TWTW — The Flooded Weeks That Were #3 #4 August

Enfa Rose George
Sep 8, 2018 · 9 min read

I came back from TKMCE to a flooded Aluva. The guests were distressed about their flight and me just the train. I think none of us expected the rains to go that bad. Trains slow every season, flights are delayed every rainy season, nobody expected the large death tolls and homes lost.

Being lost for weeks.

It has come to my notice quite a lot of people read the TWTW, some to just be in loop, some for reasons that aren’t so good. But then there is this small audience who thinks I am on the right path and uses it as a map of some sort. I always write the bright and shiny days on the TWTW, but not the low days. It is often very difficult to see what goes in people’s minds and lives for real.

I got lost, badly. To be honest, TEDx broke me. TEDx is all about sharing our stories to inspire. And suddenly, there I was, a whole day devoted to writing my speech out but ended up just thinking about life. PEHIA is more or less an unplanned pregnancy and since the inception of PEHIA, I really haven’t looked much as to where I am going. Sure there were goals, but there were all the best I can do then. But I never thought of my life from a larger view. I guess I knew what I wanted from life till Chavara happened. Life went for a twirl then and I never looked back. I took whatever came in front of me, made the best of it I guess. I stopped reading novels. I stopped reading research papers. I stopped writing stories. I stopped thinking, music blared through my ears always. I guess I was running away from something. I really don’t know what.

And I was down, for weeks. It started about the time floods came, reached it’s peak last Friday and its receding now. For the past few weeks, I choose to not interact with anyone. I couldn’t work. I found everyday tasks daunting. I have a huge list of things I am lagging on.

There was much work to do, and productivity was so low that I was taking quite a lot of time. Work kept loading in. Hence I couldn’t contribute much to Flood Relief activities but here is the bit I did and observed.

Mufida called me the second day of the floods with a shortage of volunteers at Poly camp, and the need for resources.

Polytechnic College CAMP, Kalammasery

It was the second day and there were too many volunteers when I reached the camp. Each of them, leaders. For the first time, I wished there were lesser leaders and more followers. Everyone wants to guide and take decisions. No one wants to do the groundwork. I slipped into a follower mode.

A lot of people were taking surveys of needs, but no one was actually providing the materials. Hence me, Sreepriya Radhakrishnan and Mufeeda CK decided to go take care of the needs of one single hall.

Human nature they say.

I have never been to a relief camp before. So many people, so many kids, sitting on the floor, hopeless and lost. We collected the needs and came back to distribute. It’s true that they say that it is in the worst of times people show their real behavior. In that hall, I learned how different want and needs are. Want is something you wish you had, Need is a must have. While some people hoarded their supplies, keeping it away from someone who needs, there were poor souls who shared the little they had. While a family of three was asking for more and more space and resources, a family of 8 was happy in a space only two could sit comfortably. While a grandpa realized that his killing back pain can wait and kept quiet about it till all the babies were taken care of, some pushed and pulled the volunteers with their wants. When he finally got his painkiller, that smile was a killer one. I wish I could paint that out somehow. While some families bickered for being seated next to a north Indian family ( yay, yay, racism. Bengalies huh?), a grandma who was at the camp all by herself, called us to tell that that family haven’t gotten any food yet and that they were still in the clothes they came in. It was little things like these that taught us a lot about human nature. Sreepriya Radhakrishnan, Mufeeda CK, and Muhammed Shibin went on to take care of the camp and lead the relief efforts there. So damn proud of you, guys!!!

The goodness that revealed itself in times of pain.

I personally did not have the funds to help the camp. But then is it not “Ask and you shall receive”. I was well aware with the power of crowdfunding through Arya’s TEDx talk. I made my upi id public and did the only thing I could do — ask. Contributions came in flying like you will never believe. From 50 rupees contribution to tens of thousands. People gave in all they can. I remembered then how I read somewhere that ‘ the default state of a person is happiness, kindness, positivity and good vibes. It’s the pain of the world that turns a person into an animal ze later turns to be- selfish, hopeless and mean.’ But in times of need, each person showed hir true color.

I remember how an auto driver going in the opposite direction to mine, picked me, traveled at least half an hour, a lot through a bit flooded roads, and yet charging none. ‘My share’ he says.

How the wasted generation saved the land

My generation is often called cultureless, senseless, phone and social media addicts, selfish, not committed to nature and nation and what not. But the floods told a different story.

Kochi at least saw a huge rise of youth power. While the elders contributed through money, the youth was on the ground, doing the work. While our panchayat leaders were silent, the best of youth lead the initiatives. I have never been prouder of my generation.

A FAILED EXPERIMENT WITH Inventory Management

The situation at camps on day three was very different from Day one. Stocks were extra. Food was being wasted and a months stock or more found in camps like POLY. Hence with Arya and a few good friends from Appmaker.xyz me and Výshnavý OA sat down to plan a small inventory management system. Unfortunately, due to the chaos of the situation, the camp refused to take up the digital path.

A few lessons I learned through the process.

1. The customer is always lazy. No matter how awesome products and services are, if people feel like it’s a bit of work, the probability of the product being used goes down. The easier or more natural, the better.

2. It is extremely important that the normal audience are technically aware, maybe not the working of GPUs but definitely how Microsoft Office, Google Apps like Maps and Sheets work. Educating them in a time of crisis is a failed effort.

3. Customers would almost always be scared to leave traditional well set practices and try something new.

4. It's better to put a heavy effort in the beginning than to keep dragging a huge load

But it was a valuable learning experience.

Visiting camps, collecting hope.

The second and third days were then spend on ensuring various camps meet their needs. While Samir Dayal Singh and a few others worked on the reallocation of resources, a few friends of mine and I were going to various camps and taking orders for what is to be bought. I believe its combined efforts from both ends by many like us that there was no serious dearth of anything much in any camps. Samir also worked on to build the system of reallocation of resources and similar relief efforts, well, that I personally think someone should do a real study of his model.

The Refugee List

The rescue efforts near Kochi were simmering down. People were starting to look for their loved ones now. But it was when one of my friends called to check for his friend that I realized in a city where there are over 400 camps, how do you find a person? When Myself and Vishnu Ashok saw that there is enough of volunteers at the poly camp, that we decided to start doing our bit of making this list. The idea was to have a single Google spreadsheet that people can search, contribute and contact.

Our day was then devoted to this, talking it out with the incharges as to why we were doing this, convincing it was for the better good, and taking photos of the written sheets. ( Had they been more familiar with the use of sheets and forms, a simple google form would have done the work way easier for them. No one thinks of this in a time of crisis unless technology is their default choice in everyday life.) With an amazing group of volunteers from PEHIA Foundation, we were able to up a partial list that night itself. Data collected after the date was passed to concerned authorities.

Sheets send by volunteers of Pehia Foundation after a real day work of Data Entry.

You can view the sheet here.

Some voices and calls to haunt

Nobody has slept through the nights of floods. A lot of people for various reasons. The first few days, it was all about connecting volunteers and resources from throughout Kochi, making groups, creating forms and connecting resources. The phone kept ringing, calls from people who I have no clue who, asking questions or giving information. Somewhere along the night exhaustion took over me. I woke up to a mini control room with signboards, scribbled whiteboards and stick pads.

But the calls after the form was published was painful. Calls came in randomly, every voice ringing of fear and pain, yet mingled with hope. The questions weren’t is Mr. X on the list. It was mostly, “Can you tell me where my mom is?’ I know I could just send the sheet, but that wouldn’t be a response they could deal with. Every call I sat with my hands on the keyboard. The happiness when a name is found is massive. But I did not know how to handle when I couldn’t.

A Final Note

To the few who look at this as some sort of map, at times you are lost and I know being lost isn’t easy. But it happens and that’s alright.What I want to say, is that it’s okay. It’s okay not to be productive 100% all the time. No one is happy all the time. It’s okay to hit some lows at times. Mourn, cry, sleep through it, write through it, binge watch through it, whatever helps. Make sure you don’t stay there though. Don’t fall off into depression. Just ensure you get over it. You have a life to live.

Bangalore was a much-needed break , I met up with friends, visited some calming places like the beach, forts, palaces and cafes, and I feel better now. Not back on track, but definitely better. Hence boned up the energy to write this blog.

But in case anyone ever needs to talk when they are lost or need, feel free to ping me. I end with a quote.

“Being lost is worth the being found” — Neil Diamond.

Enfa Rose George

Written by

Data Scientist in making | Space Science Enthusiast | Bibliophile | Women in Tech

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