The Great Escape - Part II

The story continues as promised...

Location - 1st floor, H-8, Tagore Bhavan, SVNIT.

Time - 05.20 am

Situation: Perky. Feeble light starts pouring into the corridors of H-8, stimulating rays of hope among those students who are awake. Encouragingly,other students start rising from their troubled slumber( power is still out... the Quitoes as bloodthirsty as ever). There's more company to look forward to. Nonetheless the hostel seems to be shrouded with dismay. I seem to have overpowered my sleepiness just for the occasion. A few of my friends arise from their siesta and we decide(yet again!) to begin another sojourn to the college gate(if feasible!)


Location - Shit Zone, SVNIT.

Time - 06.00 am

Situation: Desperate. The word used before could be used for the following two cases. 1) The water seems desperate to engulf our college. Shit Zone too has been encroached. The water seems to be flowing at a menacingly rapid pace. It would be only a matter of hours before rescue operations were required( I was day-dreaming about the Army trying to rescue me from the perils of the floods!!).

2) Me and 2 of my friends who set on this sojourn somehow make it up to the staff club without many qualms. A few metres ahead all that we could see was water. The road was nowhere to be seen. But a few people(not students) were spotted trying to move upto the Gate for reasons i couldnt comprehend. These people though werent getting wet simply because they were doing heroics on the median-like structure that separates the main road into 2 lanes. The median is about a metre wide with plants grown in the centre flanked by bricks 1 layer wide. It does take some skill to walk on this 1 brick layer particularly in this situation because there is water(intimidatingly dirty!) on one side and wet soil on the other. The very thought of walking on it seemed revolting to me but my adventurous pals decided to brave the difficulties and we set off despite a reluctant me, DESPERATE to retreat to safer grounds!!!

The walk along the path, as i would put it wasnt without a fair share of thrill. My 2 friends set the pace and i trudged along behind them with a remorseful look. Add to this, 2 dogs coming right behind me( They were not particularly ferocious ones... But i abhor dogs!!) Thankfully people coming from the other side shooed the dogs away. My concentration powers were seemingly at their peak for if i were to put even one foot wrong, things would become nasty(nothing life threatenin of course... but still very nasty... not to mention very dirty!) . As we went forward we noticed that the water was so high that it had even covered the median at 1 point. At this juncture we decided that enough is enough and made our journey back to the staff club. In the end, it proved to be an adventure without many mishaps!!!


Location - AG - 14, H-8, SVNIT.

Time - 06.30 am

Situation: Drab. The hostel isnt exactly buzzing with activity but more doors are open. Many more students are awake now. But its very much early morning blues for most of them. I was bored to the core. I took a bath and lied down to get some well-deserved sleep!!!


Location - Ground Floor, H-8, SVNIT.

Time - 08.30 am

Situation: Irritating. Some idiot(could be one of my friends'!!!) banged on the door without any remorse thereby arousing me from paradise(now... paradise lost!). I didnt exactly arise with a start. It was some time before i actually realized that someone was banging on the door. Once i opened the door the very scene that greeted me was mind-blowing. Every soul in the hostel seemed to be awake. And there were groups of students occupying every inch of the corridors. I couldnt understand for a wee bit of time, what was going on. Then came the enlightening! The water levels had swelled and the water had in fact reached upto a point where the hostel entrance was just a few feet away from the onrushing water. It was just plain scary to think of the rate at which the water had been engulfing the college!


Location - Ground Floor, H-8, SVNIT.

Time - 08.45 am

Situation: Brainstorming. The cell phones kept ringing. Anxious parents calling their wards to enquire about the prevailing conditions. There were rumors of chest high water near the Main Gate. Scores of students could be seen packing there bags with whatever stuff available in the vicinity of their hands. Some of them set on their journey back home. The only viable option of getting out of the college was the Gate at the posterior end of the college. The Main Gate could no longer be treaded upon. My fellow Chennaiites were undecided upon the further course of action. There were all sorts of suggestions and arguments to support them but nothing seemed to be concrete. This pointless banter went on and on and on without any sort of solution coming!


Location - Mess, H-8,SVNIT.

Time - 10.00 am

Situation: Hungry. Suddenly people realize that they are hungry(I had been hungry for a long time!!) and the mess bell rings to everyone's relief! The mess manager assures that this is the last meal they will provide as the water supply has been cut off!!! People start to panic more, the phones continue to keep ringing, the students continue to keep leaving!! But we, the Chennaiites(the Tamils actually!) continue to maintain the position of confusion and entropy.


Location - Ground Floor, H-8, SVNIT.

Time - 10.30 a.m

Situation: Out of Control. We the Tamils are still in a state of delirium(a strong word!!), as the water keeps coming towards to the hostel. The entrance to H-8 has 7 or 8 steps to climb before we get into the hostel and the water has already come as far as the 1st step. Time seems to be running out. At long last a decision is made by us, the Tamils. We decide to set forth to Bombay(a decision taken despite the floods in Bombay too!!). There are lots of things to be done before we can actually set forth(especially for ground floorers like me.. it meant shifting all my things to the 1st floor!!).


Location - Entrance, H - 8, SVNIT.

Time - 11.30 am.

Situation: Thrilling. After much deliberations our decision came and it would prove to be a quotable case of a stitch in time saves nine!!! We set off on our voyage(literally... wading through the waters!!!) to get off the college campus. News had come in that the posterior Gate was the only way to get out of the campus. So we the Tamils( with the Mallus and a few Kannadigas too!!) started a perilous walk in the water. The straight forward route was via Hostels 1, 2 and 3 but as we could see the water along this road was at least thigh high, climbing upto the waist at certain points. Hence we decided to take a longer route around the Shit Zone, Canteen, H-5,H-6 and SAC. At this juncture there was another turning point. Some of the guys came to the conclusion that the journey out of college would be a wasteful exercise and returned to the hostel. There were also rumors that since Bombay too was reeling under floods, trains were being cancelled etc. But we the Tamils stuck to our decision to get out of the college and braved the rumors, the waters, the wildlife in the water which included snakes, spiders, insects and other 6 to 8 legged horrifying creatures!! The road to safety, in our minds was just a few hundred metres away set with a series of obstacles though.


Location - Away from Perdition, Behind SVNIT.

Time - 12.30 pm

Situation: Nonplussed. Just as we were leaving the campus we were greeted by the cameras and a guy holding a mike talking about the floods in Surat. The reception was not what we expected. We were curious for a few minutes and we wished for a few seconds in the silver screen. But it didnt turn out that way and we set off for the original and primary goal... SURAT RAILWAY STATION.


The adventure comes to an end here... All of us who set off from the college that day made it to our respective homes within the next 24 hours or so... It was the first time i( many others too) had experienced floods in my life and it is one experience i will never forget... It will remain a cherished memory forever in the annals of time!!!

Thanks for reading through.....

The Great Escape!

This entry is based on a true story. Some incidents/names may have been conveniently neglected.

Read on!

Location: The Main Gate, SVNIT, Surat.

Situation: Grim. Monday 7th August,Time - 20.30 IST.

Students(like me) throng the gate looking for ways to escape the onrushing water.But there were others(students,of course,the real "engineers") who were at the gate trying to work out the speed at which water was entering the college and were thinking of ways to build a barricade in order to prevent the water from entering the hostels.

Location - The Canteen, SVNIT, Surat.

Time - 20.45 IST.

Situation: Closed. I mean the canteen is closed. Ran into a few seniors of mine. Talked jovially for some time about the floods that were engulfing Surat and in particular, SVNIT. Came up with all sorts of weird ideas to get out of college but nothing seemed particularly logical. For, what everyone seemed to think of, was an exit via the Main Gate, which by that time had become highly improbable due to reports(rumours??) of chest high water in a place called Sargam Shopping Center which stands a few hundred metres from SVNIT.

Location - Hostel No.- 8, Tagore Bhavan, SVNIT.

Time - 21.30 IST.

Situation: Tense. Every imaginable cell phone seems to be ringing. Or someone is on the line already talking with his parents.The whole hostel seems to be in a quandry. Students perambulating here and there without any reason. Insects flying all over the place. Stray dogs wandering around without a semblance of any notion. It looked as though the hostel had pressed a gigantic panic button!!! And then comes the lethal blow. That thing the whole hostel had been dreading. Pardon me its not the water. But it was the failure in electricity supply.Everything comes to a standstill. The hostel plunges into darkness. And then the unthinkable happens. The power is back as fast as it went.The hostel is back to its noisy best. The drone of the insects. Everything seems to back to normal(or is it abnormal??).

Location - Hostel No.- 8, Tagore Bhavan, SVNIT.

Time - 21.35 IST.

Situation: On Cloud Nine! The brief setback received by the students is taken in the stride. Things seem to be going normally.And then the unthinkable happens. Again! The power supply goes off again. The hostel bears a saturnine feel all of a sudden. There is an unmistakable, eerie silence prevailing through out the hostel. Students now find it impossible to sleep. The mosquitoes attacked like a Mongolian horde. Armed with a hiss-like noise they invaded the ears of those lying on their beds.Everyone trying to sleep were singularly made to wake up by the attack of the Quitoes. Nothing could stop them. No one could beat them to pulp with their fists simply because they couldnt see them. Encouraged by the success of the mosquitoes other insects followed suit with varying degrees of success. But for humans, the situation was sadly worse than grim.

Location - The Terrace of Hostel No.- 8, Tagore Bhavan, SVNIT.

Time - 21.45 IST.

Situation: Sang-froid. Incorrigible optimists(Ha! Ha!) continued to remain in their rooms thinking that God would bestow them with power(huh... i mean electricity!).Realistic students realized the depth of the shit they were in and decided to leave their rooms for the pleasures of the terrace. The terrace also had its fair share of problems but they could all be overcome, for, there was not a single individual on the terrace,but groups of studs discussing crazy things amidst a probable life or death situation. There were reports flooding in stating that,the girls hostel had already been broached by the floods. BSNL also started sending messages requesting people to take aid in shelters 20 feet above ground level.Reality was starting to get harsh but students bore a major brunt of it without much trouble.

Location - "Shit Zone", SVNIT.

Time - 02.10 IST.

Situation: Adrenalin-pumping. People feel the need to sleep however terrible the situation seems to be and that's how it turned out for a majority of the hostelites. Despite the gruelling conditions(remember the Quitoes and the power cut) students started to sleep without any ado.Within minutes over 80% of the hostel fell asleep leaving a select few like me to ponder over, what happens next. The time i felt was ripe for an adventure, so, me and 2 of my friends set off from the Hostel. We braved the dangers of the "Shit Zone"(a notorious place where crows gather and keep dropping shit on passers-by) and managed 2 get as far as the Library.The situation looked as though it hadnt worsened, for, the water hadnt encroached a lot of territory. As we came back to the dastardly "S.Zone" we realized that we had overlooked the water approaching from the left flank.We understood that the water in fact wasnt coming through the straightforward main road but had taken a route through the staff quarters and girls hostel.Till that point of time, i had never experienced floods in my life nor had i known that floods had brains!!!

Location - AG-14, Hostel No. - 8, Tagore Bhavan, SVNIT.

Time - 02.30 IST.

Situation: Boring. My friends bade me goodbye and dozed off in their rooms. No one else in hostel was awake except me so it was time for me to sleep as well. I tried and tried and tried for a long time but my efforts were in vain. I just couldnt close my eyelids in the presence of those marauding Quitoes.It was the most boring time i had ever experienced in hostel. Nearly 2 hours passed in my efforts to sleep.

Location - The Terrace of Hostel No.- 8, Tagore Bhavan, SVNIT.

Time - 04.30 IST.

Situation: Still Boring. I made my way up to the terrace again in the hope of finding someone awake. Thankfully i found a few friends of mine in the terrace.We discussed the reasons behind the loss of sleep and decided that we needed to get mosquito coils asap!! Asap in this case meant a few hours at least, therefore, sleeping again was an option that was ruled off, by default. We came to a decision that it was time again to check out the "flood-like" situation in the college and we set forth on yet another journey.

Location - "Shit Zone", SVNIT.

Time - 05.00 IST.

Situation: Sleepy. As we set forth on the journey we noticed an unusually bright flame from the ONGC refinery. We actually mistook it for the sunrise but soon realised that the sun rises from the east and not from the west!!We made our way through the dark road hoping that no1/thing pounces on us. Thankfully nothing pounced on us. But the spread of the water, as we noticed, was nothing short of relentless. The "Shit Zone" had been encroached upon by the water. Hostels 5 and 6 were already flooded. It was all just a matter of time before the whole campus went under water.....

(To be concluded)....