Editor's note: Backstory is Onmanorama's special year-ender video series. Here, our reporters recall their memorable experiences in 2019. Watch all videos here.
On August 8, I set out to Munnar to shoot a unique Onam video with a few foreigners. My colleagues Sajesh and Ashlin were also with me in that unforgettable trip.
It was drizzling when we started from Kottayam. Rain gathered momentum as we began to climb high ranges. It was tough to drive through the misty hairpin bends. We also got alerts from office back in Kottayam that floods had inundated Munnar. We mulled cancelling the trip. The rain subsided a few minutes later. So we decided go ahead with our plan. But it was not easy.
The wind was heavy and the roads were filled with gushing streams of rainwater. It took us barely a kilometre to realize that we had taken the wrong decision. Rocks and mud from landslide had blocked the road. We had no option but to go back. But all the roads had already been submerged. But our driver took all his courage and braved the extreme weather conditions to take us back to Kottayam. And we all heaved a huge sigh of relief when we got back to office by midnight.
We later came to know that the place we had booked for the shoot at Munnar was inundated and our guests were taken to their hotel. The rain continued for a week. Our shoot got postponed. Finally we did it on September 3, a week before Onam.
(This story was first published on December 24, 2019.)