Flood Victim Camps

Flood Victim Camps

3 mins
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Somewhere in the month of June when pre-monsoon was the obvious topic on media. I was roaming on the roads of Delhi in order to have another ‘kill stress session’.

I always loved to see those green-yellow fields with small houses spread like pizza toppings all over the lower land beside Noida - Delhi road which passes by Akshardham temple. Always felt like painting or clicking a few scenes but procrastination and lack of time overpowered. 

On this particular day while travelling to Delhi, as usual, I stretched my neck to have a view of that small village. Surprisingly the whole area was underwater except a few vegetations which were too tall to be drowned.

The next thought that came to my mind was ‘people’. What happened to the houses and families living there? To answer my questions the next moment I happened to see a large number of tarpaulin tents aligned at the roadside. Yes, flood victim camps. I was looking at them in wonder and so did they.

They were not much affected by the vehicles passing speedily by them or people peeping their heads out of cars to watch them. My brain downpoured a hundreds of questions like how do they sleep on roads considering roads in Delhi never sleep? How do they manage to avoid rainwater entering their tents? How does a whole family manage to sleep in one rickshaw? What if someone steals their goods? What if their kids get hit by some fast moving vehicle on road? And so on. My heart got filled with a feeling of pity, how miserable their lives are!

With all those feelings in background I was closely watching their activities while moving. Suddenly I saw a kid of about 4-5 years, wrapping dhoti around his tiny waist and his mother who was cooking, smiled watching him from distance. It brought a smile on my face too.

Then the next tent was a tech one, they had TV inside their house. Almost 20 people were struggling to fit in that small place on ground but the owner was sitting on chair with a proud smile on his face. I was having fun reading their faces and actions. There was so much of life element there.

Moving ahead there was another house (So called) where the head of the family fell asleep, and all the other family members were gathered around him to play some sort of prank as I guessed by their gestures and efforts to control laughter.

Then there was a small girl who was trying to read something written on the waterproof walls of their tent. She screamed with utter happiness upon realizing that she had succeeded in reading it correctly. I was so involved watching them that I almost shouted with happiness.

They were happy, they were close to each other and they were fear-free. I felt a little pity on metro lifestyle trying to recall when was the last time I simply lived and loved without judging.

There are so many other beautiful stories I witnessed that day. And my background theme was changed till the time I left that road. I had realized that it’s not lack of money that makes you poor but the lack of warmness, feelings and zeal for life.


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