On 6th October, Hon. minister Rajnath ji flagged off the telemedicine unit and Ambulance unit from India gate, New Delhi.

Rajnath ji personally visited both units and was glad to see the capabilities of both units. Talking to the reporters, he said, “Amma is doing a lot for the society. She is an embodiment of Love and Compassion. This noble mission of sending these units for medical relief to Kashmir is yet another example of it”.

All those who were gathered at the occasion were surprised to see that these mobile medical units had come all the way from Kerala and were on their way to provide medical relief to affected people in Kashmir.

The team of our doctors, paramedics and technicians were to leave the next day on 7th october. A few of us headed for Kashmir immediately after the flag off. Right after landing in Srinagar airport, we hired a taxi. Our taxi driver (Javed) was a nice guy and had good knowledge of flood affected areas. In fact he had personally rescued many people during the floods. Dr Adnan, who had worked in AIMS before, also came to pick us up in the airport. We headed towards Jawahar nagar to witness the footprints of devastation caused by the water-logging for many days. Almost all of us were murmuring “Oh my God!”. We got down from the car that we had rented and went down into one of the flood affected colonies of Jawahar Nagar, which was once one of the posh colonies in Srinagar, and had now turned into a stranded lonely place. All houses were broken and we could still see the watermarks on the walls. Some of the areas had a peculiar stink and it seemed like as if the broken houses and lanes were wailing. After walking through some secluded lanes, we met a man whose house was collapsed. He was a businessman who had suffered heavy losses in the floods.

As it was getting dark, we headed back to Dr Adnan’s house for a quick Kashmiri tea (Kahwa). Next morning we went to Rajbagh. Over a long stretch we could see cars – some of them covered with mud, some with broken glasses, some upside down, and some still submerged in remains of logged waters. In a nearby police station, we spoke to few policemen who had been witness to the floods. At the end of the road stretch, some families who lost their homes, were living in the road side tents.

We then went to zero bridge. Here we saw some houseboats that were affected badly by the floods. One of the houseboats had landed on the shore which is usually 25 feet above the normal water level. Coincidentally, we met Shabir inside this houseboat. Shabir works part time and his wife is from USA. In a refined English accent, he started telling us about the great time he had had during his stay in Amritapuri few years back. He had actually come to AIMS for some medical checkup then. He felt deeply moved when we told him about our mission, and we felt that Amma was hinting to us that “Wherever you go, I will be with you”.

Soon we started on our way to Bandipura, where we were supposed to conduct the medical camps as per the direction of Government officials.

– Amit