One fine day
Short story / fiction
Sam sat on the branch of a tree, numb from everything that was happening around him. There was no way the world around him was making any sense. Just a few days ago he was with his girlfriend, sipping 250 rupee coffee at a fancy coffee shop. His life was good, comfortable. He had built himself up for success. Worked hard in school and college, made the right friends and now he was on his way to career success. Early in his life, he realised the value of being in the right groups. Learning the right bollywood songs and the latest dance steps. He loved being in between people — the energy and the excitement of being someone who mattered.
He had carried on that success at work as well. Sales came naturally to him. He instinctively knew the right things to say to the right people. He had even charmed Priya, the biggest prize of them all. Priya had been out of his league, but he had persisted. Even though she seemed immune to his charm, slowly he had gotten to know her. Again, his knack of pressing the right buttons. He knew what excited her and that is what most people care about. He believed that he was not a fake, he genuinely cared.
It was all falling in place. He was going to ask her for marriage. He was sure she would agree. He had also taken the effort to get to know her parents. He had worked through those awkward moments where her father wanted to get rid of him. Yes he was persistent and he adapted. The key to his success has always been the ability to adapt. He knew he would always be fine. Until that day.
It had been raining interminably for a few days. Typical Mumbai monsoon, he would say. Good time to party at home with a bottle of whiskey and a bunch of friends. But then a couple of days ago, the intensity just increased — day and night felt the same. Schools and offices had been called off. A few days to work from home, Sam thought with relief. He had been partying too much and the opportunity to sleep a few days off seemed like the perfect antidote.
Then the power went off in the middle of the night. He woke up and looked out of this apartment. Shit, he thought, the entire neighbourhood had gone dark. Instinctively he looked at his WhatsApp — let’s find out what’s wrong. But there was no network. Damn. Maybe the storm has gotten too wild. He thought of waking up his neighbour but thought against it. Fuck it, he thought. Will figure this out in the morning — let me go back to bed.
He was soon roused by a loud banging noise at his door. It was still dark as he dragged himself out of his bed and opened the door. He could also hear people shouting in the alley. It was his neighbour Dhruv. “Do you know what is happening?” he asked, looking very agitated. “Ah no, why what happened?” “Just look outside of your window” he said, “There was a tsunami last night”. What the fuck. Was he inside a nightmare? Immediately he went to his balcony and suddenly he could see that his building and all the buildings around him were in the sea. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He ran back to Dhruv. “Fuck, you are right. What do we do now?”
“The exit is completely blocked. Water has reached the 2nd floor. We are all meeting downstairs. Come.” he said. Immediately Sam put on a fresh t-shirt and a new set of pants and ran down the steps. There was a loud commotion outside the 2nd floor lobby. “There is nothing we can do right now but wait.” Shrikant was saying. He was the secretary of the building. “Power is out, so are mobile and internet networks. There is nothing to power the routers. I am sure they will bring in the army. We need to survive in the building till then. Make sure you don’t finish all your food — this might take a while.”. “What if no one comes?” someone shouted. “We are doomed. Did you see the flood?”.
Sam wasn’t able to get his head around this. His natural egregious self felt that he needed to take control of the situation. “Guys, cool down. Let’s not do anything in a hurry. I am sure the first thing they will do is restore the mobile networks”. He immediately thought of his parents and his sister — where were they? Were they affected as well? Then he thought of Priya — he hoped she was alright too.
No one came the next day. The rain was relentless as well. He probably had a couple of days worth of food. All the neighbours — came together and played card games to pass the time. Sometimes they used to shout to talk to their neighbours across the building. Shrikant, Sam and a few others had created a makeshift group to discuss matters. Rohan suggested that they make a makeshift raft, and they donated some furniture that could be put together to make a raft. Someone had empty water cans lying around that they could use to keep it afloat. Slowly they crafted a raft and could float, but the rain made it hard to go out. Their first mission was to reach the grocery store that was in the opposite building and exchange notes with their neighbours.
The raft could only hold a couple of people and Sam and Rohan volunteered to go on the raft. It was hard work keeping the raft afloat amidst the rain and wind. But as soon as they were afloat, they started to slowly make way to their neighbours. As soon as they reached inside their building, he could sense that the neighbours were unhappy. “Sorry we can’t spare any food for your building, our building comes first”. Fuck, thought Sam. So much for being a good neighbour. We will have to try our luck elsewhere and they started to float outwards towards the next grocery store, hoping that it would at least be safe.
It seemed that they were the first people to venture out on the raft. Water was seeping from his raincoat and his clothes were already wet. The visibility was also very poor and he could see people peeping out at him from nearby windows. He was feeling very confident and proud of himself. It was at that point, he saw a white wall coming towards him. WHAT THE FUCK. “Rohan, look” he said pointing to the rapidly advancing column of white. “Fuck its another wave” screamed Rohan. The closest to them was a tree. Instinctively he jumped into the water and started swimming towards the tree. He saw Rohan take the dive as well.
The wave was advancing at him with a roar and he had just caught the branch of a tree as he felt a force of water envelope the space around him. For a few seconds, all he could hope is that the branch he latched onto would hold. And it did. Slowly he came to his senses and started to climb. Thankfully within a few seconds he was up on the surface, gasping for breadth.
Now he was marooned on the tree, in a state of total shock. How the fuck did this happen. His entire life seemed meaningless at that point. The world would probably never be what it was. In an instant it all vanished, like it was a dream. As someone who aspired for a lavish lifestyle, he had dissed all those pessimists who were talking about the impending climate crisis. “Where is climate change?” he used to ask them, sipping beer in an air conditioned restaurant. But now he was wondering if he was all wrong. Did we bring this to ourselves, or was it just random shit. Or maybe it’s just all a nightmare. If he had a chance to do this all over again, what would he have done any different?
