Sep 7, the valley of Kashmir witnessed worst ever floods in some 70 years. Human lives lost, loss to thousands of crore of immovable property, agriculture and almost all other economy drivers. The capital city Srinagar, they say has gone a good 10-15 years back.
The floods have affected almost every person in the City, directly or indirectly. Loss to lives and property is one but more than that it has created a mental block among all. No wonder, days after life is starting to come to normal, people are seen in prayers, asking for forgiveness. The floods indeed have hit the life in the Valley hard.
As one walks through the lanes of Srinagar where the floods proved to be most furious one can smell stink, lanes buried in laying of mud, greasy cars, dusty shop shutters, shopkeepers cleaning their shops of the dirt and purid water. People are seen emptying their houses. Mattresses, furniture, utensils, there is no household item which hasn’t been drenched in the stinky water.
Those who lost their lives are being mourned and the ones that have survived the destructive floods and wiped out the city in a nights time have appalling and ghastly stories to tell.
Qamar, a retired government official, having shifted from his native village in Sopian to the posh colony of Rajbagh in Srinagar is already thinking over his decision to move to his native village in Shopian. He with his wife had to spend the night of Sep 7 along with their domestic worker in the attic of his 3- storied house. ‘’The water gushed in no time. It was coming at lightning speed and we had no chance to vacate. We didn’t even know if our neighbours are alive or not for 4 days. There was no contact with anyone at all.’’ This winter, Qamar won’t be staying in Srinagar and will shift to the Jammu, winter capital of the state to live in a rented house. His ground which also has a Hamam in it isn’t in the shape to survive the harsh winters that the Valley sees for the old couple.
Ismail is a resident of Jawahar Nagar which was under 11 ft of water for good two days. He works with the civil secretariat and had a house in Jammu too where secretariat shifts for the 6- month winter session. Ismail has lost his both the houses in Jawahar Nagar and in Balicharaan, along river Tawi in Jammu to floods. All one can see on Ismail and his family of four is tragedy. He is hopeful that his family survived though. They had been taken out by the local young volunteers just before the waters started gushing through Jawahar Nagar making its way through anything and everything that came before it.
As you drive through the Srinagar city, one can actually lose the track of the locations. Such has been the fury of the floods. It looks like a war ravaged city left to ruins. There are areas, still, left out of bound.
At the relief camps that are being run by volunteers from different fields of life one can see an after war like situation. There are grim faces trying to look for comfort, trying to overcome what they have been through. People once living inside closed doors are now living in open, roadside tents. “Government after providing us with tents and food for some days have left us to our own.” says a lady who is cooking on a makeshift choolah alongside the footpath. They wait for local volunteers who drop food at the tents. But there is hope though and that is what drives the people to rise and move along with the life as they are trying to leave what came upon them behind.
Let’s ask for the forgiveness of our sins and sense to treat the nature well. Let’s promise no encroachments of wet lands and a better world for those who have nothing to do with what we are doing with our environment. All those we lost in the floods, may RIP.
