Flood came around Servant Quarter giving shelter to more than hundred twenty five students comprising folks & buddies .The food water remained for 72 hours & I feel, I have , vivid memory of every episode of flood vis-a-vis my life also. Perhaps, God has given me this faculty so, I do not feel sigh in conceding this, that too at this age of my life .
Many of the buddies & folks of that era , who were in Servant Quarter during flood must not have forgotten the exuberance performed & experience etched in their memory & some might have ossified reminiscences ,just mundane of the flood. Previous day ,just prior to coming of flood, there was incessant rain , not giving respite for few minutes as bulbous dark clouds always hovering in the sky resulting with drizzling & sometimes furious with staccato repetition of raindrops . The whole campus of our college was sluggish & waterlogged.
The rain was furious & many of my buddies including me skipped the college & just lolling around lazily
here & there ,sometimes in my room ,sometimes in other room . In the evening some bravehearts went to Navinbhai's canteen to bring breads, eggs & packet of cigarettes.
In the dark,breezy night laden with pregnant clouds, bring very soothing sound sleep & in the morning I just roused from bed with loud commotion, lo & behold ! hoards of folks craning their necks on the long corridor & landing space of staircases observing vast muddy expanse of flood water walloping all-around .Everybody was craning his neck to have a better view . Some Gujrati folks were telling , the river Narmada & river Tapti have conjoined each other resulting in the flood of Surat town .
Well, the flood had come . In the beginning everybody was feeling ,it was leisure time . In the vast multitude of flood water Servant Quarter was standing as forlorn sentinel beholding the vast marooned barren landscape with abject nonchalance . Few hours elapsed . Curiosity of flood had abated ,the fodder of chit-chatting had exhausted . Now, the stomach was buzzing with hunger . Playing cards & cigarettes were turning inadequate in spending ample time at our disposal & I had no desire & gumption to finish the backlog of my term- work , though I had rued within myself about the paucity of time . How much hypocrite we are ! We always find this pretence or that pretence & if we get nothing to buttress our argument ,we resort to mood. Funny ! There was forced leisure time & we resorted to playing cards .मरता क्या न करता !
Here I must tell the story of Mr Grover .He is no more .He was perhaps from Punjab & was in 1st year . The construction of Servant Quarter was such , it was structured on columns only, jutting out from the ground earth . When the flood came ,many floating species tried to take shelter in Servant Quarter & chief among them were serpents . Mr Grover with few of his friend enthusiasts lie in wait for floating serpents to kill them. From somewhere he got a stick , which was handy for him in his endeavour. Well. in retrospect when I think over this momentary episode , when lot of shouts, hullabaloo with lot of cacophonous sound came . Out of curiosity I always used to rush to the landing space of the staircase .Mr Grover had always glint of satisfaction in his eyes , after the job was accomplished . First I did not know the reason , when I moved to Hostel No 1,why Mr Grover was absent & if at all visible ,his articulation of limbs were measured & not as free as of a young boy .Out of curiosity once I asked his friend about his frequent absence & measured walk of an old man & a funny but dreadful story was told .
When we shifted to Hostel no1, afterwards of flood of 1968 of Surat, a wide road like highway was there to connect Ichhanath to our hostel .It was not lighted properly & the road was in the process of making with allied paraphernalia. After college hours , in the evening we were in habit to go to Icchanath for amiable promenading & for light chit-chat & a cup of tea to unbound ourselves. Once Mr Grover was going from Hostel to Icchanath & was bitten by a snake. The bite was over his socks but it was ferocious . Mr Grover went to his native place in Punjab ,returned back after due medication ,but was not able to forsake his dizziness . He again returned to his native place & perhaps died there as the story was told to me.
I do not know whether it was nemesis of his killings of serpents during flood in Servant Quarter when they were in dire need of shelter or some other reason . Who will answer me !
Many of the buddies & folks of that era , who were in Servant Quarter during flood must not have forgotten the exuberance performed & experience etched in their memory & some might have ossified reminiscences ,just mundane of the flood. Previous day ,just prior to coming of flood, there was incessant rain , not giving respite for few minutes as bulbous dark clouds always hovering in the sky resulting with drizzling & sometimes furious with staccato repetition of raindrops . The whole campus of our college was sluggish & waterlogged.
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| Servant Quarter during flood |
here & there ,sometimes in my room ,sometimes in other room . In the evening some bravehearts went to Navinbhai's canteen to bring breads, eggs & packet of cigarettes.
Here I must tell the story of Mr Grover .He is no more .He was perhaps from Punjab & was in 1st year . The construction of Servant Quarter was such , it was structured on columns only, jutting out from the ground earth . When the flood came ,many floating species tried to take shelter in Servant Quarter & chief among them were serpents . Mr Grover with few of his friend enthusiasts lie in wait for floating serpents to kill them. From somewhere he got a stick , which was handy for him in his endeavour. Well. in retrospect when I think over this momentary episode , when lot of shouts, hullabaloo with lot of cacophonous sound came . Out of curiosity I always used to rush to the landing space of the staircase .Mr Grover had always glint of satisfaction in his eyes , after the job was accomplished . First I did not know the reason , when I moved to Hostel No 1,why Mr Grover was absent & if at all visible ,his articulation of limbs were measured & not as free as of a young boy .Out of curiosity once I asked his friend about his frequent absence & measured walk of an old man & a funny but dreadful story was told .
When we shifted to Hostel no1, afterwards of flood of 1968 of Surat, a wide road like highway was there to connect Ichhanath to our hostel .It was not lighted properly & the road was in the process of making with allied paraphernalia. After college hours , in the evening we were in habit to go to Icchanath for amiable promenading & for light chit-chat & a cup of tea to unbound ourselves. Once Mr Grover was going from Hostel to Icchanath & was bitten by a snake. The bite was over his socks but it was ferocious . Mr Grover went to his native place in Punjab ,returned back after due medication ,but was not able to forsake his dizziness . He again returned to his native place & perhaps died there as the story was told to me.
I do not know whether it was nemesis of his killings of serpents during flood in Servant Quarter when they were in dire need of shelter or some other reason . Who will answer me !
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