DELUGE AT JHARMARI, PUNJAB: A PERSONAL REFLECTION

July 9, 2023 morning was like any morning at Jharmari, Punjab. By noon however, it was a day unlike any. The whole of Jharmari was deluged. We had some rains the previous day, but nothing unusual. But by 10 am water levels outside Sumedha Centre at Jharmari was rising. We thought the building was safe. But the water level kept rising. We tried to block the water from entering the building. But the effort was futile. Soon there was angle deep water all over the ground floor. We wanted to save at least the carpeted chapel floor. It was useless. Water found its way all over, entering every room and office, the dining hall, the conference hall, therapy rooms, kitchen and store rooms. Water was rushing in from both the front and back of the building

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We were told some dam had been opened to let out the waters accumulated from torrential rains somewhere else. The rice fields in Jharmari (rice had been planted only a few weeks ago) go inundated. From the day before, we did not have electricity. Main power source had been cut off.  Because of the cloudy skies our solar batteries could not be charged. We could not pump water. The internet failed. There was water up to waist level on the road outside. About 50 feet of the Don Bosco playground wall had collapsed, causing a further rush of water on to the campus.

By eleven pm water began to recede a little. By early next morning around 4.30 the building was cleared of water, but filled with silt.

Fortunately we had sun shine for about an hour and so the solar panels got charged and we were able to pump water for a while. The inverters also got charge a little and worked sometime and fans could run till morning.

On the 10^th morning we began the cleaning up operation. The workers who had completed the renovation work at Sumedha only recently and were now working on the Don bosc and the participants of the current Sumedha programme helped. However, soon it was raining and water level rose quite suddenly and even higher than yesterday. The ground floor was inundated again. There was nearly two feet of water within the building. All that was on the ground floor up to that level was drenched in water. That included, clothes, books, documents, photo albums kept in the cupboards. We removed what we could to the first floor. Participants of the ongoing Sumedha Sadhana programme had to take shelter on the first floor.

Gas cylinders and utensils for cooking had to be carried to the first floor. Our cooks were able to cook some “kichdi” and roti. We were not able to go out to get provisions. The road outside had chest deep water in some places. Fortunatley we had some purified drinking water stored in big Bisleri containers.

As on the previous day today too we had water rushing in both through the front door and the kitchen door at the back and water coming up through the sink holes in the bathrooms, as all the surrounding area was saturated with water.

Water began receding on the 11^th morning, leaving behind mud, soaked books, papers and clothes. We got some workers to clean up the mess and try salvaging what we could from all that is soaked in the muddy water.

The drying up process is continuing even after nearly 2 weeks.

Some Personal Reflections

Unpleasant things often happen suddenly and unexpectedly. We cope the way can and ty to move on with our lives. But then the worse is still to come. On the second day the water levels rose much higher than the first day – something we did not expect to happen. All our efforts to clean up the previous day’s mess went in vain.

So too in life one bad thing happens, putting our normal routine life out of gear. We deal with it, and feel comfortable again, and then worse things happen. We have one traumatic experience and somehow cope with it, but then it is followed by many other traumatic experiences. I think of those who are abused and battered again and again. How do they cope?

Annie Dillard in “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” observed: “That something is everywhere and always amiss is part of the very stuff of creation.” Yes, we may be aware of it. Bad things do happen. To other people and elsewhere. An event like the deluge remind us that we are not immune. Now we know it happens to us, in the here and now.

 However, God’s provident care follows us in the midst of disaster. As we read in prophet Isaiah “When you pass though the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown” (43, 2)

I witnessed the goodness of people. Adversity brings the best out of us and also brings us together. The workers and the Sumedha participants stepped in on their own initiative and did their best to salvage whatever they could and fully participated in the cleanup operation. I did not hear even once anyone complain of the situation and the inconveniences, but helped one another, tried to keep up one another’s spirits.

As I went through all that was drenched, I also discovered many things that I did not know I had with me, among them some precious photographs. Some of them were damaged beyond redemption. I hope to post on Facebook some of the saved photos that enable me to look back with nostalgia. Perhaps these photos will also bring back the nostalgic memories of some of you who have been part of my life journey.

I also discovered that I had amassed a lot of stuff that I had not used even once and would never use. The flood enabled me to get rid of them and preserve only what is really important. As during the Covid-19, I realised the need to simplify my life, to manage with little and not amass and store lot of stuff - clothes for example. The flood was an invitation to “downward mobility” – managing life with less and less rather than join the bandwagon of “upward mobility” trying to have and use “more and more” and “better and better” stuff.

There is some sadness that I lost somethings precious to me, personally and professionally: some out-of- print books, collection of articles on various topics, some important documents – and some nostalgic photographs. However, I can manage life without these.

As Annie Dillard observed, lot of things are amiss in life, bad things happen. And as I often tell my personal growth workshop participants. “I have no control over anything that happens outside me. I have only control over my response to them and that response is what really matters.”

 "There is sunshine after the rain, 

There is laughter alter the pain!"

I am grateful for the lessons that the deluge taught me.

Jose Parappully