An adventure and a half

A severe weather system was headed towards Karachi from Mumbai after having wreaked havoc there.We were told to expect heavy rains, thunderstorms, lightening and flooding for the next few days starting late afternoon on Thursday. I came into work yesterday morning fully prepared. In case the report was true (I am usually skeptical of weather reports) and I was stuck, I was not going to be caught off guard again like last time.

So I carefully packed pyjamas, two change of outfits, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste, my medicines, my steam press – everything I would need if I had to stay over at The Nest I/O.

I had a quilt and pillow already that my colleague Hamna had dropped off when I was stuck at the office the previous week. That would indeed come in handy. I also brought Jenga back to the offiece. It is always a fun pursuit when you have time to kill.

We already had other Board games like Sequence, Scrabble and Monopoly; we have a table tennis table … and last but not least a 65″ Samsung Ccurve TV to watch movies on. What more would one need? As far as I was concerned, I was set!

So when it started to rain in the afternoon, I was not worried. I continued to work, moderated a 1 hour 45 minute Zoom session on E-commerce and Changing Consumer Preferences for The Nest I/O Startup Pulsse and after that was over, I played some table tennis.

There were 6 or 7 of us left in the office and at around 8 pm we looked outside the window to decide whether we should venture home or stay put. It appeared to be drizzling. I called home to ask what the situation was on that side of town and was told by the housekeeper that although there was a bit of rain, it was nothing like last time.

Satisfied I packed up my laptop and all of us decided to head home. I had barely left the building when I realized that I had made a mistake. The sky had suddenly opened up and the rain was pouring down like crazy. The visibility was almost non-existent. Conflicting thoughts were going through my mind – should I continue my journey home? Maybe this would not last. Turning around might be more complicated. But what if it didn’t stop? What if it got worse? While all these thoughts crossed my mind, I kept driving – slowly but surely – until the option of returning to the office was no longer viable.

Hence I decided to continue my adventure and drive on. BIG MISTAKE. There was lots of water everywhere and there was no way to escape driving through it. I was very careful but at multiple places i felt the car was literally floating. At certain spots I could even hear it gurgling. That is when I started to wonder what i would do if the car halted. Each area I passed I told myself that if I was stuck there, I would call this Nestling to come and help because he lives nearby or call that other one who lives in that area that I was now in. So little by little I moved forward and was fortunately finally able to get home – stressed but safe. It was an adventure I could have done without. I guess my mistake was leaving the office in the first place.

I don’t know why this city and its leadership cannot get its act together – to deal with the drains, the garbage, the electricity. Each year we go through this and each year we forget. Who do we hold responsible? I don’t even have the energy to think about it.

Today it poured again and I am not even thinking of attempting to go home. I brought everything I need with me and I am going to camp out here tonight. It is a comfortable and safe space and there won’t be any risk of getting stranded somewhere on the road.