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Flood Water in Srinagar, India

Catching a Flight in the Srinagar Floods!

Posted on September 8, 2014April 18, 2021

This is a petty post. This is about my difficulties in catching a flight out of Srinagar yesterday, the day Jhelum River breached its banks. However, this minor tragedy collided with the major tragedy of the Srinagar floods, of the Kashmir Floods.

I went to The Khyber Resorts (Gulmarg) on Friday, September 5, as I was invited. Apart from minor traffic jams I did not face much of a problem in getting out of Srinagar even though it was already flooded. A bridge near Gulmarg has collapsed so we had to take a 10 kilometers detour through a village to reach the resort. Gulmarg was misty, it rained but we had fun.

Coming back on Sunday, September 7, was a different story though. When we started from Gulmarg it was not raining, which was a good sign or so we thought. Mohammad Akbar was our driver, he has been with the resort from the early days. There were six of us in two cars. We were making good time and in our inexperience we made an unscheduled stop! Whatever the duration, we did make a stop and in the process got separated from the first car. Akbar at one point told us to hurry up as the situation on the ground was not too good. That made the three of us come out of our stupor. We actually had a smooth sailing till Bemina in Srinagar.

Floods in Srinagar
Floods in Srinagar!

At Bemina the water was gushing over the road, I have not seen anything like that in my life. People standing on the way told us that the Scorpio could cross. But Akbar was not too sure. After an initial round of opinions, we decided to follow whatever Akbar suggested, as he was the local and the most experienced. I saw people from the houses nearby standing on the road. There was an announcement going on in Kashmiri. Akbar said it was a call to move the women and children to the local mosque. They had shelter for the animals too.

We hanged around Bemina for a while. Trucks were stranded as the Srinagar Jammu highway is closed. People were burning wood on the road divider to keep warm, it become a social space. We went to the edge of the water. Akbar decided that he would not drive through and we respected his decision.

Srinagar Floods People
Oh to be a Child and Sleep through it!

He parked the vehicle sideways and we waited for a while. I got down and walked to the edge of the water. The water was so damn cold. From the comfort of the SUV it never occurred to me that the water would be freezing. There are a few local youths talking to agitated people stranded on this side. A lady wailed, she had a flight to catch and she wanted her vehicle to go through. The boys had put a makeshift barricade. To me the flow looked scary. I said so to them. They pointed out, “Look at that truck full of people at the other end with all its weight? Even then it is moving with such difficulty!”

We decided to head back, at least for some distance, away from the water. I found a wash room in one of the restaurants. I saw army personnel in this area and asked them how was the situation beyond the water torrent? One of them said I would still miss my flight as there was a massive traffic jam after that in the city. I talked to a family which had a flight to catch to Jaipur at 4.00 pm . They said they managed to cross the water at Bemina by getting into a truck with all their belongings. But the truck turned back due to the traffic jam. They are worried about missing their flight, so was I. Mine was at 2.25 pm and it was already knocking on 12.00 noon.

We thought we would have tea. But no one was really in the mood. We thought of heading back to Gulmarg. As we turned back, I feared that my family would badly panic if I got stranded. I also had to be at work on Monday. But all of us agreed that we will not take any undue risks. We also worried about the other car, as our cell phones were not working.

The Devastating Floods in Kashmir
The Devastating Floods in Kashmir

As we were about to pull out, a local came and tipped Akbar about an alternative route which would take us to Badgaon, and to the airport. We were assured by the army people that the flights were taking off, if we could reach the airport. We decided to try the alternate route. I was hopeful that the flight would be delayed as Srinagar was anyway on red alert. 

It was a narrow village route that we took. The roads were bad but it had only minor water logging. The paddy crop which would have been harvested in 15 days was washed out. When the water will recede, it will leave other problems in its wake.

Akbar drove with infinite patience on the roads that were bad. He frequently asked for directions. At one point he asked me, “Am I stopping too many times for asking directions?” I told him, “That is not a problem at all, menfolk usually don’t ask for directions and get lost!” Around 1.20 pm we were at the outskirts of the airport. I started feeling hopeful. Phones were still not working. Then I spotted what looked like a traffic jam. Thankfully it was a false alarm.

We finally reached the airport, clearing the outer security, at about 1.30 pm. We gave lift to a father-daughter duo close to the airport. When we got down in front of the terminal Akbar exclaimed “Ham jeet gaye!” We won! After thanking him and tipping him (which would never be enough) I flew through to the Indigo counter and presented my ticket. They accept it without any fuss. I made it to the flight. In a rare departure from the norm, the security at Srinagar was kind to the passengers. They were thorough but not too gruff. In my hurry, I forgot to put tags on my hand luggage. They found two tags from somewhere and stamped my luggage. On any other day they would have sent me back!

As I walked to the waiting area, the members of the first car saw me. We all could finally breathe easy. They took some other detour to reach the airport. Our flight was delayed by many hours as the Prime Minister was in the city. Helicopters doing relief work had priority. Inside the plane every one had a story to tell, about how they reached the airport. The staff of Indigo gave us tea even before the flight took off.

Srinagar Flight
Finally I Got out of Srinagar!

I could see the pilots chatting in an animated fashion, earlier they have always been a voice from the cockpit, highly efficient but hardly human. We talked to the cabin crew who started their day at 4.00 am from Dubai! Life was slowly coming back to normal. I reached home late but I reached home safely.

Unfortunately the same can not be said for the people in J&K. Help them in which ever way you can. This has been my first close encounter with flooding and it has left me shaken!

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30 thoughts on “Catching a Flight in the Srinagar Floods!”

  1. Prasad Np says:
    September 8, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    All that ends well is well…. Kudos to Akbar for safe driving. BTW here is a site that is trying to coordinate the efforts for flood relief: @jkfloodrelief on twitter and http://jkfloodrelief.org/ on web…

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:18 pm

      Thank you so much for the link, I donated to the Prime Minsiter’s National Refief Fund in the end.

      Reply
  2. Indrani says:
    September 8, 2014 at 4:37 pm

    Wow! So glad you made it Mridula. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:17 pm

      Thank you so much Indrani.

      Reply
  3. Ragini Puri says:
    September 8, 2014 at 4:45 pm

    “Ham jeet gaye!”
    This got me all teary-eyed. Happy tears. 🙂

    Praying for Kashmir. The road to normalcy is going to be tough.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:16 pm

      I too hope things become normal soon. And thank you Ragini.

      Reply
  4. Datta Ghosh says:
    September 8, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    That was bad. Akbar did a good job. Glad you made it safely. I live in a place which is flood prone so, scary perils. The pics tell the story here.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:15 pm

      Datta living in a flood prone area must be tough 🙁

      Reply
  5. Anuradha Shankar says:
    September 8, 2014 at 5:03 pm

    The minute we heard about the flood situation, we wondered about you since we knew you were there. it was so good to see your update on fb and hear that you were back safe. but truly, reading about it makes us realise just how bad the situation is. it reminds me of the mumbai floods. thankfully, times like these do bring out the best in people, which makes the situation bearable. our prayers are with all those caught in the floods.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:15 pm

      Thank you so much Anuradha for your wonderful thoughts.

      Reply
  6. Aditi says:
    September 8, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    Glad you made it home safely! Praying for the beautiful Kashmir! Hope the situation becomes better soon!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:14 pm

      Aditi thank you. I too hope the region recovers soon.

      Reply
  7. Avinash Gupta says:
    September 8, 2014 at 11:13 pm

    Thank goodness you made it safely. My prayers with those who are affected by the floods.
    Also, well done Akbar !

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:14 pm

      Thank you so much Avinash. Akbar ji is a rock star!

      Reply
  8. Shabir says:
    September 9, 2014 at 7:07 am

    Glad to see you reached safely and how the Kashmir driver selflessly got you out there. Although he had options to say no and say he cant drive as you said you gave him right to decide. It is your turn now to spread the good word about Kashmir and Kasmiriyat (the ethos of Kashmir) among your folks and tell them how they treat their guests.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:13 pm

      Shabir my thoughts are with you all. I hope things are getting better.

      Reply
  9. Arun says:
    September 9, 2014 at 11:13 am

    Was looking up your twitter to check if you got back… Happy to know..

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:12 pm

      Thank you so much Arun.

      Reply
  10. Chaitali Patel says:
    September 9, 2014 at 11:42 am

    Thanks for sharing this post Mridula! Glad you made it back safe and sound. You have given us all a good first hand account of how grave the situation out there is!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:11 pm

      Thank you Chaitali.

      Reply
  11. Mahesh Semwal says:
    September 9, 2014 at 11:49 am

    All’s Well That Ends Well.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:10 pm

      Thank you Mahesh, I hope it becomes alright in J&K as well.

      Reply
  12. yogi saraswat says:
    September 9, 2014 at 11:51 am

    its pleasure to see you here safe and secure. Really this flood is very terrible . The jannat is looking jahannum these days.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:10 pm

      Yogi I hope it becomes jannat soon. And thank you so much.

      Reply
  13. Lady Fi says:
    September 9, 2014 at 12:54 pm

    Gosh – that is a lot of flooding. Hope people there are safe.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:09 pm

      Lady Fi the waters have receded but the loss gigantic.

      Reply
  14. Ran says:
    September 10, 2014 at 1:14 am

    you are brave to manage flood trip alone from your family.

    thank god you did not bring kids with you.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:08 pm

      Thank you for your kind thoughts.

      Reply
  15. Sindhoooo says:
    September 11, 2014 at 6:33 pm

    Happy to know that you are safely back home 🙂 Hope everything in JK gets back to normal soon… Hats off to the soldiers and volanteers involved in the rescue operations. ..

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      September 20, 2014 at 11:06 pm

      Thank you Sindhu, I too hope that the things become normal soon.

      Reply

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About Me

I am Mridula Dwivedi and I started this blog in 2005. It has been an amazing ride. I have visited 33 countries till date! I have worked with many tourism boards and prominent travel companies. My blog was featured on the BBC and the Guardian.

I did my Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur. I worked full time in academics till 2015! I quit my job as a professor, thinking I will take a break for one year, which turned into five.

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