After a long and tiring day of uncertainties and chipping in to complete the next day’s edition of The Hindu, I was glad while getting into the office cab, longing for some sleep, on Monday midnight.
Little did I know that I was about to get a first-hand experience of the real Chennai floods, which had brought the State capital to a standstill. I shared a Bolero, with my colleague Smriti and our national news editor Tom Cijo. The destinations were Nungambakkam for Smriti, Choolaimedu for Tom and Ashok Nagar for me. It was a relatively joyous ride given the morose conditions around us.
Tom shared his experiences from the previous floods – of 2015 and 2006. I asked him whether this was similar to 2015, and he replied “no”. But no matter the intensity of the flood, I think facing a near-death situation would have changed his opinion.
