The other side….

As middle class inhabitants of a metropolis (if we at all can call Kolkata that) we lead a deceptively fragile existence… every morning we jostle the crowds in the subway to reach our workplaces, eavesdrop on other peoples conversations, curse the muggy Kolkata heat and breath a sigh of relief on reaching our dank, air-conditioned offices …on our way back home we pack boxes of sweets for our family (maa likes ladoo, I prefer sandesh)…we board buses and consider the city around us…fleeting glimpses of less fortunate lives scavenging garbage dumps and drains make us shake our head in dispassionate ruefulness … "This is no way to lead a life," we tell ourselves…
Until providence plays a cruel joke on us … like the last weeks floods which inundated the "safe, middle class haven" that is Bangur Avenue …464 mm of rainfall that washed away the semblance of dignified life we clung on to… In the past week I have waded through neck deep filth to collect food and water…we have had to make do without electricity for over 5 days…the taps ran dry for more than 4 days…
In the past week I have seen my mum fight over a jerkin of water… I have walked to office covered in filth and shit and god knows what…

Yet, as I sit to jot down my thoughts down things are slowly returning to normalcy… the sun is beamin reassuringly… caking the muddy leftovers of the last weeks deluge… party members in hired autorickshaws are making rounds of the city announcing through loudspeakers their intention to “help us in ever way possible”… ridiculous white lines of bleaching powders are littered along the open drains as a preventive measure against any possible epidemic… families many of whom were displaced from their ground floor homes, are scrubbing their moss covered house clean with a stoic good humour that irritates me … “This is a blessing in disguise, the flat is getting thoroughly cleaned before pujos,” says nicher barir Mukherjee uncle who shared with us the past weeks horror…
Maybe we will reconcile to the comforts of our middle class lives…maybe this week will be nothing more than a distant memory for us… but I hope I do manage to remember the feeling of complete helplessness that overwhelmed me for that past week… maybe that’s how it feels to be in the other side of the bus