POISE UNDER PRESSURE

VICTIMS

SURVIVORS

SAVIOURS

From keeping one's nerves in check while waiting outside bank ATMs to holding tight as furious gusts blew away the city's green cover; from lending a hand to a stranger in need to not following a bloodied path paved by the death of a leader -2016, for Chennai, has been a year of heroism and survival.At the turn of this year, the clouds that had brought more grief than gain had cleared - leaving behind a trail of death, destruction and disbelief. But it also left traces of hope in humanity as it made heroes of many .“Everywhere we looked, there was a hand to help us. It may have been someone who lost his or her own roof or officials going beyond the call of duty ,“ said Surjeet Singh Guleria, DIG, National Disaster Response Force.He should know. NDRF men were on their toes even before the beginning of the year as last December's floods exposed the state machinery's lack of preparedness as much as Chennai's resilience. It became a topic for many a public health and climate change research; a scar on the government and a weapon in the hands of opposition parties.It also haunted many. They tried to exorcise it through the ballot in the assembly elections five months later. Despite the government's assurances, promises and freebies, Chennai voted for change: the ruling AIADMK got only five of the 16 seats in the district as against the 14 seats it bagged in the 2011 election. It was the wind from other districts that saw the AIADMK sail back to power.The ship soon hit rough seas. A familiar storm had come to brew in the form of the long-standing Cauvery dispute after the Supreme Court issued a directive to the Karnataka government to release water to Tamil Nadu . While strikes ensued in the neighbouring state, there was an uneasy calm in TN.“TN's subdued reaction could be due to multiple reasons, including the directive being more in the state's favour,“ political observer Badri Seshadri said. “It could also mean people and parties are coming of age. They see the futility of burning and blocking public utilities.“The dread of a possible outbreak of violence returned when, on September 22, then chief minister J Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road. Overnight, the hospital was converted into an impregnable for tress. “Emotions were high, ru mours were afloat and the air was tense. We had our men stationed in sensitive areas, but the city surprised us,“ a senior police officer said. But everyone was more sombre than dramatic.While the fate of the state's po litical future lay beyond the hospital's doors, rumbles of a different sort caught people unawares on the night of November 8: Prime Minister Narendra Modi , in a televised address to the nation, declared that all `500 and `1,000 notes would be invalid at the strike of midnight. The move, the government claimed, was to crack down on black money .There was, however, little information on its execution. Lakshmi Vilas Bank deputy manager N Mahalakshmi was among the 15,000 or so bank employees left in the lurch.“We had to plan the logistics, including filling ATMs and transporting money in a few hours,“ said Mahalakshmi, who now takes her four-year-old daughter to office as she has to work well beyond the usual hours.But what overwhelmed her most was watching people, including the old and infirm, patiently waiting to get their money. Bank employees like her put a smile on their tired faces and parroted to people what the PM and the finance minister had said: “It was just a matter of time before the system was smooth again.“ It still is not. Not yet.While the city flocked to banks and ATMs, on December 5, doctors declared the CM dead after cardiac arrest. The state shut again in reverence -and fear of violence.Again, it came as a surprise to many as TN behaved with dignity .“I think they were too shocked to react as they were sure she would return like she always has from dire situations,“ said retired assistant commissioner of police C Inbakumar, who was a trainee subinspector when he led the guncarriage of M G Ramachandran in 1987. “The mob was unruly back then. It was a struggle to contain the violence,“ he recalled.Before the grief died, a cyclone took form near the Andamans ober the Bay of Bengal. Early in the afternoon of December 12, Cyclone Vardah hit Chennai and surrounding areas, felling more than 1 lakh trees and damaging many other properties. The loss was pegged at `6,000 crore.Tamil Nadu has weathered the storm, but it continues to stare at uncertainties over politics and some basic amenities including water supply. A Metrowater official's reply to a question on the water situation the coming summer probably holds good for just about anything: “Bad. But if the past is anything to go by, we will survive.“Though Cyclone Vardah destroyed everything in its path, the biggest casualty was Chennai's green cover, as it uprooted over 1 lakh trees, some as old as 70 years. Anna Nagar, Teynampet and Kodambakkam were among the worst hit. City parks and green lungs such as Guindy National Park and Vandalur Zoo were also totally ravaged.Once lush residential neighbourhoods, in Thiruvanmiyur, Alwarpet and Velachery Road were cut off from the rest of the city as fallen trees blocked the roadsCyclone Vardah left a trail of disaster.But many heritage structures including the Madras high court, Ice House and Senate House along the Marina stood tall though panels of a star hotel in Teynampet were ripped out by the wind. Intach Tamil Nadu convener S Suresh said the Chepauk Palace and stone structures of Mammallapuram withstood the cyclonedue to the strength of their constructionChennaiites rose to the occasion, sparing no effort to help the stricken city.As Vardah struck, NGOs such as Chennai Volunteers, Agni Foundation, Namma Chennai Calling and the Blue Cross of India began coordinating rescue operations. They were joined by residents who helped get medical aid for injured pedestrians, directed traffic and helped corporation workers clear fallen trees