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Instant relief: The night 300 harried strangers walked into two homes

Instant relief: The night 300 harried strangers walked into two homes

Author: Smita Nair
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: August 1, 2005
URL: http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=141887&creation_date=2005-08-01

The comfort of home. A loo. And garam chai. More than 300 stranded citizens got just what they wanted-packed into the two-bedroom homes of two Sion families.

Raise a toast to the Udanis and the Ruparels, and their common friends, the Sheths, of Jai Durga apartments, just off Sion Circle.

Pharmacist Rajesh Udani (36) watched the cars on the Sion Flyover, opposite their balcony, immobile all of Tuesday night.

''On Wednesday when we saw no help coming from any authorities we decided to intervene,'' said Rajesh Udani (36), who reached his first-floor apartment at Jai Durga at midnight, Tuesday, after being stuck at work in South Mumbai.

Along with the Ruparels of the ground floor-Harish Ruparel(51), wife Jayshree (50), daughter Pooja (22) and grand mother Zaver Behn (75)-Rajesh and wife Rupa (35), their nine year old daughter Siddhi, and common friends Rajendra (42) and Pratima Sheth (40), launched the relief operation.

The strategy: the men directed the commuters to the flats. The ladies helped with the food and the kids served.

They made 4 kg of potato bhaji, batches of small rotis in 100s and gave upto 1,000 water bottles between the two homes.

''We Gujratis are fond of eating,'' mused Rajesh who stood for more than an hour in a queue for milk. ''I managed only half a litre, so then we started making black tea.''

And take a look at Rajesh's ration card on Wednesday : 5 kg of sugar.

''The first family we took in were stranded in a huge sports utility vehicle at Sion Flyover for two days. They communicated by sign language that they needed help,'' said Rajesh.

''We just told them to come on over and rest,'' smiled Rupa. She recalled having said hello to maybe 100 strangers-mostly women and kids-who streamed in and out of the toilet.

Pooja Ruparel, in Mumbai for a short holiday. was also put to the job. ''I was designated to fill water in bottles,'' she said. Father Harish explained how the bottles were lined up in their ground floor balcony on Wednesday.

''The commuters never stooped walking,'' he said. ''They rested awhile and kept walking. Once they saw the bottles, they knew this was sign of help.''

Rajendra Seth was given the job of running across bottles and rolls of roti and bhaji to other commuters stuck in traffic across Sion, assisted by his son and Udani's daughter Siddhi.

''We did what felt right.

We couldn't see the drama on television and look on without helping,'' said Rajesh. Later, on Wednesday night, he and Rajendra stopped empty state transport buses. They fought with drivers and made them give lifts to about 200 commuters.

Zaver Behn has seen it before. In 1991, she remembers, a girl left jewellery worth Rs 1 lakh with her. ''I stood at the door smiling at every stranger,'' she said. ''If it happens again, our door will always be open.''
 


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