Chennai couples find strength in each other, weather J&K flood

CHENNAI: They found hope in camaraderie at the darkest of times and forged a friendship that helped them weather the storm.
On a trip to Kashmir when the state’s worst flood unleashed its fury in the Valley, Chennai-based couples Jagan Kaliprasad and Pradha Jagan from Nagnallur and Magesh Ravi and Manjula Magesh from Potteri found strength in each other after being cut off from their families, friends and the rest of the world till Thursday.
They returned to Chennai on a flight late on Saturday.
Recalling the horror, Pradha said they could only pray for the floodwaters to recede if they hoped to return to their loved ones in Chennai. They stayed put in houseboats for more than 48 hours on Nigeen Lake that adjoins the more famous Dal Lake before hotel staff shifted them to the makeshift house of a Kashmiri family. While trapped in Srinagar they met 30 other families from across the country that were also trapped in the flood.
The best part of the trip, the couple said, was when Magesh Ravi turned 30 on September 10 and celebrated his birthday with Jagan and the others over steaming hot cups of tea and special walnut cakes made by a Kashmiri resident who invited them to their home after they ventured out of the makeshift house on Wednesday evening.
“It was a relief to meet someone from the same city, and in a situation in which we needed each other,” Jagan said. “The local people assisted us and the other stranded families told us there was another couple from Chennai. That’s how we met.”
Jagan, who works with a private wealth management firm, had gone with his wife Pradha to Kashmir on vacation. Magesh and Manjula, who got married on August 31, were on their honeymoon. Jagan and his wife reached Kashmir on September 6, two days before Magesh and Manjula flew to Srinagar. Magesh, who works as a quality manager with a private firm in the city, and his wife, the assistant manager of a bank in Chennai, initially planned to return to Chennai by September 10 to celebrate Magesh’s 30th birthday with their family members. But fate had different ideas for them.
“On Wednesday evening we just walked out to the nearby streets to take stock of the situation and try to get in touch with our family members in Chennai. Dozens of tourists who were stranded with us and put up in buildings near each other helped each other through that difficult time,” Magesh said.
While lodged in a houseboat from last Sunday to Wednesday, there was no power or clean drinking water, Manjula said.
Jagan said the hotel owners and staff played saviours people, making all arrangements for the stranded couples, including food, lodging initially in the houseboats and later in buildings nearby before rescuers took them to Leh to be flown to Delhi and then to Chennai. At least 250 people are believed to have died and thousands displaced in the floods in Kashmir.