Wading through muddy swirls

It was 26th Oct and the skies bled stinging needles, their agony the city shared the next day, when the roads were inundated and nothing seemed to stop the rains either. I woke up at 5 AM on the 27th to the deafening sound of water beating against anything in its path. The electricity supply had been revoked in many parts of the city including mine and the silence only intensified the sounds outside. I was starting to get worried, today was my TOEFL exam. How will I go? My bike doesn’t even work properly on a warm sunny afternoon with well kept roads to follow and the water had risen quickly through the night like a camouflaged army and surrounded all clusters of civilians, choking them in their own home. My poor Santro would definitely drown.
At six I called my trusted steed Peter who has a tendency to arrive three hours from the prescribed time and begged him to be on time. Come at 7:45 I told him and I planned that on his bike I will hold an umbrella above my head and we will somehow weave through the waters and rain and reach me safely to the test center. Everything was fine on my side, I had bathed and breakfasted and was eagerly dumping everything in my bag inside various plastic covers. It was 8:00 and my ride had not arrived yet. I started cursing and wishing for his painful death alternated with thoughts of 'if he died on the way then I would definitely not reach the test'.
Anyways by 8:20 the whole family was downstairs at the gate waiting for my ride, and in a desperate attempt I stomped through knee deep water that was swirling about outside my gate and made my way slowly to the nearest bus stop, which was in fact very nearby. Cursing under my breath and praying silently to the rain gods to let up I waited for a miracle to happen, i.e. an appropriate bus to arrive in the next twenty seconds that was not too crowded. By then Peter had arrived and at 8:30 I sat on his bike and realized the umpteenth flaw in our plan.
As soon as he started riding I was drenched with the water from my perkily colored umbrella. After traveling on the wrong side of the roads in Nungambakkam and splashing many helpless cops on the way I reached the test center with ten minutes to spare and a tiny hand towel to get me dry.
I was rushed into the exam hall where I squelched my way to my seat. Sat on it, drenched it as well and took my annoying TOEFL. I completed it in two hours, reluctantly got off the soggy chair, the AC had dried my sleeves by now and another ten hours here I could have been bone dry as well!! Hoping to be greeted by sunny rays I ventured out and voila!!! It was pouring even more. So I trudged through knee deep water again, praying I don’t stamp on something eeky or something doesn’t swim up my leg.
I made my way to a bus stop that had been shifted to the middle of Sterling road because the official site had long drowned under water. I stood next to a handful of others holding umbrellas, their black ones made them look like crows and my blue and white striped one must make me look like a pajama!!
The water had lost its horror factor now, it was just there. When heavy vehicles passed by us waves would splash against our waists, no worries at least I hadn’t stepped into an open man hole. The most embarrassing thing is when one does fall into a man hole and does not instantly disappear but is stuck in the hole at the hip with their toes gently grazing the surface of the rancid liquid underneath for the entire city to see!
After 45 minutes of looking at water and standing in it, I desperately wanted to go to the loo and god smiled upon me and sent a 47A bus my way. Gratefully I hopped on bought a ticket and gawked at the scene before me. Only busses and SUVs could make their way through these waters. It had turned the roads to rivers; seriously the driver kept saying he cannot see any part of the road at this point. Did he just admit to not knowing where he was going?
But long story short I reached home, drenched, exam less and humming ' ohoo megam vanda do’. Well after all Mani Ratnam does figure into all our happy state of minds but if my dancing girls do not arrive soon all this getting wet would go for a royal waste because my gate is just a few steps away. And like a messenger from above or below an imbecile came driving by me at top speed and splashed my one last time drenching me fromhead to toe in case the rains had missed a spot.