Tough times made easy thanks to helping hands

Nagpur: 60-year-old Prashant Chandrate is used to the sound of gushing waters of Nag river during monsoon. But in the wee hours of Saturday, the river was not its usual quite self. Chandrates home in Shankar Nagar, next to the river, right behind Wockhardt Hospital, started resonating with a sound which the Nag river rarely makes.It was 4.30am and the scary sound woke me up. I stepped on to the balcony and saw that the river was now full to the brim, said Chandrate.In the next 45 minutes, water breached the retaining walls, moved parked cars and gushed into all houses in Chandrates lane. In 15 minutes, the water level rose from just ankle high to over our waist, he recalls. The entire family shifted to the first floor and Chandrate started calling his neighbours to alert them.As the water made its way to more houses, it became clear that things were going to get worse. We focussed on houses with elderly people and started planning how to move them to safer ground. With the water level rising fast, we were basically thinking on the go, said Chandrate.The neighbours, in touch through phones and visual contact from the balconies, made sure that everyone was accounted for. The authorities were alerted, who started updating the residents about the rescue operations.Young Tejas Keche and his friends started moving into houses where help was required, either to shift people or clear any blockage. The water flow was tremendous, so going along the road was impossible, hence we hopped from one courtyard to the other, holding on to the walls. Once all people were moved to the first floors, or their neighbours place, we started coordinating to clear blockages which were diverting the water inside homes, said Keche.One lane behind, 30-year-old Saurabh Mitkari was jolted out of his sleep after water drenched his mattress. Since we live on the ground floor, neighbours took us to their first-floor residence, said Mitkari. Soon, Mitkari and over 12 others hit the streets and started helping those in need. We rushed to houses where senior citizens were living alone. A car came flowing with the water and blocked the road and everyone helped to ensure that such impediments were cleared, he added.The water level subsided around 10am and thats when citizens started their post-flooding operations.Milind Shirpurkar, another local, said, We went to the lane that was the worst hit and saw that debris and muck had entered houses. Many cots and furniture were drenched in the stinking water. Without even thinking twice, people started the process of cleaning the houses of others.Tea, snacks and food kept pouring in thanks to faceless Samaritans. Shirpurkar said: People kept coming in with food parcels, ensuring that no one stayed hungry.The water receded after around five hours. For the first hour we were on our own as it was not possible for outside help to arrive. Thats when Shankar Nagar residents came together and helped others, Mitkari said.Shankar Nagar does have this camaraderie, so it was not surprising that everyone lent a hand. Its the spirit of Nagpur in the end which saw us through the difficult few hours, Shirpurkar said.