Good old friend, Ashok Reddy and wife Girija, are in a lodge; home in Kotturpuram is under water, said Ashok when me got him on the mobile three days back. For a minute we talked. Today, tried again. 'Ground floor gutted; will take time to clear the sticky muck; the Telugu speaking Malayali family has shifted to a company guest house.' Ashok related facts. Ashok lives on the first floor but with no power and water, may have to stay at the lodge sometime more. 'It happened in 1985; rain water finished everything; it has happened again. We are better off than many, but we have been touched by rains,' he added. 'Life goes on,' chimed Girija. Knee deep water in the ground floor home of PRS at West Mambalam; maybe he has moved to the first floor. Me tried to contact him; out of mobile range, comes the reminder. Daughter Vidya and Madhu are okay at Valsarvakkam; there was no flooding in the area; ground floor homes, including that of Vidya, safe. Kannan (Shiva Kumar) and wife Krishna, in Mumbai, for Dubai Ganesh marriage, skipped train reservations to Chennai; will move on Sunday; their car in the parking lot at Chennai home has been under water for a few days and Kannan is not sure of insurance; seemingly, those not insured against Acts of God or Nature, may not get anything from insurance companies. 'That's a worry,' remarked Krishna and she should know, having worked as a company secretary. Rama and me have been regularly updating selves with Sun TV News. Perhaps, it would have helped if the TV beams were located, dated and timed; and reporting is tough standing in flooded spaces; hard, as reports have to be rushed. Yet, Sun News passed on the grim message. The first time heard of waters in Kotturpuram, thought of Ashok Reddy; mobiled into silence. A year ago, Ashok drove us to his place in Kotturpuram; dropped us back; a dash of green, poshness but dusty. He rolled names of top executives as near and distant neighbours; Ashok had no friends in them, being a loner. 'Prefer to be left alone,' he remarked over iced gins. Girija had prepared a dietic lunch; after afternoon gins, nothing matters. 'Every time it rains heavily, I am a bit worried. Worry for the ground floor tenant,' he told me that day. He is that man, Ashok is. Today, he admits to 'money being the least of worries'; it is trying to get into an old rhythm. Losses wont go that easily. Tattooed hurts will remains. Long months before Singara Chennai gets Singara on its brows.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Singara Chennai
Good old friend, Ashok Reddy and wife Girija, are in a lodge; home in Kotturpuram is under water, said Ashok when me got him on the mobile three days back. For a minute we talked. Today, tried again. 'Ground floor gutted; will take time to clear the sticky muck; the Telugu speaking Malayali family has shifted to a company guest house.' Ashok related facts. Ashok lives on the first floor but with no power and water, may have to stay at the lodge sometime more. 'It happened in 1985; rain water finished everything; it has happened again. We are better off than many, but we have been touched by rains,' he added. 'Life goes on,' chimed Girija. Knee deep water in the ground floor home of PRS at West Mambalam; maybe he has moved to the first floor. Me tried to contact him; out of mobile range, comes the reminder. Daughter Vidya and Madhu are okay at Valsarvakkam; there was no flooding in the area; ground floor homes, including that of Vidya, safe. Kannan (Shiva Kumar) and wife Krishna, in Mumbai, for Dubai Ganesh marriage, skipped train reservations to Chennai; will move on Sunday; their car in the parking lot at Chennai home has been under water for a few days and Kannan is not sure of insurance; seemingly, those not insured against Acts of God or Nature, may not get anything from insurance companies. 'That's a worry,' remarked Krishna and she should know, having worked as a company secretary. Rama and me have been regularly updating selves with Sun TV News. Perhaps, it would have helped if the TV beams were located, dated and timed; and reporting is tough standing in flooded spaces; hard, as reports have to be rushed. Yet, Sun News passed on the grim message. The first time heard of waters in Kotturpuram, thought of Ashok Reddy; mobiled into silence. A year ago, Ashok drove us to his place in Kotturpuram; dropped us back; a dash of green, poshness but dusty. He rolled names of top executives as near and distant neighbours; Ashok had no friends in them, being a loner. 'Prefer to be left alone,' he remarked over iced gins. Girija had prepared a dietic lunch; after afternoon gins, nothing matters. 'Every time it rains heavily, I am a bit worried. Worry for the ground floor tenant,' he told me that day. He is that man, Ashok is. Today, he admits to 'money being the least of worries'; it is trying to get into an old rhythm. Losses wont go that easily. Tattooed hurts will remains. Long months before Singara Chennai gets Singara on its brows.
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