How time flies! It seems as it happened yesterday. My family lives in Lucknow. It was two years back my family planned to go and see the historical and holy place Mathura, the birth place of Lord Krishna. From Lucknow we started by train in the evening and the next morning we reached Mathura Junction. From the Junction we hired an auto rikshaw and within ten minutes we reached hotel.
Despite the day being very hot we were very enthusiastic to see the holy places of Mathura. First of all we went to see Krishna Janam Bhumi, the birth place of Lord Krishna. It was really marvelous. After that we visited other places like temple of Shri Dwarikadhish, Birla Temple, ghats of river Yamuna and many places in Vrindavan. We passed two days enjoying the trip.
We planned to go Agra the next day. In the morning as we were about to move out, it rained heavily for almost four hours and drizzling continued the whole day. Because of knee deep water on the roads we postponed our program of going to Agra. That year due to heavy rain in almost all over the northern India, water level in the rivers was already high. This rainfall also contributed much to aggravate flood situation. In Mathura, river Yamuna was flowing above the danger sign. All the villages were under water. Water was everywhere. There was much loss of life and property in the area. People suffered a lot. People residing in the adjacent areas left their places. District administration also declared red alert in the city. Rescue operations were launched. People were carried to the safe places. Whole of the streets in the area were full of water. There was no electricity supply in any area of the city for three days.
Daily routine of people got disrupted in the city because many roads were drowned in knee deep water. Flood situation became a challenge for the city administration and its public. That time I was studying in class 12th and to see such a horrible situation of flood was somewhat exciting for me. I wanted to have a look of the river and its nearby areas so we went to Bengali Ghat area where we got a place on the first floor of a house. From there we could see everything apparently. Ground floor of all the houses beside the river, were drowned in water. Holigate, Arya Samaj Road, Chhatta Bazar and many more areas were completely in water. Even some stairs of Dwarikadhish temple were also under water.
Bodies of cattle and human beings could be seen floating on the water. Some people who had climbed the top of the trees were crying for help. All the fields with rich crop were also under water. Rescue operations were fastened. In flooded areas volunteers were dropping food packets from helicopters for the needy or homeless people. Suddenly my eyes fell on an old lady who was sitting on a straw roof and was floating on the water. She was crying for help. I immediately jumped into the river. Water flow was very fast. I had to struggle a lot to reach to the lady. Ultimately I succeeded in saving her life. She was afraid of floating on water so she was painting very fast. I could save her life because I knew swimming. When I jumped into the river my parents were shocked but when I came out of the river they became happy and people, presents on the site appreciated me for my daring act. Really the moment was very thrilling for me. The day has become a memorable day of my life. I always feel happy when I think of the incident.
My parents always teach me that we should always help the needy persons. Even after two years of the incident I feel that at such an early age God gave me an opportunity to prove my faith in humanity. The old lady showered her blessing open me.