My Experience
Thursday 3th Dec 2015
I am very
disturbed today, why? Because Chennai has been hit by a flood. Through my Friends
and News, I found out that the causes for the flood was heavy rain which
occurred due to unusual warming in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. All this rain
caused the authorities to open a massive 30,000 cusecs of water from Chembarambakkam
reservoir into the Adiyar River, Which caused over flowing on its banks.
Similar flooding occurred in Poondi, Cooum and Puzhal. But unfortunately it was not the only
causes! Illegal construction, choking of water exits, badly planned or
Unimplemented Project and most importantly filling of around 300 lakes caused
the sewer to over flow and fill Chennai with water.
My very
close friends lives in Chennai, so I was very worried and a little scared for
them as the communication was taken down.
Friday 4th Dec 2015
My Mom comes
to me and tells me that Maniji {A great man who lives in Abu Dabhi}wants to
send money to help his birthplace, Chennai. After the Flood it had experienced
it was human nature to want to help. So I gladly wanted to help. First things
first, so we started finding out what resources were required as it was the
first time we were doing this. We found out about a bread dealer and met him.
To be honest I was very excited as a friend of mine said “we don’t have floods everyday but when we do, we must serve and make
the most of it”. We spoke and got 500 packets arranged, Each packet
consisted of 500gm Bread, Half Kg Rusk, 5 piece Bun and cookies. Next we spoke
and arranged for Meds, Water and Milk.
Saturday 5th Dec 2015
Today a
volunteer namely Vaidyanathanji joined My Dad, Food Inspector Athmanand Uncle
and Myself to Bangalore market. We first went to a shop where we bought Natural
mosquito Coils, Matches and Small covers. Then we went to buy Blankets and
large packing covers. Most of the stuff was carried by us and a labour till the
car to transport. Then on the way back we picked up milk. To transport it we
had to arrange an auto carrier and I had to travel in it to show the way. It
was kind of fun. Well isn’t it just too perfect!!! Well then your right, the
blankets were attached together, 2 each piece. Hence we had to cut 300 pieces
half and fold 600 blankets, after we tied them, 20 each and packed them in the
big plastic bags. Luckily we had a few more volunteers, Rahul anna, Chandan,
amithji, pawan and a few Neighbours. Well this was not just it, by the time we
were done with the blankets, the bread got delivered at 12:30 am. We had to
arrange 500 packets which took around one and a half hours to pack.
Sunday 6th Dec 2015
Last night
with 2 hours of sleep I got ready to leave to Chennai. No force in the world
would have been able to stop me from going. I was very excited as I had never
seen a real flood. Not that I want one to happen… but u get it. So in the
morning we packed all the bread and loaded it onto the tuck which already had 1
ton of rice, 100 Kg of Dal, water and lots and lots of bananas. Those bananas
reminded me of minions, you know… that movie…despicable me…. You know what
never mind… we left after taking tons of selfies and photos. We stared at
around 10 / 10:30. Rahul anna, pawan, narsimha, Vaidyanathanji, myself and the
truck driver travelled on the Chennai trucxpress.
On the way
we were stopped at a check post. We told the cops that we were going to Chennai
with food and other basic things. Then something unexpected happened the cops
gave us a huge sack of water, another one with tetra pack milk and a few more
boxes of water!!! I mean, like, that much from cops was something I never
imagined. They said they wanted to contribute too. They also told us that we
don’t have to stop at any check points or pay at any toll plaza as long as we
have the banner tied on, as we were doing service for the people. And they were
right we sped through the tolls and ever check post. I’m not sure how but when
we stand for another soul or a group of soul then the nature works and helps us
accomplish the task. Like in this case it was so cool, we sped past every toll
and check point, like as if we were VIPs.
Then we
reached, but unfortunately it was dark by then. We met Krishna rao uncle our
coordinator there in Chennai. He lived there. And I meet my friend Raghu who
flew to Chennai from Abu dabhi just before the flood and rain to serve the
people. We wanted to give some food to a place where it was required but
unfortunately there was water there and so the others had to go ahead and check
the depth of the water. We had to park the truck out in the road and wait for
them to come and take a decision. At this moment people started gathering
around the truck for food. Unfortunately we dint have enough to spare for them
hence they kept requesting and we had to tell them that it was not available. I
felt very bad that we could not provide them with food. We then went to Raghu’s
house to unload the goods. It was hard work but worth the efforts. It took us
around 3 to 4 hours to unload. I mean common its 7 to 8 ton of food, that’s
7000 to 8000 kg of food. Ya 7000 to 8000 Kg of food was unloaded that night.
Monday 7th Dec 2015
I went to bed
around 1:30 with my friend Ragu and instead of sleeping we kept talking and
slept around 3:30 / 4 and woke up at 6 in the morning. By then a volunteer from
there teja and Rahul anna went to give food to that place we were not able to
reach last night. We got fresh and had a great breakfast. Raghu’s aunt had made
the food. Then we discussed and call a few local NGO foundation. They knew how
to handle those places where people throw stones and hit volunteers. Well
technically it’s not the people but a few goons who work for the political
parties. So moving on the NGOs came and picked up the food. We took a lot of
pics and selfies with them.
In the
evening we went to a school nearby, where refugees whose houses were still in
the water or destroyed were present. We met an aunty who was very commanding
and helped us distribute food. Then we went to a street where poor people lived
and Raghu’s aunty gave them each 1 pack as she knew the people there. We also
distributed bananas. While cutting the bananas I accidentally broke teja’s swiz
poket knife. Well the bananas were supposed to be cut from the bark and then
distributed.
Later that
day Vaidyanathanji and myself travelled back to Bangalore.
Today, Tuesday 8th Dec
2015
We reached
today at around 6 AM. I loved my
trip. Yes there are some pros and cons but still I realised a lot and it feels
really good to help another person. If you’re truthful to yourself and the
world then nothing in the world will stop you. Like for example when we wanted
to do all this people supported us because of the trust they have on my Mom. If
you want a loan of 30,000 and you might or might not get it but if you want to
help someone then u will get more than 3 lakhs in one day!!!! And no I am not
kidding it happened here in this situation. Now I am not asking you to go help
in floods or earthquakes, but to just help a person when he is in need and
don’t expect anything in return. Imagine when everyone is helping each other,
that’s where I want my brothers, sisters or children to grow in.
Signing Off
Ashwin Reddy
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