Well, last night I wrote a very long post about everything that's been going on, and I saved it on my zip drive to post at school today. Except the folder I created for it was on my desktop. Woops. So I'll have to post that later...
But it's ok, because between last night and this morning, I have plenty of interest to write about: the coming of the monsoon.
Today is the first real day of monsoon-like rain, by my estimation. It's rained before, but never like this.
So I got ready for school like usual this morning, and I decided to leave about 20 min early so I would have time to post the blog I wrote last night before class. The maid, Sondhadi, asked me if I was going to go today. I said yes, class is happening. She asked if I had an umbrella, and I told her yes. She said ok (this was all in Bangla, btw. The only English word I've heard her say is "ok," though this morning, and usually, she used the Bengali equivalent, thik achhe), but she still seemed a little concerned. I was soon to find out why.
I left my house and hadn't even made it half a block before the water stopped me. At the corner of a small street (or maybe a driveway), the curb was met with waves of water. I could see a man crossing, and the water was almost to his knees. "No way," I thouhgt. I looked for a way to get onto the street, but it was too far to jump over the water at the side of the road. So I turned around and walked the other way until I found a place I could get onto the street. I walked all the back to my house, and past it, before I gave up and stepped in maybe 8-inch water to get onto the higher part of the street. I began walking, but I soon had to walk back into the water to avoid being hit by a bus. At this point I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to walk through the water. So I made it to Hazra More (where I catch an auto) intermittently wading and walking.
After the auto ride, I began walking again. I got to Swinhoe Street, the street AIIS is on, and it looked like a river. I followed a woman into the knee-deep water and began the long wade towards school. The water kept getting higher, and eventually I had to cross the street to slightly higher ground. I was terrified that I would fall off the sidewalk I was on because I couldn't see the curb. The water was opaque brown, with all sorts of trash and who-knows-what floating in it. I could feel the current pulling me as I made my way across the street. It really felt like a river. When I finally made it to the school, water was up to the third or fourth step on the staircase that lets out onto the street.
Now I really understand why there are still hand-pulled rickshaws today. If I had seen an empty one, I would have taken it.
Amazingly, cars were coming through, as well as the rest of the usual traffic: people, bikes, rickshaws, though everything was obviously much slower.
Later, I did see a guy pushing a broken-down car.
Pratimadi told me that years ago, it would flood even worse, and the school had a boat to ferry people to the higher ground of the big roads. But now the water receeds quite quickly. It's been just 7 hours now since I was walking through, and the middle of the street is above water. Only the sides of the street are still water-logged, like happens in the US.
Prosenjitda told me that flooding like this usually only happens 3 or 4 times a year. I'm glad I won't have to walk through all that every day....
Who needs Venice when you have Kolkata?
~m
(Pictures of this are coming)
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