I too witnessed the whole thing – only I witnessed it firsthand.
So let me take you back to somewhere around mid-October of last year and show you what I saw.
News of floodwater entering Bangkok had been doing the rounds for quite sometime, as I recall. Friends, teachers, acquaintances alike would let me in on the latest updates, and I would see them as embellishments to the truth.
The talks never really seemed real to me for it appeared like a mere possibility that didn’t have a chance of developing into what it eventually did.
However, I was bound to change my opinion when one of our Professors decided to talk about the probability of Bangkok flooding over the coursework. And this Professor lets nothing get in the way of her teaching, mind you.
“How many of you have volunteered at the library?” she inquired.
Not many hands shot up in the air and I was quite confused about why we were expected to volunteer, or at least why she was wondering if we had volunteered.
It was because, as I found out later, the books in our underground library were being moved to a safer location for fear of the water seeping into the library. After having discovered this, how could we not help out?
So there we were packing stacks of book one after the other and passing them out of the three-storied library. And it was here I felt a strange surge of panic: Is Bangkok really going to flood?
Before too long, the answer came in an announcement made by the government that declared a few days off for the country people. This told me that the government did see a reason to be alarmed.
The announcement brought mixed feelings in me: in part, it induced a sense of nervousness and got me wondering if I should leave Bangkok. On the other, it got me excited for I was looking forward to a few days off from the oh-so-hectic course load. Yes, yes, it was evil of me. But what could I do for I was merely a student who could not help but relish at the thought of a few days off.
But whatever the sentiment, it remained that it was a tense time for the country, and it wasn’t difficult to sense this while getting about our daily chores. For example, many department stores were wiped clean of any kind of supply that could be stocked: noodles, canned foods, medical kits – you name it.
There, food supplies were decreasing on the racks, and here at home, concerned phone calls and e-mails were increasing in number as news of the deteriorating environment got out.
Moreover, calls also came in informing me that one friend or another living in and around the vicinity had their houses affected by the floods. It seemed that gradually the water was making a turn to hit Bangkok.
Of course, a lot of controversies centered around Bangkok: if and how it was being protected from the floods at the expense of other provinces. But this “protection” did not hold for long as nature took its course and eventually engulfed Bangkok too.
However, I was still lucky for the most part because where I was staying remained dry and safe. Or so I had thought.
Earlier that day, I had had plans to visit my cousins and was eagerly waiting to discuss the matter with them. I wanted to sit and talk about whether Bangkok was safe or if it was best to go back home.
What had me questioning even more was the fact that what had initially started out as a weeklong flood break had now turned into a break for an uncertain amount of time. Furthermore, everywhere I looked, there were huge sandbags against doors to houses, shops, and universities. It just seemed too surreal.
As I relayed to my cousins these very apprehensions, it was decided that it was best that I left the country. What was more was that, as luck would have it, all three of us (my cousins and I) would be on the same flight back home as all of us would deicide that the safest thing to do would be to leave.
After what seemed a fruitful conversation, I headed to my dorm. On the way back, the traffic was much heavier than usual, and for those of you who have been to Bangkok, you know how horrid the “normal traffic” here is. Why on earth is it taking so long? I asked myself.
“Naam-tuam! Naam-tuam,” people exclaimed in panicked mummers. “Flood! Flood!,” they were saying.
And that was the first time in my life that I witnessed such a scene. The water was up to the ankle level at some points and up to the waist level at some. People were scattered all over the place with packed rucksacks, pet hamsters, study lamps, and they were all out on the move.
Everyone was evacuating.
The very moment I got up to my room after making my way through the dirty floodwater, I too packed a backpack with nothing more than my passport and went back to my cousins’ place, half drenched in the floodwater.
This was exactly how I would arrive in Nepal a few days later (minus the drenched part) along with a great story to narrate about the importance of afforestation.
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