Generators run dry in shops, but people’s generosity in abundance

“There has been no power supply in many areas for over 48 hours, and we ran our shop on diesel-fired generators. We tried our best to keep the shops open for as long as possible, but when ran out of diesel stock, we had to shut down,” said the Marimuthu, security guard of an outlet in Kottur, even as crowds gathered, clamouring for all kinds of essentials such as candles and batteries for torches. Even as the city’s officials and politicians were hard pressed to address the calamity in quick time, many local residents sprang into action.

Displaced from their tenements, a number of young men took on the job of regulating vehicular traffic on flooded roads where hidden obstacles posed a threat as Chennaiites came out for their regular chores on Thursday. Dressed in lungis and possessed with nothing more than a pair of legs and a strong sense of geography, young men handled traffic flow in Sardar Patel Road, Adyar, Kotturpuram, Aditanar Salai and elsewhere. “One man on Aditanar Salai was perched on a garbage can and directing us away from a pothole that one would have seen only at the last minute. I can never thank him enough,” said Rajan, a resident of Chetpet.

Their own houses were marooned in water, but a number of maids such as Shanti, turned up for work at the house of Padmini, in Nandanam where she works as a cook. Many personal drivers likewise turned up for work, much to the relief of many office-goers. 

The city found respite from pounding rains only well into the morning hours of Thursday, by which time thousands of people in areas such as Mudichur, Sholingur, Saidapet, Kotturpuram , T Nagar and elsewhere had been displaced from their homes. Rescue and relief efforts were always a couple of steps behind what was required, but Chennaiites did not complain, They simply got down to work.