GODS decided to test the people of Mumbai on July 26, 2005. It rained. And rained. And rained. And rained. The paper boats sailed for a while but then sank; limp and joyless. Smiles turned into wonder and wonder into horror as water refused to cease. And, in fact, kept rising.
In the jhuggis, it reached the ankles and so families folded their legs and sat huddled on the only bed in the house. It came up higher and the mattresses started floating in water. People stood up, cursing, petrified and then finally were pulled out by neighbours and taken to neighbourhood buildings, attics, higher floors.
In the apartments, one stood in the balcony and watched the cars disappear under muddy brown water, Planks of wood, leaves, plastic bags floated and stopped once in a while, stuck to a pole or two. “All’s well”, said nervous neighbours to each other through bravado and forced smiles. They decided not to think of their Honda Citys and the Astras and the jumble Marutis. The phones had stopped working long ago. One waited and waited. It was an eerie feeling. Homes surrounded by unrelenting, unmoving water. Marooned in the house, right in the middle of Mumbai.
Recorded as the heaviest in India and one of the heaviest in the world, the 90 inches of rains in six days brought with them devastation. Having measured up to 94.4 cm in one day in some areas, they left about half a million people homeless. The waters shut down the city which otherwise never stands still. The airport were closed and thousands of people were forced to walk home in chest-deep water all through the night. More than 150,000 people sere stranded in local railway stations. The country’s finance capital lost about $150m.
After a harrowing time, water receeded. One sighed with relief and got on with life. Electricity blinked back slowly and gradually. TVs started humming again. Computers let us be in touch with the world. “Phew! What was that?” we asked each other, now smiling real smiles. World was fine again. The only problem was that the maids and the cooks and the drivers had not come in. We chucked in disappointment and then shuddered at the thought: What happened to them? The families, the children, the aged in their homes? Their rations wasted, turned to lumps, the clothes, bags, mattresses….all gone!
Ramee Charitable Trust thought of that too. But instead of sighing and clucking in despair, it swing into action. Under the watchful but benevolent eye of Sudhanshu Kumar Singh, Group GM, Ramee Guestline, Mumbai, the trust began its work, swiftly and efficiently. People’s basic needs had to be taken care of. The chain of hotels distributed rice, daal, oil, sugar, teabags….and for children whose notebooks were wiped clean of the ink and all the work with it, Ramee’s humane concerns made sure that the kids would go to school and pick up from where they had left before the dreadful rains began. There were books, pencils, stationery…all distributed absolutely free of cost.
The Ramee’s Centre in Santacruz, a western suburb in Mumbai, was thronged by thousands of people who came there with tearful eyes and went back with groceries and hopes of rebuilding their lives. If the 29th , 30th and 31st were the days of back-breaking work, very different from the usual, nobody at Ramee complained. It may have cost the Group lakhs of rupees, but it was well worth the effort. And through the rains, Group GM Sudhanshu Kumar Singh smiled. Because hospitality is about people, and life is not only about money.
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