Sunday, December 06, 2015

t has been quite a few days. What started as a "I will pick up those stranded in the rain in my car and drop them off" , 6 days ago when the rains were pelting Chennai and "I will recharge people's phone numbers" became a huge WE, a bigger movement. And I realize what a wonderful city Chennai is. What lovely people we have. And that in the face of adversity we all become the better humans and are happy to help.
Because it is top of mind, I would like to thank Yeskay Durai on Twitter, who I have known only as someone who followed my songs. The past couple of days, he got together volunteers from Bangalore, loaded 20 huge trucks, sent 10 to Cuddalore and 10 to Chennai as of today the 5th December, 2015.
Chennai, the past few days has been about thousands and thousands of people who have silently helped each other. So many from here. So many from outside. Sometimes individually, sometimes in groups. Being a volunteer has been an experience I have loved and would do it again any day, just like the thousands others.
Gitanjali Selva / her dad Mr Bharat Raman lent her Innova to me and this helped our friends go around everywhere from Villivakkam to Saidapet. This car has been a revelation. I have always made fun of this car, but I have newfound love and respect for this vehicle as it continues to run superbly after 3-4 days of driving in anywhere between 1ft-3.5 ft water. I have thanked the car and also prayed for the car when we thought the water on the roads was too high and that it should pull through and she did smile emoticon I louue this car now. And the makers.
Chennai wasn't prepared for such a disaster. I wonder if any city in India is. It city has been truly battered, as are Cuddalore and Pondichery.
Twitter has been a boon. Though the networks were all down, as were power and fuel (for a short while) it was a huge tool to spread, receive and broadcast information. When network was patchy, it was fastest to load tweets. People verifying if claims were correct, calling numbers and posting "Verified" so that volunteers dont waste time.
Social media is not so bad after all. We can use this tool for some incredible work.
Media operating out of Mumbai / Delhi were a disappointment. They were debating a disaster as an issue, until people here made noise. Finally they did realize what was going on and gave airtime to their sleepless, overworked journalists here who finally got some attention for the work they were doing from Chennai.
Workers of the Electricity Board, Police and Sewage - many haven't eaten or had a drink of water, something I realized today when we went to Kotturpuram. The NDRF - What heroes they are. Only boats could ply in areas that were once roads.
I have learned several life lessons. And have an incredible amount of silence within me. I have also been humbled by the amount of trust so many unknown people have in me. I am grateful and am glad that a clean reputation, character does hold one in good stead. I have seriously fought with God in my mind several times that none of these have helped me as to me, those who seemed to have taken short cuts are better off (not that I could be any other way) but yes it makes me feel good.
Finally, I think all of us should have a bag at home with emergency supplies that will keep us in good stead for at least a week in case of an emergency. Another lesson - our vehicles must always be at least 3/4th full with fuel. Several lessons actually. Maybe that would be a separate blog post.
Tomorrow is yet another day and am truly grateful for the graces the Universe has given me and us all.

This tweet by RJ Balaji sums it all up - Cldnt see my city drown,And all
I did was spontaneous n emotional.Bt never expected ths unbelievable trust n love.Thank u.Am truly blessed."
Be kind. And trust in human beings. We are all good. Still smile emoticon

14 comments:

Aksh said...

A big shout out for the tremendous effort by yu Chinmayi... Yu are one of my fav. person and yu ve inspired me... Chennai will be back MORE STRONGER THAN EVER... Proud to be a chennaiite.. Am feeling very bad for not being there to help ppl since am in usa..
Kudos to yu guys really :) Godspeed!

Dr. MCS said...

Great job, Chinmayi & your dedicated band of volunteers...for all that you guys did to my Chennai in the last few days. Continue the good work as always , Nature would Bless You with Abundance in Everything....

Vidya said...

Hats off to you, Chinmayi! You did amazing flood relief work along with RJ Balaji and Actor Siddharth. For me, you guys and the volunteers are the true heroes of Chennai.

Guru said...

Great work by you, Siddharth, RJ Balaji and hundreds of volunteers. My respect to you all have grown manifolds :)

Shri said...

Lovely post! Great job volunteering and coordinating relief efforts, Chinmayi! God's blessings are with you!!!

Shri said...

Fantastic work, Chinmayi volunteering and coordinating relief efforts! God's blessings are sure with you!!!

Dr. MCS said...

As an emergency tool, experts say every one must carry a steel hammer inside the dashboard...first thing to go wrong if you get stuck in floods or an accident is that automatic door locks get jammed. Hammer can be used to break the window glasses...you must also carry a coil of rope in the car for towing purposes.

SRINIVASAN said...

chinmayi,

In our office we had Doctors ( Volunteers) who did helath camp for employees( my office is at spencer palaza).

the important thing was, the Doctors who came( 2 of them) did not have any food since break fast. Our camp was held at 6 pm.

this was becuase, both were doing camps all over city from morning to ensure people take necessary precautions to prevent disease.
Hats off to these people

rengaraj said...

Chinmayi madam,
I don't like the cover pic of yours in twitter(looking battered) and the comment made by that bastard (sorry madam for that expletive) 'murugan'.
What is happening madam?
I might not be of much use, but at least I will keep you and Rahul sir in my prayers...
which I will even otherwise...:)
So, tell me madam, why does my little brother Krishna(the only true one) have such affection for u?
Please be happy in that thought madam.
Kind regards,
Dr Rengaraj Sudarsanam

vidya said...

Dear Chinmayi,
A beautiful persona/soul behind a soulful voice.
You are a source of inspiration to the me. I appreciate your confidence,clarity on life and your horizon of thinking!

Unknown said...

I don't know i can say this here or not, but that song u sung for surya vs surya """"vennellona Mounam""...Oh my god...u had just given life to that song.I cried listening to that songs many times. u r proving that still love exist in the earth with your voice....if i have seen u directly ,i would have touched ur feet like i did for Chitra gaaru..you two are living goddess's ..:)

Unknown said...

Humanity exists, nice to see the world of good people through your eyes. Excellent work

rengaraj said...

Till today I have seen u as my sister with Krishna as my witness. From now on you are my mother, maathe...lead us kindly light....why is ur hair all apart...WHO WANTS TO DIE?

manasa said...

You should really post more!
I have kept coming here for the past 3 months and gone back disappointed!