Surviving the worst

Ani Tresa Ephrem

On Independence Day eve, I returned on a five-day break from my university in Thiruvananthapuram to my home in Kalady, five hours away. My husband, Sudhakaran KM, too, is a professor of political science and works in a college at nearby Valayanchirangara. Next day, he had to attend a relative’s pre-betrothal ceremony in Mulanthuruthy, 40 km south. Our only child, Nirupama S, had the flag-hoisting at the school where she studies in class VIII.

We don’t watch much TV and sleep by 9.30 pm. Early risers too, we wake up by 4.30 am. It had been raining much of the night, but then it is monsoon anyway. Only five days ago, the Idukki dam was opened, and life was going as usual for us downstream. The broad Periyar, Kerala’s longest river (244 km), flows by our town. It’s just 150 metres away from the double-storey house we built in 2007.

Today, the downpour sounded menacing. By dawn, Facebook was teeming with posts making worrying weather predictions. My family in Palai (Kottayam district) passed a few WhatsApp warnings to me. Around 9 am, my husband left for Mulanthuruthy in his car. Rains gained volume. In an hour, the river water began invading our courtyard.

That profile steadily went up. Water gushed in even stronger behind our house which has coconut palms and huge trees standing on what were paddy fields 35 years ago. It was time we checked out. We took our Aadhaar cards, passports and insurance documents and locked them in the bedroom upstairs. We had a second car. Nirupama and I took the flooded Angamaly road, heading for a colleague’s place in Vengoor.

My host, Shanthi Nair, heads the Hindi department in Sree Sankaracharya University’s Kalady campus, where I had worked as a lecturer in history for two decades till this May. Effectively, her house soon became a relief camp, with the arrival of her in-laws and a few others. Authorities had switched off power on an already dark day.

Sudhakaran joined us the afternoon, only to soon drive back. Our dog at the Kalady home had to be taken to the top floor. Sudhakaran had to wade through waist-deep waters; he even stocked food for a scared Bruno. My husband’s certificates were all drenched. Back in Vengoor, we rushed to Angamaly to buy provisions worth Rs 5,000. We spent four days, cut-off and without electricity.

On the 19th, when the rains thinned, I, with Nirupama, moved to another colleague’s place in Valayanchirangara. Sudhakaran revisited our Kalady house. Bruno had survived.

The last one week has been spent cleaning the house, along with seven workers. Yet, much of it is still in a mess. Water had entered up to six feet, drowning everything, including the books of all three of us. On Thursday, power was restored. The LPG cylinder was fixed again. Bruno is with Sudhakaran. Nirupama and I plan to rejoin them soon.

            (As told to The Tribune)