Last week I had a small adventure and wanted to record some of the events before I forget them and to take the opportunity to praise both the good people of Chennai and the stellar staff of Singapore Airlines. You’ll find nothing about Oracle here and unless you’re a friend or my family, probably not much to care about, but those are the people I’m writing this for.
I suppose it began the previous week when we received a travel advisory ahead of my short two night business trip warning us of fresh rains and flooding risk in Chennai. I asked my boss if it was really a good idea for us to travel, particularly as I had to be back on Wednesday morning for my partners birthday trip to Phuket. But the decision was made and so I found myself in a somewhat wet Chennai on Sunday night.
However, other than some occasional rain and the residual effects of earlier flooding – Chennai has been living with this for a while now – the business stuff went well and I woke up at 4am (jetlag) on Tuesday, looking forward to travelling home that night.
Tuesday
Sitting in my final meeting before travelling to the airport, one of the attendees suggested that we break up the meeting as people were getting calls from home to tell them that their homes were being flooded! So we broke up, the office cleared out and we phoned for the car to come from our hotel 25 minutes away. Estimated time of arrival 1-2 hours! Oh well. I’d be pushing it to make my flight, but would probably be fine.
We waited and after the first hour I stood outside with an umbrella, sheltering under a
concrete archway until I’d venture out with the brolly at each possible hotel car sighting. It also gave me an opportunity to smoke outside but under the brolly. However, after an hour of this, I was absolutely drenched and my feet and trousers were soaking. Just me being an idiot as usual, but I would come to regret this more and more as time passed later. Soaking clothes were not ideal for the trip to come and I’d packed extremely lightly!
The car turned up at 6:15 and so began our journey to the hotel and then probably time for a quick beer, dry out a bit and then on to the airport.
We eventually arrived at the hotel 1:45 later and I was starting to panic because Chennai Airport (MAA) is one where arriving 2-3 hours before departure is definitely a good idea. Don’t get me started on Indian airport security! I was 3:15 away from departure so after switching to another car to give our poor driver a break, we set off immediately. The next hour and 15 minutes were frankly chaotic and worrying as we passed roads that were now rivers, with cars almost under water and the wake from our own car more like that generated by a boat. Despite a very hairy ending to the drive, we made it to the airport 2 hours before departure and I breathed a huge sigh of relief because I knew I’d probably make it home now.
Except Singapore Airlines wouldn’t check me in because the flight was going to be seriously delayed, the situation was changing all the time and they didn’t want us stuck air-side. The incoming plane had been diverted to Bangalore (BLR) because MAA runway was closed. If the runway could be reopened, then they would fly the plane in from BLR, board us and we could fly home but it was clear there’d be a long delay in any case. I made the decision it was best to stick around as I really needed to get home but what sealed it was that there were now no rooms at all in the hotel I’d checked out of. I could share my bosses room, but that was the best on offer and all taxis had stopped operating from the airport anyway.
After an hour or two, the flight was cancelled and the runway closed until 6am. Singapore Airlines immediately informed us what was happening and organised
hot airline style food and a blanket each. The food was the first of many South Indian meals I was to face over the course of the next few days and those who know me well know that means I was condemned to mild hunger! LOL. Fortunately I had a giant bag of Haribo Gold Bears I could dig into occasionally 😉
Wednesday
Though the blanket was ok, sleeping on the marble floor of an airport terminal with your rucksack as a pillow and a thin blanket is never going to be an enjoyable experience and I think I managed about an hour. Others who had managed to
commandeer
seats and benches seemed to fair better. Here was my slot – always go Business Class, folks! 😉
I wandered up and down the terminal aimlessly (and there really isn’t much else to do in MAA), occasionally trying to get out of the terminal building through security
so I could have a smoke. Did I mention how I feel about Indian Security guys? Really, just don’t get me started on them!I was hearing rumours from home that Singapore Airlines were flying a plane in and we would be able to get out so I stuck with it but, ultimately, it became
clear that the runway was closed and was going to be closed for some time at which point Singapore stepped in and took control of the situation. They cancelled the flight and organised a bus to the Hilton Chennai where we wouldn’t be able to have rooms (there were really none available and they offered to pay the costs of anyone who could find one) but we could at least get some food and get away from MAA. It was yet another great decision as MAA was starting to descend into chaos. After a surprisingly easy and short bus drive, we found ourselves at the Hilton but I wasn’t sure how much of a benefit being able to stay in Ballroom 2 for hours was going to be.
Over time I came to realise it was a great move when I started hearing reports of what a car crash the MAA terminal had become. We also had wifi for a few hours, which meant I was able to contact Mads so she could start rebooking our trip to Phuket for the next day, in case I was going to get back to Singapore in time. Our original Wednesday departure was clearly a no-go by this stage.
It also helped that we could now get some decent coffee and biscuits and Singapore and the Hilton could start serving up some really pretty good hot buffet lunch. All South Indian food, of course! But then, what else should I expect really? LOL
But at least there were chairs, and power sockets, and some wifi and even occasionally a little 3G, but Chennai’s communications infrastructure was slowly but surely disappearing into the surrounding water! I could go outside, try to find reception, smoke, chat to the Singapore Airlines staff who were taking care of us and two of those trips outside will stay with me for a while. (Note that although the flooding doesn’t look too bad here, this was definitely one of the better streets and it got much worse later …)
The first was when I was smoking with one of the SQ guys (hopefully not something that’s disallowed, but I’m not handing his name over anyway! 😉) and I asked him how he thought things were looking. He showed me a video he’d taken of the runway area and my heart sank. It was a lake. A big lake. With waves and stuff. He told me that realistically, nothing would be flying out of MAA any time soon and my heart sank. At the same time, I settled into the idea that this was going to be a long trip and maybe it’s something about my military upbringing but I knew that we’d just have to put up with whatever was coming and we’d get there in the end.
Besides, the next visit outside cheered me up no end. As I was passing the time, smoking and day-dreaming, a commotion broke out in the crowd in the street with people running and pushing and laughing and shouting and I genuinely thought there was a mini-riot breaking out.
We all rushed over to see what was going on and then I realised, but I didn’t get a photo of it! The crowd were grappling with a large fish! It must have been a good 2.5-3 feet long and fat. Absolutely not a tiddler! As they caught it, they all ran back up the street, laughing and celebrating with their prize.
Catching fish in the street with your hands. Now *that’s* flooding!
More to follow ….
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