City of Dreams

9.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception; it is a prevailing attitude. Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing. Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised.
                   ***

"Sidhaaaarth, it's raining so much! News main bhi landslides and flood ki warning de rahe hain. Papa teek honge na... I am so worried"

"Don't worry... did you talk to him?"

"Mumma ne baat ki thi. She asked me not to as he wanted to give a surprise and I had to act as if I don't know his arrival."

"This is not the time for all this. Call him and ask him to send his location. It's already 1am, damn it! Bahut late ho gaya hain. He should have been with you by now. Call me back after that... aur haan, forward me the location when he shares it with you. Tu tension mat le."

Shehnaaz disconnected the call and dialed her father's number which said unreachable repeatedly. "Baba ji Mehar kari" she had tears while dialing her mother's number who picked the call in one ring.

"Mumma... papa ka call aaya?" worried she enquired.

"Nahi puttar! Bahut tension ho rahi hain mainu. Teek honge na tere papa?"

"Aap call kartey raho unko, I am also trying to call him too. Call laga toh unse location share karne ko bolna... Teek hain?"

"Haan haan"

Sometimes when you wake up, the sun is shining, and it would seem that nothing in the world can hold you back. But before you know it, the clouds turn grey, and something happens that completely rocks your world. Every minute of Mumbai's day today was nightmarish after the city received over 10 times the rain that it gets during the monsoon. Four inches of rain were recorded in just few hours by late afternoon - and by then, the financial capital was gridlocked with traffic. By the time officials began urging people not to leave home unless absolutely necessary, cars were bobbing along in water, trains were running late with tracks submerged, and key highways and roads were choked.

Shehnaaz was constantly calling her dad walking across the hall with local weather news channel running in the background.  Television channels were showing people wading in knee-deep water and railway stations packed with people desperate to get home. Fights were diverted, delayed, and cancelled - for a brief period, the airport closed altogether. The total breakdown by relentless rain wrecked the city of dreams. Electricity also went off with that, making the room dark and silent.

She was all by herself as Karou was not able to make it home due to heavy rain after his date and he decided to stay in his girlfriend's place which was closer compared to this. Shehnaaz was able to manage come back home after lunch in Sidharth's place. He had a phone meeting arranged by his manager for some project and he was busy when his newly appointed driver Nandu dropped her home when the rain started to fall hard.

She cooked dinner and was eagerly waiting for her dad's arrival when the news flashed about landslides, flood, and heavy downpour. She was positive that he will reach home soon as he was already in the city somewhere when she last called Baaz around 4 hours back.

A message chimed in her phone suddenly, bringing her back from thoughts. It was her mother's message with father's location.

Mumma

Call nahi laga beta, but message aaya Shera ka with location.

Below that a map was loading, and it showed the location not that far, may an hour away from her home. She immediately forwarded the location message to Sidharth.