Archive for November, 2012

“We saw Hudson sweeping through our neighbourhood from our 26th floor window” – Sunayana Sarkar

Posted: November 16, 2012 in sandy, survival, Women
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The Marina behind Sunayana’s apartment building

Sunayana Sarkar my bestie from South Point school, a resident of Jersey City, pens down her Sandy experience for my blog. Here’s her account:

Initially we had perhaps underestimated Sandy, after a much mellowed Irene in 2011.  What happened next was quite unimaginable for many of us. Living on the 26th floor, we felt safe… as long as the glass windows didn’t break. I had the diaper bag packed, in case we were asked to evacuate the building. We watched the storm rage through and Hudson rising and sweeping through our neighborhood from our window.  It was apparent the damages were severe.  

“My husband climbed down and up 26 floors”
 We had prepared well with food, water and flashlights so survived the power and water outages – off-again and on-again for the whole week.  We felt trapped at home, as the elevators were not working. My husband Pradeep had to take the stairs down and up to 26 floors, when he went out 2 days after the storm. My daughter Zaara was driving us up the wall asking to go to the park. Thankfully we have wonderful neighbors and had an impromptu chai-pakora to relive some of the memories of Indian monsoon.   

The road in front of her building

“Driving was impossible without traffic lights”
Pradeep’s dental office (he is a dentist) was closed for a week with no power.  And even if it was open, I don’t know how he would have gone with no traffic lights working and no gas in the car.  Filling up gas was a nightmare. People were waiting for hours at the gas stations, only to be told that gas is over, when their turn came.  NJ has instituted the odd-even gas days to ration the gas which has made it a little bit easier and worse at the same time. 

“We are still struggling to commute to New York City”
Transportation has been hit very hard in NJ. Almost all train lines were paralyzed for a week and bus services were limited. It was unnerving for me, as I was flying out on a business trip. Zaara’s nanny didn’t have power for one week, but she was kind enough to bear two hours commute and come on duty, so I could leave for the trip.  Thankfully power in her home was also restored after seven days and the train service has also resumed for our nanny’s commute.  

We are still struggling to commute from NJ waterfront to NYC, as PATH trains are partially working.  It seems like it’s going to take a while for PATH trains to resume normal schedule.  The ferry service is another option for the weekdays, but an expensive one. 

Sunayana and Pradeep on a ferry on the Hudson. I took this snap on our holiday in the US in 2009

“I love the spirit of NYC”

Personally, we were extremely lucky and blessed that our worst experience was limited to no power and water for a few days. The devastation of Sandy in many areas of NY-NJ is unfathomable. Some areas of Staten Island have been wiped off.  But NYC is resilient and we are getting back on our feet as quickly as we can.  Almost everyone I know is helping another affected by the storm in one way or another. NYC marathon was cancelled and it was heart warming to see the marathoners, who had travelled from all over the world, lend a hand in cleaning up Staten Island. People have opened their doors for friends and acquaintances without power and water to stay, shower or even have a hot meal. In times like these, I realize more why I love NYC and its human spirit. At the end of the day, if you think about it the basic necessities have been restored much quicker compared to the intensity of the damages. If it was not a developed country, with all its infrastructure and resources, the toll of human lives would have been much higher.  So we have a lot to be thankful for.  

“Because of my water-logging experience in Kolkata I could deal with Sandy better” – Indrani Das

Posted: November 11, 2012 in sandy, survival, Women
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“Because of my water-logging experience in Kolkata I could deal with Sandy better” – Indrani Das.

“Because of my water-logging experience in Kolkata I could deal with Sandy better” – Indrani Das

Posted: November 11, 2012 in sandy, survival, Women
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The view from Indrani’s home

Indrani Das (Moomoo) and I have been friends for 30 years. In our childhood we started off as swimming pals at Anderson Club in Kolkata then despite being in different places most of our lives we continued being such great friends that even today we are constantly sharing our lives over phone, internet or on our holidays.

In 2009 I visited Indrani’s lovely home in Jersey City on the banks of the Hudson. The view from her patio, that overlooks the river, is to die for. When Sandy struck all I was thinking of was her terrace, the huge glass doors and windows of her house and her dangerous proximity to the river. I couldn’t get through to her over phone for days. When I finally did, Indrani was kind enough to take out time from the chaos that’s ruling her life at the moment, and write down her account of surviving Sandy for this blog.

Indrani says:

In August 2011 we had our brush with Irene. Our residential area which is located in Jersey City downtown next to the Hudson River was declared as a flood zone. We have a small patio and the building management had asked us to take every outdoor furniture and storage units off the terrace. It was hard to squeeze in all the bulky furniture in our 2-bedroom condominium. We have French windows in our living room as well as the bedrooms and we ended up putting scotch tapes across those in an attempt to restrict them from cracking if the winds were strong enough. We stocked up on food and drinking water and kept the flashlights and candles handy. We even filled up the bathtubs with water. Thanks to our experience from water logging in Kolkata we know when stored water comes in handy at such times. In fact, since I have grown up in Kolkata dealing with power cut, water logging and water shortage I think I panicked less about a storm hitting us. Irene ended up being a category one thunderstorm but unfortunately Sandy didn’t. 

The same view during Sandy

“During Sandy lower floors of our building were evacuated”

We took the same precautions that we took for Irene. Thirty-feet-high water was predicted in our area. They announced in our building, for those who lived on 1st and 2nd floor (that would be ground and 1st floor), should evacuate. We just cleared the mark as we were on the 3rd floor so we decided to stay back. The entire weekend we were all over the neighborhood buying crates of bottled water, canned food, cereal etc and braced ourselves for the storm as we went into Monday.  

Monday, October 29th   

“The lull before the storm”  

My husband and I worked from home. Our daughter’s school was off. It rained off and on all morning and the sky was overcast and there was no wind. A typical lull before the storm prevailed till about 3 pm and the drizzle turned into rain. Around 5 pm the winds were getting stronger and it was pouring heavily. About 7 pm when we looked out of the windows there was ankle-deep flooding on the streets. By 9 pm the cars parked on the streets were bobbing up and down! The Hudson River rose during the high tide flooding our neighborhood completely. We lost power the same night but we ran all night on generators and we were told to cut down the usage of lights and other electronic devices as much as we good.

Tuesday, October 30th

“People on higher floors were trapped”

It apparently looked clear. All the water had receded back in the river and we were told we had power at that time. However when we opened the main door of our home the corridor was pitch dark and none of the elevators were working. One of the transformers had blown up the night before but we were lucky the common area was affected and not our individual homes. We were lucky again being on the lower floors, the outside world was still accessible to us. Those on the higher floors of the building were trapped until the elevators would come back up. We rolled up our pants and waded out of the flooded stairway. One quick peek at the neighborhood store came as a shock to us. All the stuff from the aisles, which must have floated out of their place last night, were scattered in piles on the floor.

My husband’s brother and sis-in-law, who live across the streets had lost power in their building the previous night like us and had no back-up generator. With a 9-month-old and no heat it was not easy for them. They came over to stay with us.

Wednesday, October 31st

“We were huddled together and cooking”

We were doing fine, all huddled together, cooking, with the kids playing and watching TV  and feeling ever so thankful that we were safe in the comfort of our homes with power, gas and water as we watched people’s houses being blown away in various places and pictures of flooded basements and evacuation centers where people were put up, kept coming to the screen. That evening just before dinner we lost water completely. A ton of unwashed utensils had already piled up in the sink and had to be loaded in the dishwasher and cooking more food could be a problem with no water.

Our building management said that there was some plumbing work that was being carried out and we may have no water for a couple of days or more. The same day my brother-in-law’s building restored everything so we all packed and moved to their place. We carried our laptops as we planned to work from home the next 2 days.

Oh yes, it was Halloween and my five-year-old was upset and I explained to her there were kids out there with no food, no home and no electricity and they were not complaining. She seemed to understand and ate up her dinner quicker than she usually does.

Indrani with daughter Aparajita on their terrace. I took this photograph on my visit in 2009.

 “It took me two hours to reach my office in the ferry”

Commute to work was really messed up this whole week. We are heavily dependent on the train and due to the flooding of the train stations they are not in service so I attempted to take the ferry on Monday, Nov 5th and gave up after an hour long wait in the cold since people thronged it as no other modes of transportation were available.

Tuesday, Nov 6th I braved the ferry but the commute was not easy at all. It took me about two hours each way.

Wednesday, Nov 7th partial service was restored to the trains and I almost passed out in the overcrowded compartment.

Thursday, Nov 8th had the first snowstorm of this year, Athena which compelled me to work from home again.

I am in office now and fervently hoping that they are able to restore the PATH train completely soon so that I can have a comfortable commute. I suffer from claustrophobia and it’s nightmarish to be stuck in an overcrowded underground train.

 “The uncertainty about Sandy was nightmarish”

 The most difficult part was to be able to come to terms with the uncertainty. We did not know what to expect and what the impact would be. It was mostly like taking it one day at a time or rather one hour at a time.

 “The shock was like 9/11”

 Well kind of. After the 9/11 attack we remember being at home for straight seven days which was much worse than this. We were newly married, 11 years younger and new to this country so it was a huge shocker.

A relaxing month-long holiday with my two-year old son! What was I thinking?

Posted: November 4, 2012 in holiday, parenting, Women
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A relaxing month-long holiday with my two-year old son! What was I thinking?.

A relaxing month-long holiday with my two-year old son! What was I thinking?

Posted: November 4, 2012 in holiday, parenting, Women
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I was actually fantasizing about my Kolkata holiday this year. Before I boarded the flight to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport I could already smell the chelo kebabs at Peter Cat, hear the Durga Puja drums beating at Maddox Square and thinking of having a ball with my friends and family. And I thought at two and a half my son was finally old enough to savour the sights and sounds of my lovely city.

The flight went great

The last few times we have been to Kolkata with my son the trouble started on the flight itself. Either he bawled his head off all through, didn’t sleep through the night flight and stayed cranky or insisted on walking down the aisle constantly. Even before touchdown in Kolkata we were drained out. But this time we had our ammunition ready: a set of plastic zoo animals that we gave him the moment he started getting jittery. That took care of the four and a half hours from Dubai to Kolkata. An added bonus: he liked the steaming pasta served in the kids’ meal, liked his seat belt, liked the cartoon and even slept.

He loved Kolkata

He loved being scooped up into the arms of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law at the gates of the airport, loved being showered with all the attention and toys the moment he reached home and bonded with grandpa and grandma so well that he declared on the very first day, “I am staying in Kolkata. I don’t want to go to Dubai.”

Thanks to the hardy inverter my son even slept through the four hours of power cut in Barrackpore (a bustling town on the outskirts of Kolkata where my husband’s family live). My husband and I were pleased and crossed our fingers hoping for a hitch-free Puja in Kolkata.

The doc experience

Three days later we moved to my parents place in Kolkata and that very night my son came down with fever. I started giving him a medicine prescribed by his doctor in Dubai and the very next day the fever was gone although I could feel he was getting a cough. We thought it best to see a doctor. We saw one of the best pediatricians in Kolkata. He prescribed medicines for dry cough and if it turned wet we would have to switch to another medicine that he wrote down. Three days passed with my hubby and I constantly trying to judge our son’s cough and failing miserably most of the time. Every time he coughed our ears were at attention and then we ended up arguing over the type of cough. We couldn’t get to the wet-dry conclusion but one thing was for sure it was consistently getting worse till he started coughing and vomiting phlegm in the night. We rushed to the doc again. We somehow felt my son was having some kind of allergy from dust and pollution but the doc was more intent to know if the cough was dry or wet. Sigh!

New set of medicines were prescribed but needless to say it wasn’t working that well because for the fifth consecutive night my son was coughing and vomiting. We had a family trip scheduled for Mandarmoni, a beach resort four hours away from Kolkata. Now we weren’t sure if we wanted to go. We switched doctors. The pediatrician in Barrackpore prescribed different medicines and asked us to go ahead with the trip. He assured us he would get better by the sea. “Just switch off the fan early in the morning. The weather is changing,” he advised. I gasped. “My son can’t sleep without the air conditioner,” I blurted out. The doc was angry but he refrained from being rude. I could understand his disgust. I explained to him we live in Dubai. But that did not cut much ice. I couldn’t blame him. When my friends came to Kolkata after a year in the US and always covered their nose and drank mineral water I looked at them with disdain. Now I know. I can’t blame my poor son. He is born in Dubai where air-conditioning rules. He is used to this environment. Not the best I know, but if you are living in the desert you don’t have much choice.

“You have to get him out of this a/c habit if he has to go to school,” said my brother-in-law, who had dutifully accompanied us to the early morning doc appointment. I said apologetically, “In Dubai schools are air-conditioned, even groceries and bus stops are. When we return to Kolkata for good we will ease him into the weather here. Till then let him have his air-conditioner at least during sleep.”

Mandarmani trip

Thanks to the new doc he did get better. But in the hotel in Mandarmani where we were paying through our nose for the rooms we were faced with a new predicament. The hotel failed to provide simple overdone rice and dal that my son could have. The rice was hard like pebble and chillies were swimming in the dal. My son survived on Cerelac and formula for two and a half days.

By now feeding him and administering medicines had become quite a nightmare and he expressed his discomfort by being overtly naughty. I was so engrossed with him I just failed to notice the lovely sea and failed to get involved in the family fun. I only saw the layer of dust in the bed frame that my son dug his nails into, the mosquitoes in the room that made me apply anti-mosquito wipes constantly. I was actually carrying those from Dubai. Because of the dengue scare Kolkata was out of stock on anti-mosquito cream Odomos. I thought I was being a hypochondriac in this regard but I realised my fellow Kolkatans were far more scared than me. My sis-in-law wasn’t stepping out without anti-mosquito cream in the day time (because dengue mosquitoes strike in the day) and all my friends applied the same on their children when they went to school. But Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was still blaming her detractors for fuelling rumours of dengue death which were actually heart attacks she claimed. Gosh!

At last Mocambo

Back in Kolkata from Mandarmani by son had now taken to ransacking the kitchen cabinets, the book cabinets, the dressing table, the dining table and both my husband and I were tired averting the disasters. My Peter Cat dreams had almost died by then. Just then a friend asked us to meet them at Mocambo, our other favourite on Park Street.  My husband pointed out if we were staying at home we were doing the same thing, keeping hawk eyes on our son and keeping up with his tantrums. “In Mocambo at least we will have chicken tetrazzini to look forward to,” he reasoned. I thought, “What the hell? My holiday is almost gone and all I am feeling is worried and fatigued. I want my tetrazzini now.”

Hadn’t it been for this very kind lady at the next table, who kept talking to my son, while I dug into my food and the very sweet waiters who kept him company we probably wouldn’t have known how the tetrazzini tasted. Of course dinner was intercepted by trips to the balloon seller on Park Street and bouts of coughing but still for the first time on our holiday we managed to relax the muscles on our shoulders a wee bit.

Then came Puja

Puja came and it was my best friend’s birthday too. He decided to celebrate it at Anderson Club, the club that I have been frequenting since age three. There was plenty of green grass to run around and fresh air too, I thought my son would enjoy. Once inside I came to know the party was at the bar where children were not allowed. Since my husband was on urgent family duty, my mom was keeping my son company but could I leave the running around on a 75-year-old lady and enjoy pepper chicken and coke? Eventually I was at the lawn and my coke went hot on the bar table. Then disaster struck! My son threw the toy plane he was carrying with him into the fountain. There was no stopping the howling. My friend very kindly dropped us home immediately.

Finally some fun

But still I was determined not to let the last few days of my holiday slip away just like that. Thanks to a friend and her husband and their two sons who bonded with my mine, we did go to Maddox Square, had some amazing Mughlai and Chinese food. We also devoured some excellent food cooked by my aunt-in-law when she kept my son engaged showing him all the cats in the backyard of her house. We managed to have some fun at my cousin’s place too or on a coffee date with an old friend.

But the only day when I had some unadulterated fun was on Nabami when I met all my school friends. My hands-on-husband was at home with my son. That was the only time I was not trying to judge my son’s cough, I was not thinking of what he would eat for lunch, when he should sleep and if I had remembered to give him his medicine. It was the only three and a half hours in a span of one month when I truly relaxed.

When I was telling my holiday woes to a friend she said, “What were you thinking? Full-time moms of two-year-olds have no holidays. You just have to make the best of the opportunities you get.”

I think I did. And I am also grateful to God that I boarded the flight back to Dubai with a fully-recovered two and a half -year-old. Phew!