Chennai Cyclone: The First Place I Visited Was the Hotel!

Bihari Dhaba
Image: Bihari Dhaba, the food survival spot in Taramani. 

It was the third week of October 2024. I was staying in a PG in Taramani which was just three kilometers from my office at the Ramanujan IT City.

 

Life was running smoothly. I was getting used to the city, settling into my routine, and figuring out the next goals of my life.

 

Suddenly, I received a weather alert notification on my phone.

The Breaking Point

 

The alert notification was for a massive cyclone tracking straight toward Chennai and about to break in a day or so.

 

As someone who works in operations, I’m used to calculating risk. But while I was sitting there calmly weighing my options, the reality of the storm made the choice for me.

 

Suddenly, the grid went completely dark and everything changed.

 

I stepped out of my room to assess the situation and looked over the balcony. The entire basement of the building was already a muddy lake. The water level was rising with terrifying speed. Without electricity, the air grew heavy and suffocating, and the sound of the relentless rain outside only increased the stress.

Traffic While Moving from PG to Hotel (Luckily I was out of flooded area)!

The Hotel Safehouse

 

As I was in the middle of the cyclonic experience, I realized very quickly that holding the line in a flooded PG wasn’t a brave strategy at all. It was a challenging one.

 

Before the roads became entirely impassable, I packed a quick bag, waded out, and made a run for it.

My destination was a hotel in one of the higher, safer zones of the city. I figured it would be a cinematic 24-to-48-hour staycation until the storm blew over.

 

It ended up taking four days.

 

Four days of watching the city weather the storm from a hotel room gave me a set of new experiences. It also made me realize I needed to change my PG and move to the safest locality.

St. Thomas Mount (Image Credits: GreatRuns.com)

And that’s how I came to St. Thomas Mount

 

This incident forced me to relocate, and this is exactly how I discovered St. Thomas Mount. This place became my peaceful home for the next year and a half. It was a beautiful, vibrant neighborhood filled with incredible, warm people.

 

Yes, my daily commute back to Ramanujan IT City became significantly longer. But looking back, that cyclone was a blessing in disguise. It forced me out of my comfort zone and dropped me right into the community I actually needed.

 

Sometimes in life, just like in business operations, a sudden disruption is just the universe forcing a necessary course correction. All for good.

Ayush Kumar

Project Operations

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Thank you for landing on this page and reading my blog. I will be writing more on project management and also cover my life insights as well. Stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletter. 

About Ayush Kumar

 

Ayush Kumar is a Project Operations professional and writer with experience in project delivery, business operations, and process improvement. Through AyushWrites.in, he shares practical insights on Project Operations, Process Improvement, project management, workflows, and better ways of working.

 

With a writing journey that began in 2016, Ayush combines clear communication with a practical approach to managing projects and improving processes. His work explores topics such as governance, risk management, change control, workflow optimization, and operational efficiency.

For more about Ayush and his journey, visit the About page or connect with him on LinkedIn.

Amazing Years

I started my journey back in 2016. I worked with so many amazing companies and learnt a lot throughout this journey. And I’m still learning new skills and knowledge. 

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Each time you visit this page, you encourage me to perform better and better. So thank you for visiting and getting to know about me!

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