irukanum, illena suya buthi irukkanum. Rendume illena urpadama pove" and "Konjam kooda keezhpadithale ille! "
To me it was an experience, and what an experience!
I am incorrigible :-)
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Saturday, 29 November 2008
