Sorgame yendralum!!

While the storm that is gun control is raging over here,another kind of storm, the literal one is raging back home in Chennai.
Call it global warming or an angrier than usual monsoon, but Chennai is being battered by one storm system after another and she is bent, almost broken after this onslaught. The worst weather in a century has dumped record amounts of rainfall in th city. Almost 41 inches of rain in the month of November, and almost 12 inches just on the first of December alone. Chennai  is home to almost seven million people and frankly is bursting at the seams. Being a Chennaiite, I remember those good old days when it wasn't  as crowded as it is now and was far more open and not so built up either.
As much as urbanization,global warming, lack of infrastructure  and basic facilities can be blamed for this catastrophe, the fact that such rainfall hasn't been seen in a century needs to be considered the main reason for this misery that chennai is being subjected to. Nothing could have forestalled this rainfall could it? And no amount of precaution could have averted this level of destruction.
The city is paralyzed and as much as the government is trying to  aid people in need( which according to some sources,which run a live 24 hour news network,is woefully inadequate, but I didn't see said network bigwigs who have the money,the workforce and the wherewithal to help , do anything other than interviewing people on camera blaming the government for not doing enough, when they could just as easily telecast their party bigwigs standing in knee deep water hauling sandbags, botes in the bank, kaching!! but no...).....that was a long run on sentence, I see....
Anyway I have not been able to contact my parents for the last two days, and my sister who lives in India couldn't either. Landlines and cell phone services are out, electricity has been intentionally cut off and there is no way to contact loved ones even if you live in the same city.
Now is when technology and social media shines!! Twitter and Facebook and whatsapp are helping people keep in touch and reach out to other to help or to ask for help and overall, bringing people together like social media was supposed to. The younger generation is making us proud. I had a friend over here worried about her invalid parents' well being and in just a few minutes we were able to get information across to a bunch of volunteers working near where her parents live so they could check on them, and move them to a safer place if need be. Numbers for emergency services, information regarding road closures,transportation delays, help lines,you name it, social media's got it!
But the actual clean up  hasn't even begun yet. Since there is more rain expected until the weekend we have a few more  nail- biting hours left before people can start picking up the pieces. And the damage isn't going to be minimal. Water seems to have entered into the floor level dwellings most parts of the city and people living in slums and low lying areas have no homes to return to. And even after the waters recede, there is going to so much happening in terms of infectious diseases, vermin, lack of sanitation,and so much more. It is going to be a long while before life goes back to normal , and the uphill grind is going to test everyone. But considering how well private citizens are helping,I am sure Chennai will soon be 'Singara Chennai ' again!