Deadly floods in India’s desert state of Rajasthan have turned a part of this land of sand dunes into a virtual “sea”. This doomsday futuristic scenario, a la Nostradamus predictions, unfolded in India’s Thar desert with at least 138 persons dying as river waters swirl around sand dunes and people watch bewildered from their rooftops.
The Munnabao-Khokrapar rail link between India and Pakistan has also been suspended as flood waters have washed away parts of the track. A scientist says that such unusually heavy rainfall has not been recorded in Rajasthan for 200 years, says the BBC.
The perpetually drought prone district of Barmer, 600 km from the State capital Jaipur, has been transformed from rolling dunes to a cluster of lakes. Initially, the rains from August 19-21 were like manna from heaven for the parched villages. But that hope soon gave way to dismay as the water stayed on stubbornly inundating farms and homes — and taking lives.
‘Up to August 18, we were preparing to face a drought; suddenly this happened. Frankly, we were not prepared for this,’ admitted an official engaged in relief work in the sparsely populated area.
Over 800,000 of Barmer’s two million population are reported to have been affected. Thousands of people have been displaced and dozens are still missing after the three days of rain in an area that had suffered from drought for the last six years.
“The desert looks like a sea. There is no place where one can walk,” Captain Saurabh Modi, an army officer who is involved in relief operations in Barmer, told Reuters by telephone.
Hundreds of people marooned on sand dunes, surrounded by over 15 feet (5 metre) deep pools of water, were being rescued by military helicopters and motorised navy dinghies.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.