Asha Parekh: Stranded for 15 hours!

Like most of Mumbai, Asha Parekh was also stranded in the flooded city last Tuesday.

She recounts her tiring 15-hour journey home:

I'm a Mumbaikar, born and brought up here. But never in my life have I seen what I saw over the last few days. The city we're so proud of and feel so safe in was plunged into an unthinkable crisis.

Tuesday started innocently enough for me. My friend Shammi Aunty (character actress Shammi) and I had to drive to South Mumbai for some work. Little did we know, then, that we would return home only the next day. It was raining when we left, but there was no cause for worry because this was, after all, the monsoon season.

Terrible Tuesday: Mumbai copes with a calamity

We were asked by friends to stay over for lunch, and started our journey back at 3 pm. It lasted 15 hours!

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The two of us, and the driver, just sat frozen in the car, not knowing what to do. I prayed especially for Shammi Aunty, who is old and unwell, and wondered if we'd ever get out alive.

Was this really the Mumbai I had grown up in? That thought occurred to me more than once as I sat in the car. But the way Mumbaikars rallied around the distressed made me regain my faith in our city. People served tea and biscuits to stranded and disoriented commuters. Residents opened their doors to commuters who couldn't proceed further. And though I was caught in a nightmare, I now have more faith in Mumbai's powers of resilience than ever before.

I reached home safe. My relatives from Pakistan had come over to visit. As I sat disconnected from the world, they wondered where their host had disappeared!

I'm glad I'm alive. And I'm glad this city is what it is. If it wasn't, we wouldn't have bounced back as quickly as we have.