As soon as I got back to Hyderabad after my US trip last week and even before I could get over my jet lag came the news of the devastating Chennai floods. I did not have many ideas in mind, but all I knew was that I wanted to contribute and go beyond just sharing posts and retweeting.
My mother, 63, supported me and said, “Do not sit here sympathising with them. Get up and work for the cause.” Her words inspired me enough to gather my close friends in Bengaluru and get started!
On Sunday morning, we took off in two cars and a Bolero with great intentions, not exactly with a strategy though. We pooled in personal money and drove off, not really waiting for donations to come in. I believed that when we go to the scene of disaster personally we can ensure the relief material reaches the people. Brushing aside suggestions to wait and pool in more and then go with bulk, we reached Bengaluru by evening and when we went to buy tarpaulins, candles, matchboxes and other supplies in bulk, we found out that most general stores were out of stock. We were planning to go to Bengaluru, give away the supplies to Chennai and come back the next day but here we heard there was no point going to Chennai or Cuddalore, 175 km away, as there would be no power and hence no relief operations.
Initially, my friend Sunita’s husband had told us that things are in a sorry state in Cuddalore and that they needed help. Soon enough, relief workers reached there and there was a surplus. We had to change plan as actor Siddharth who was the hub of information, told us Chennai needs help. This time around, we reached Chennai in a truck that we hired on the way and reached by Tuesday morning at about 7 am.
On the way, we halted at Chittor to buy some essentials including tarpaulin, ropes and medicines. We decided not to buy food for it was available in plenty already in the flood-affected regions. The biggest problem was communication. We could not travel and neither could we get in touch with people in far off places. Soon enough we could get in touch with a group of volunteers and decided to land at Lady Andal School in Nadigar Sangham where we distributed medicines. We then came back to Tiruvottiyur and distributed medicines to as many as 150 families. We realised that people need ORS, not Electral as the latter needed water, which was in shortsupply.
Meanwhile, my mother met a few volunteers who teamed up with us and helped us do our task better. Like a kahani mein twist, the truck driver was tired and suddenly said enough was enough and he wanted to leave. He unloaded the stock and left. We were felt stranded on the road. Not losing hope, we got around volunteers to help us distribute it. We did not have any information about the number of people or the suburbs. Then came the ‘happy realisation’ to us. We understood it has to be done by us personally. We left for Tambaram and got the job done in just two settlements. Little items like matchboxes, candles, toothbrushes etc felt like very needy items.
There were also rumours that political parties were insisting that they get all the good name and hence were not allowing relief workers to pass on the material without branding. We dealt with so much in so little time.
On Wednesday, we reached Manimangalam (Mudichur) and managed to give all that we bought and drove out of Chennai towards Bengaluru.
Three lessons I learnt from these relief operations: 1) Doing it personally for best results 2) Be flexible as plans change 3) Don’t try this without family support.