A Trail of Tears
.........but there were angels!

The following and more news like this in newspapers and images on the television, the news-papers and the net left most of us in Guwahati desperately wanting to do something for our brethren in Goalpara.

A man crosses flood waters at Krishnai village in Goalpara district of northeastern Assam state. In worst-hit district of Goalpara, 90 villages have been submerged under water. (Source: PTI photo) 

Written by Samudra Gupta Kashyap | Guwahati | Posted: September 24, 2014 7:29 pm | Updated: September 24, 2014 8:15 pm

The water-level of flash floods in Goalpara district in Assam, triggered off by a massive cloud-burst in South West Garo Hills district in Meghalaya on Sunday night, has started receding, but not before leaving behind a trail of destruction.

While at least 40 persons have lost their lives in the Garo Hills in Meghalaya, as many as 26 bodies have been fished out from the water in Goalpara and Kamrup districts in Assam in the past two days. Confirming this, Assam forest minister Rakibul Hussain said the final death figure could be much more because many people are reportedly missing and suspected to have been washed away. “Many villages are still totally submerged, with water flowing above the roofs. Rescue teams have yet to cover all the affected villages,” Hussain said.

Though columns of the Army and BSF are pressed into rescue operations alongside the NDRF and SDRF teams, they have not been able to reach out because most villages are still submerged, the minister pointed out. The number of cattle and other domestic animals washed away are yet to be ascertained.

In Goalpara, of the 14 bodies recovered so far, two are infants, they being Apsara Hujuri (one year two months) and Prakash Rabha (two years six months). The dead also include five women, Hussain said. In Kamrup district on the other hand 12 bodies have been recovered so far. With five deaths in Guwahati city and one in Dhubri, the total death toll in the last three days’ floods in Assam has gone up to 31. The flood waters came down like a huge wall several metres high and even washed away trucks and cars off the NH 37 for several hundred metres. In Krishnai, Dudhnoi and Bolbola, all highway townships, trucks, cars and other vehicles are lying strewn by the roadside after the floodwaters were gone. In Bolbola, at least 180 persons were killed in a flash flood in 2004. Minister Hussain, who visited Goalpara and Kamrup today said at least six lakh population have been affected by floods in the two districts in since Sunday night. While four lakh have been affected in Kamrup, 2.11 lakh have been affected in Goalpara. About 1.4 lakh people have been put up in relief camps while thousands have taken shelter under the open sky on the highway and other roads.

 A man looks at his house that was damaged in flash floods at Krishnai village in Goalpara in Assam. (Source: PTI)


















*****************************************************************************************************

There was a desperate message I scribbled on my FB wall, whatsApped,  Tweeted and called, asking people to give whatever they can for the people who have lost everything in Goalpara. This is what I wrote, "We are making an effort to collect as much as we can in the form of food, clothes, water, etc. for the people in Goalpara. Please inbox me with your phone number and address if you want us to collect whatever you think will be needed by our brethren. We will do so immediately!"

And the response was so gratifying. Groups of people and individuals from all quarters responded immediately. 

The first few cartons of clothes and cash came in from Mrs. A Rahman of 6 Mile.

Then Mrs. Yasmin Islam of Milanpur, sent me a carton of milk, biscuits, candles, matches, rice, etc.

Mrs. Kul Goswami Rahman called me early one morning and said, "Tell me, what do you want me to give you?" I told her she could give anything. However, food items would be especially appreciated by the people as they were running short on rations. 

My seniors and my friends from Loreto Alumni Association of Guwahati called me and said that they would be more than glad to help in the process. And they went all out of their way to contribute hugely. They even made it easy for me to pick up the things by identifying two collection points. One, the Royal Regency at Bamunimaidam and the other at Red Hot Chilli Pepper at Ganeshguri.

I received warm support on the same plea through the Rotary whatsApp group. The President of Rotary Club of Gauhati South, Rtn P.D. Choudhury called me one evening and said that they would like to support us in helping the devastated families in Goalpara. And this strengthened us further when I saw the huge contribution by the members of this Rotary club.

I have to mention the individuals who sprung into action in the process of collection:

1. Gauranga Kakoti

2. Juhi of Loreto Alumni Association of Guwahati

3. Begum ba of 6 Mile

4. Meera and Jubi of 6 Mile

5. Samia Rahman of 6 Mile

6. Akashvishal Das

7. Mayank Taparia 

8. Rashmi of Macons People

9. Gupshup 94.3FM

10.Fariza Hussain, my class-mate from college

11.Phool, my mother's house-help

12.Naina Barbaruah of Milanpur

13.Rumi Islam of Milanpur

14. Meenakshi Saikia of Loreto Alumni Association of Guwahati

15. Jackie Pasha Zaman of Loreto Alumni Association of Guwahati

16. Parul Devi Das of Loreto Alumni Association of Guwahati

17. Romio Sarma of Loreto Alumni Association of Guwahati

18.Dr. Navanil Barua

In between all these activities of collection and my personal agenda, Mrs. Rashmi Khosla, the Chief Secretary's wife called me one evening and said, "I heard that you are mobilising things for the people of Goalpara. Prerana, the IAS Officers' Wives Association would like to contribute. So, can you come over tomorrow?" 

After talking to Mrs. Rashmi Khosla, I was sure that we were going to make the people of Goalpara very happy, at least for a some time. At around 6am of 30th September, after packing our pick-up truck with loads of things, we moved to Mrs. Khosla's bungalow where she was waiting for us with a massive load of things. We were totally overwhelmed!

And then started our journey with our team members from Consortium of International Minds as we carried the token of love from all the angels in Guwahati for the people of Goalpara.

Mr. Preetam Saikia, the DC of Goalpara, in the meantime got the news that our NGO was on the way to his district. He called me up and told me that the Circle Officer of Agia, Mr. Manjit Barkakoty and Mr. A. Mazid, the BDO of Bolbola,will help us to reach out to the people who need the flood relief more than some others. And what assistance we received cannot be written in mere words! Both officers traveled with us from camp to camp, talking to people on our behalf and getting the rice, daal, sugar, milk, biscuits, cheera, gur, potatoes, salt, sugar, pulses, ORS, water, candles, match-sticks, clothes and more distributed without any conflict to men, women and children, shaken, shocked and slowly limping back to normalcy. 

The President of CIM, Mr. Indrajit. Kr. Saikia handing over relief material to the people of Malandubi

******************************************************************************************************

Our team then went to another camp, Fatehpur Junior Basic School under Balijana Gaon Panchayat, where quite a number of families had taken shelter. On the way, we saw these temporary camps on both sides of the road. Most NGOs drop off their relief material here and it looked like they will take a while to go back to their permanent homes as they seem to be pretty 'pampered' by the District Administration and some NGOs.

The Fatehpur Junior Basic School had 200 families huddled together with their children in classrooms, which were converted into dormitories. 

Our next stop was the Gosaidhuwa Garo L.P. School with more than 104 houses devastated in the flash floods. Nobody had reached out to them. Our NGO was the first to get them relief material and they were overwhelmed by our visit. 

All the people here had a numbness I probably will never be able to describe! 

The circle officer and BDO both sped us to another area which was totally cut off from the world when their wooden bridge was swept away by the tempestuous flood water. They too were overjoyed to see us.

********************************************************************************

In a long talk over lunch with the DC of Goalpara, Mr. Preetam Saikia, he was overjoyed to hear from us that we had achieved in our desperate attempt to help the devastated people. We assured him of further assistance!

And finally, on our way back we dropped the remaining relief material in the first village that we went to, Melandubi. The whole village was drenched in darkness as we dropped off more food, clothes, candles and match-boxes. One lady came up to me and said, "Baidew, we have no electricity in our area for the past couple of days, since the flash floods came!" My mind shot back to my city, where probably everything was lit up for Maa Durga; everybody was reveling in new clothes, dancing and making merry to happy tunes, while here was a district, a few hours away from the city, which saw more devastation than they deserved to see in their lives. 

After having met with the people, I noticed that it was not always about the relief material that they were waiting for but more for someone to listen to them, attentively! They wanted us to be with them at their worst moment in their lives. They want to survive this torment but how? As most women look on at me with tears in their eyes, I, being the person that I am, can only cry with them, promising to go back to them as soon as possible, to reconstruct their lives and to soothe their battered souls!

********************************************************************************

I would like to thank each and every member of CIM, Daimalu and Ali, alongwith his handy-man, our man-Fridays we couldn't do without, who transported us to our destination and continuously loaded and off-loaded relief material.