Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)

Bantwal, Dec 5: Seven students from Chennai, who were devastated by rains which pounded that city, were brought to Vittal on Friday December 4 evening. Entrepreneur from Vittal, Subraya Pai, who has brought them here with his son, Chaitanya, will facilitate the students to recuperate here fully before Chennai returns to normalcy fully.

Subraya Pai and Ramdas Nayak from Bengaluru had visited Chennai on Thursday. They brought 21 students from there with them, out of which 14 were provided accommodation by Nayak at Bengaluru, with the remaining students having been escorted to Vittal by Subraya Pai.

The seven students who came to Vittal are, Chaitanya, Subhash from Andhra Pradesh, Shubham from UP, Harihara from Dubai (currently Udupi), Yuvaraj from Pune, as well as Samad and Abdifatah from Germany. These Seven and other 14 students who reached Bengaluru are all students of Lalaji Memorial Omega International School at Kolapakkam Chennai. They study in different classes from eighth standard to PU. The school has a student strength of around 3,000 who hail from different parts of the country and abroad.

The students went through a horrid time at Chennai with the light drizzle on Tuesday turning into heavy downpour. They had appeared for the examination held on Tuesday morning. They said they were helplessly watching from their rooms upstairs as water level kept rising. By 4.30 am on Wednesday, standing water had immersed even the first floor of their hostel building and the kitchen of the hostel also drowned. As such, they had to spend time without food and water. During the day water level kept rising, and there was no power, with telephone lines and cellphones not functioning. As such the students could not even contact their families.

The students said buses and cars were seen floating in water and snakes and other poisonous creatures floating in water created a sense of terror in their minds. During the entire period of 24 hours, they said they could get only a few biscuits and some water. At midnight, a boat came to take them, and they boarded the boat, which took them to safety from where a bus took them away from danger, they recalled.

The students said that the teachers kept infusing confidence and courage in them all through these trying hours and by keeping company. Subraya Pai said that he and his relative, Ramadas Nayak from Bengaluru, who went to Chennai, got information that the students had been rescued, when they were 15 km away from the hostel. They then went to the spot and brought the students in two vehicles, he added. Pai also noted that these students now have realized that food is invaluable and under no circumstances it should be wasted.