Wandering in the corridor...


On a rainy day a young women was walking up and down the corridor biting her pendant and was getting restless with every bike passing by.. It seems she is waiting for someone and was growing anxious every moment...
 
Varsha and Siddharth were recently married and had moved to Chennai. They live in first floor, single bedroom house known as the Line house or Row house in a typical Chennai neighborhood. It has 5 houses in the first floor all in row and had verandah or corridor common for all the houses. It has been a month since they moved in. Varsha got well along with her neighbours and developed a bond with them. Siddharth works for an MNC which is around 30min bike ride from home. Our hero have fixed working hours and he would be back home every day sharp at 7pm.Today it’s already 7:30pm and our hero Siddharth didn’t reach home yet and not answering any calls. Siddharth never came late which started to bother Varsha.

Varsha was the young women, wandering in the verandah restlessly waiting to hear from Siddharth.  She was already half wet from drizzling and water dripping from sunshade. She didn’t mind getting wet as it was getting  suffocated inside. Waiting and wandering in the corridor, with grave silence everywhere, dark sky without even single star, occasionally passing bikes through the water logged street, she was totally lost in the thoughts of Siddharth. She came back to reality when her mobile beeped; it was an SMS from Siddharth at 8:00PM saying “I am struck in a flooded street.. Will reach home soon”.

She had a bit of relief after the SMS but she couldn’t control cursing the administrators for inefficient, poorly maintained storm water drainage system and the people for throwing garbage in the drainage which blocks the water flow, causing water logging in streets and road. Still wandering in the corridor she could hear the television in one of the neighbours house which announced the death of a young man electrocuted in water logged areas of old Chennai. Worried by the news she started calling Siddharth but didn’t get any answer. Who is to be blamed for using bare conductors for distribution even in this modern world? Usage of underground buried cable could have saved this life..

Varsha was expecting the electricity board to blackout all areas which still have overhead live conductors and she was right. The power went off and Varsha has to reach out for the candle. Varsha lit up a candle and  started again to wander in the corridor biting her pendant. The air was so heavy and so does she. Time was ticking very slowly and the clock struck 9:00PM when she received another SMS from Siddharth “What shall I bring for dinner??” she replied “I am worried.. Don’t stop to buy dinner. Come home safely” but the message was not delivered due to mobile network jam.

Neighbours were lending words of consolation and advised her to stay inside her home. For her every passing minute was like a day… a year... but endless. She ran to the door, every time she hear sound of a passing bike, but she was disappointed. 30min has past, she heard a sound of vehicle but this time she was not desperate. From the sound she knew it’s not a bike but an auto rickshaw. The auto rickshaw sound irritated her as the sound was growing louder and louder as it approached. She closed her ears and continued wandering in the corridor. Varsha was brought back to her consensus only when she realized the auto rickshaw stopped in-front of their gate and Siddharth stepped out from the auto, holding a packet of dinner. She was in tears, took the umbrella and ran to the gate to bring Siddharth.

Followed by the minutes of silence between them, rain seized and the power was restored. Siddharth said “there was enormous water logging so he was forced to park the bike in his friends place and take auto rickshaw and added he didn’t answer the mobile as he was totally drenched in rain”. Smile and laughter surrounded them after those emotional and heavy moments. This time the news channels were discussing “Who is to blamed for the havoc, heavy rains or inefficient drainage or people who threw garbage in storm water drainage or electricity company for having old technologies". Flash news appeared on the TV screens “Chiefminister has declared 2 days holiday for all schools and offices and advised everyone to stay indoors”.  The clock struck 10pm... Varsha had great relief after three hours of nerve breaking desperation...  
                                                                Happy ending...

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Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 15, 2017 at 12:09 PM

    It was a nice story..i too got stuck during the flood in chennai but nobody was waiting for me at that time as i was bachelor

    ReplyDelete

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