Munnar, Kerala: (Incessant heavy rain over the last two days in Kerala have left 13 dead and has brought the state to a virtual standstill. 29-year-old Sanjith Raju, who works in the HR department of a Munnar-based plantation company, shares his harrowing experience with NDTV.)
It was not the ride I thought it would be.
I was headed to Cochin from Munnar this morning to take care of some business. Accompanying me on this 130-km drive was my wife, Sumam.
It has been raining in Kerala for the past two days. Today was no different. As we tackled the hilly terrain, wipers of my car's windshield turning at full speed, we had to come to a halt about 60 kilometres into the journey.
There was a huge jam on the road. We waited for a while, but the traffic did not clear.
I parked my Wagon R at the side of a tourist bus and told my wife I'll go see what caused the hold up.
To my surprise a landslide had happened due to the rain. JCBs were fast at work trying to open up the road.
I started walking back to my car, thinking we will be stuck here for quite a while.
And then it happened.
I heard a loud noise just above where my car was parked. And the earth started hurtling down from the hill top. It was another landslide and unfortunately, my wife and my car were in its way.
I ran frantically towards my car. To my horror, it was not there. Neither was the tourist bus I had parked it next to. The entire hill had come down and had swept away everything in its way to the very deep gorge on the other side.
With lots of negative thoughts going on in my head, my phone rang. It was my wife. On hearing the loud noise, she had got out of the car and ran to the other side, along with 20-30 other people.
The place where I had parked my car was somewhat of a tourist destination, with a waterfall called Cheeyapara right next to it. The place now did not look like what it used to earlier.
I saw people eating bread-omelette at little shops when I had stepped out of my car. Nobody was there now. A Lot of people may have gone down the side of the hill, including the ones who were in the tourist bus. I am not sure what happened to the bus, or the people inside.
There was just chaos everywhere.
Stuck between two landslides, the first priority now was to ensure my wife gets home safe. I called up my friends back in Munnar and they came and picked her up. I on the other hand, could not be.
Police officials, fire engines and people from the forest department have been working through the day trying to clear roads, look for vehicles and possibly people who have been washed away in the landslide.
Rescue and relief efforts have been difficult due to the on-going rain. Luckily, they were able to retrieve my car. It had been dinged up from all sides, but the engine still fired up.
Three hours after the entire ordeal, I was able to drive back my car to a nearby town called Adimali.
My wife and I were fortunate enough to escape the fury of nature today. It truly has given me a new perspective on life.
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