This is the story of some intrepid Calcuttans who left their homes on Thursday to make sure they reached their workplaces as on any other day. There, in some cases, the workload was heavier than usual.

Shabari Chakraborty, an employee of a private firm in Garia, started from her house in Behala?s Banerjee Para Road to be in time for the morning shift.

?I usually take an autorickshaw or bus to Garia, but today I could find nothing,? Chakraborty said.

Yet, determined to reach her office, Chakraborty first reached Taratala on a rickshaw, and then Tollygunge tram depot in an auto.

Stranded there for quite some time, she finally wriggled into an overloaded auto that took her to Ranikuthi, on NSC Bose Road. ?I knew that I would have to spend most of my day?s salary on transport, but that did not deter me,? she added.

Shabari reached her office by 7.15 am and found that few had turned up. ?There were quite a few important files to be cleared today, and I had to help with other jobs, too, which would help my company avoid losses,? said Shabari.

Urosurgeon Amit Ghose, who lives in Sovabazar, woke up to find the streets flooded after ceaseless rain. He was, however, determined to get to work. Driving his Honda City, Ghose tried to reach a Salt Lake hospital on time for his scheduled surgeries.

Nimtala Ghat Street was waterlogged. ?There was nothing I could do but turn around and drive towards Kalakar Street. But it was the same there,? said Ghose.

With time running out, Ghose decided to take BK Pal Avenue. Driving across craters, Ghose finally reached CR Avenue, which was also flooded.

However, Ghose managed to keep his date and conduct 12 surgeries till 10 pm.

Dejection lay in store for lawyer Prabir Basu, who was to take up a very important case at Alipore court. Basu, who lives on the EM Bypass-Rashbehari connector, had to take a detour through Santoshpur and finally reached court at noon.

?All my hard work came to nought, because the judge could not make it,? said Basu. ?But I, at least, managed to frame several other petitions and worked till late in the evening,? Basu added.

Debasish Chanda, a South Eastern Railway official, lives in Phoolbagan. He takes a train to Alipore and then reaches Garden Reach by office transport.

But, with the heavens opening up, Chanda waited in vain for transport, before taking a bus to work. ?This was an important day, since quite a few trains were cancelled. I had to find out what had actually happened and coordinate with the people responsible for running trains,? said Chanda.