Rain fury lands airline official in troubled waters

Last week, when Gunjan Kumar, a senior manager of a private airline, left Patna for Thailand to attend an official meet, little did he know that on his return he would land in ‘deep waters’.

“As my aircraft touched the tarmac of Jaya Prakash Narayan International Airport, Patna, it was raining quite heavily,'' says Kumar recalling the nightmare. He was travelling back to Patna from Kolkata after his meeting in Thailand.

“Once I collected my bag and came outside, to my astonishment, I found no taxi or auto in the incessant rains. I walked a few hundred metres, hoping against hope, to find an Ola or Uber or any private taxi, auto-rickshaw or battery-operated rickshaw to drop me at my home in Hanuman Nagar," says Kumar. But he couldn't find any.

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After a long wait in the heavy downpour, he managed to board a government-run bus. "The streets wore a deserted look. As I entered the main town, I found the main thoroughfares submerged in waist-high water," he says.

The bus dropped him at Mithapur bus stand. But even from there, he could not get any auto or rickshaw as it was raining heavily. "With luggage in one hand, I was ready to pay an exorbitant amount to any vehicle which would drop me at my water-logged residence in Hanuman Nagar. After yet another long wait, I somehow reached Patna junction."

"The area was already submerged and very few autos were plying on the road. I offered to pay four times the fare to an auto-wallah to help me reach Rajendra Nagar flyover, from where my house was 2.5 km. But no rickshaw, auto or taxi-wallah was prepared to wade through the three-feet water overflowing on the streets leading to my house," he adds.

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With no other option available, Kumar decided to brave the waters. Carrying his luggage, he waded through the ‘troubled waters’ risking his life. "I was not sure about the potholes and open chambers in Patna. The drains were choked and all sorts of dirt and filth were overflowing on the streets," he says. Nevertheless, he covered the entire distance to his house wading through through the dirty and soaked in the rain.

"By the time it was ‘ghar-wapsi’, I had almost forgotten about my foreign trip,” Kumar says summing up his homecoming.