Amphan life without power internet
Amphan life without power internet
Life without electricity, water, drinking water, voice-data, internet
‘Amphan’, is a name that will be hard for me to erase from my memory ever, unless of course, I do encounter something worse than that. This super cyclone that made its landfall on the 20 th of May, 2020, in our state of West Bengal indeed struck the lives of its citizens. Both the meteorological department and the state government gave warning signals and alerted us. But what we failed to gauge was the intensity at which it was to strike.
I had imagined it to be just another cyclonic storm that would affect the coastal areas the most. I never thought that even the city of Kolkata would be devastated to this extent. As per the instructions my father had already arranged the basic things that we would require for the next one or two days. Among those were candles in large quantities. Even though I did not feel it was such a big thing, my father said we ought to be prepared.
Since the morning of the 20 th , strong winds were blowing and the sky was gloomy. At around 11am, the winds became stronger and the drizzle that had started a few minutes back, turned into big drops of water. By the time it was noon, all I could see outside was heavy rainfall. It was raining cats and dogs. The rain only got worse with time and the trees began bending from side to side. We lost the power. Even though it was daytime, it almost looked like the night.
Now we could no longer keep the windows or doors open and could only hear the howling wind. At intervals we even heard heavy metal things flung from one place to another. We later discovered they were the rooftops. The heavy downpour continued and there was no hope that we would get the electricity back. We guessed the electrical lines must have been ripped off.
Evening came and night followed but the sound of the incessant rain was still loud and clear. The emergency lights fulfilled their responsibility for some time, but deeper into the night they too gave up. Candles were the only source of light available to us. The mobile phones were slowly losing their charge when the laptop and the power bank came in handy. The first night was managed this way. But the cyclone kept on unleashing its power all around. The branches of trees broke and fell making loud sounds.
I was scared as I heard the screams of a few neighbours. I could hear them shouting that the gushing water was flooding their houses. There was no way they could even reach our house to take shelter. I had a sleepless night. The sight next morning was not something that can be described easily. There was only devastation everywhere. The courtyard of my house was filled with branches and leaves and lots of mangoes.
While I was trying to absorb all this destruction, I heard my mother talking to my grandmother that due to the breakdown of the electrical lines everywhere, there would be no water supply anywhere. I was stunned and did not know how to react. Living without electricity is possible but how could people survive without water! The worst part was no one knew how long it was going to take to restore the electrical lines. The wreckage was large scale.
The internet connection had died the night before and there was no way we could contact our near and dear ones. It was a sad state. Though we were safe, we could not find out if our friends and relatives were safe too.
As the rain subsided my father went out with a few neighbours and arranged for drinking water. They came back with the news that there was no way we would get back electricity in a day or two. According to his description, the uprooted trees at several places had blocked the roads.
Even in this age of advanced technology we were helpless. I felt as if I had travelled in a time machine and gone back to the times my grandparents were children. My grand mom used to tell me how they had no electricity and that they knew nothing as telephones or mobile phones. Their forms of entertainment were the outdoor games in the daylight and board games at night. Oil lamps were the only form of light they had and so when bulb lights came into use, she said her eyes used to hurt. Not finding anything to do we sought fun in the game of ludo and carrom board. The chess board was also dusted and put to use. Crayons, paints and drawing papers came out and became our means of recreation. The following next two days there was still no electricity. Spending time during the day was better than the evenings; as the sun set we would feel extremely bored.
Sleeping without the fan was quite challenging. We took turns to fan ourselves with the hand fans. Eventually everyone in the locality was getting impatient. Finally, the mechanics from the local power department arrived. Electricity restored, we all felt relieved.
While they were mending the wires in our locality, a group of people started to gather around them. We soon learnt they were from some other locality waiting to get hold of these department people so that the power in their area could be restored. It was a sad sight to see. People were craving for water and electricity and consequently losing their patience.
The moment our electrical lines were repaired there was jubilation in the neighbourhood. It was as if we got our lives back. We immediately set our phones on charge and started contacting our friends and family to check if they were alright.
These three days were like a nightmare in my life and I pray to God that I may never have to witness something like this ever again.
© Arked
Life without electricity, water, drinking water, voice-data, internet
‘Amphan’, is a name that will be hard for me to erase from my memory ever, unless of course, I do encounter something worse than that. This super cyclone that made its landfall on the 20 th of May, 2020, in our state of West Bengal indeed struck the lives of its citizens. Both the meteorological department and the state government gave warning signals and alerted us. But what we failed to gauge was the intensity at which it was to strike.
I had imagined it to be just another cyclonic storm that would affect the coastal areas the most. I never thought that even the city of Kolkata would be devastated to this extent. As per the instructions my father had already arranged the basic things that we would require for the next one or two days. Among those were candles in large quantities. Even though I did not feel it was such a big thing, my father said we ought to be prepared.
Since the morning of the 20 th , strong winds were blowing and the sky was gloomy. At around 11am, the winds became stronger and the drizzle that had started a few minutes back, turned into big drops of water. By the time it was noon, all I could see outside was heavy rainfall. It was raining cats and dogs. The rain only got worse with time and the trees began bending from side to side. We lost the power. Even though it was daytime, it almost looked like the night.
Now we could no longer keep the windows or doors open and could only hear the howling wind. At intervals we even heard heavy metal things flung from one place to another. We later discovered they were the rooftops. The heavy downpour continued and there was no hope that we would get the electricity back. We guessed the electrical lines must have been ripped off.
Evening came and night followed but the sound of the incessant rain was still loud and clear. The emergency lights fulfilled their responsibility for some time, but deeper into the night they too gave up. Candles were the only source of light available to us. The mobile phones were slowly losing their charge when the laptop and the power bank came in handy. The first night was managed this way. But the cyclone kept on unleashing its power all around. The branches of trees broke and fell making loud sounds.
I was scared as I heard the screams of a few neighbours. I could hear them shouting that the gushing water was flooding their houses. There was no way they could even reach our house to take shelter. I had a sleepless night. The sight next morning was not something that can be described easily. There was only devastation everywhere. The courtyard of my house was filled with branches and leaves and lots of mangoes.
While I was trying to absorb all this destruction, I heard my mother talking to my grandmother that due to the breakdown of the electrical lines everywhere, there would be no water supply anywhere. I was stunned and did not know how to react. Living without electricity is possible but how could people survive without water! The worst part was no one knew how long it was going to take to restore the electrical lines. The wreckage was large scale.
The internet connection had died the night before and there was no way we could contact our near and dear ones. It was a sad state. Though we were safe, we could not find out if our friends and relatives were safe too.
As the rain subsided my father went out with a few neighbours and arranged for drinking water. They came back with the news that there was no way we would get back electricity in a day or two. According to his description, the uprooted trees at several places had blocked the roads.
Even in this age of advanced technology we were helpless. I felt as if I had travelled in a time machine and gone back to the times my grandparents were children. My grand mom used to tell me how they had no electricity and that they knew nothing as telephones or mobile phones. Their forms of entertainment were the outdoor games in the daylight and board games at night. Oil lamps were the only form of light they had and so when bulb lights came into use, she said her eyes used to hurt. Not finding anything to do we sought fun in the game of ludo and carrom board. The chess board was also dusted and put to use. Crayons, paints and drawing papers came out and became our means of recreation. The following next two days there was still no electricity. Spending time during the day was better than the evenings; as the sun set we would feel extremely bored.
Sleeping without the fan was quite challenging. We took turns to fan ourselves with the hand fans. Eventually everyone in the locality was getting impatient. Finally, the mechanics from the local power department arrived. Electricity restored, we all felt relieved.
While they were mending the wires in our locality, a group of people started to gather around them. We soon learnt they were from some other locality waiting to get hold of these department people so that the power in their area could be restored. It was a sad sight to see. People were craving for water and electricity and consequently losing their patience.
The moment our electrical lines were repaired there was jubilation in the neighbourhood. It was as if we got our lives back. We immediately set our phones on charge and started contacting our friends and family to check if they were alright.
These three days were like a nightmare in my life and I pray to God that I may never have to witness something like this ever again.
© Arked