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"Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all. How do we define this lively darting about with words, of hitting them back and forth, this sort of brief smile of ideas which should be conversation?" Guy de Maupassant

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Mumbai Rains

A picture named Mumbairain5.jpgBombay is in such a mess due to the heavy rains it experienced yesterday - recorded at 896 mm in Santacruz and 57.1 mm in Colaba in 24 hours. A record for both ends of the city. And the highest ever in India.

Landslides have been reported across the state of Maharashtra and more than 50 people reported dead already and hundreds trapped. Armed forces have been called in to help. The state government has declared a public holiday today. And it's not going away quickly - heavy rains are predicted in the next 48 hours. Schools have been asked to shut down for the next two days.

We had no electricity from 3 pm yesterday until after midnight. Many areas are still in the dark. No cell phone coverage, though SMS seems to go through. No TV, no cable, no internet. Roads are submerged in water. It took my husband over 8 hours getting home last night, 8 hours to cover a distance of no more than 10 kms.

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This is a picture from my window at home.

All flights have been cancelled to and from the city - runways are waterlogged. I am told that I maynot be able to fly to San Jose for BlogHer tomorrow night even. Due to heavy backlogs from the last two days. Am keeping my fingers crossed that I can board that plane, and that it takes off.

Am on the slowest of dial-up connections and trying to sneak this blog post through. I wonder if it gets posted.

Everything is really messy here.

This is what it looks like in July 2006!


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