Among the thousands of people who can never forget the fateful day of July 26 when the rains unleashed their fury on the city of Mumbai and help was hard to come by was filmmaker Ashok Pandit.

Pandit, who was stuck between Mahim and Khar, had to abandon his car mid-way and wade through the water the whole night before he reached his Juhu bungalow the next afternoon.

On reaching home, he was in for a bigger horror when he saw his bungalow completely submerged in water and his important documents and videocassettes floating in the vicinity. His wife, children and parents, who had hurriedly shifted to a neighbouring house on the second floor, were apprehensive about coming down.

Recalls Pandit, "Even the valuables in the house and the electronic items could not be saved in time. It was as if misfortune was waiting at my doorstep."

More traumatizing was the one-and-a-half days he spent trying to reach home when like thousands of people he had a close brush with death.

He is now planning to launch a protest against the way the government handled the whole situation.