What is the world coming to??! Or, more precisely, where is the world going?? The bizarre weather has been the talk of the town, be it in corporate lunches or with mothers waiting at the school gate to pick up their child.
A l'il rain is expected around this time of the year in our part of the world. In fact it's much awaited and quite welcome. It announces the arrival of the Bengali New Year and is a relief from the hot, sultry summer days. Kids and adults wait with bated breath for the first hint of dark clouds in the clear skies. The storms mean tiny unripe mangoes get knocked of the branches and fall, to be immediately scooped up by eager half clad street urchins. We've fought with these kids to collect our share under the neighboorhood Mango treeS when we were young. As soon as the weather cools down it manages to cool frayed nerves of drivers and people on the streets of Kolkata. There seems to be less honking, less irritation at the red lights and general bonhomie increases. The buses, autos, taxis and private cars being driven by the lot of hot, sweaty, tired men heave a huge sigh of relief...after all it's the automobiles which have to bear the brunt of foul tempers at the hands of the dissatisfied souls behind their wheels. The hawkers breathe easy, stop fanning themselves with the day's newspaper and settle down to chit chat with their neighbour the discussions ranging from politics to sports and crops to world economy! The multitude of shoppers who're out shopping for "Poila Boishak" put their umbrellas away and throng the hawkers with renewed gusto buying new clothes, shoes, bags and what have you for family and friends.
This year too was going to be the same. That's what everybody was prepared for. A l'il rain and sudden storms and once it was over everybody goes about their business again. But...
This year the rains were heavy and the storms were fierce. The winds so strong that it blew off the plastic sheets covering the goodies the hawkers were selling and the rains so unseasonal that it scared the even the most dedicated shoppers into staying indoors. Every evening for the past two weeks the shopping area has had an uncanny, deserted look and people preferred not to stray out as unfailingly the storm and rain held the city hostage. But the indomitable spirit of the "bangali" won and everyday the shops saw a steady footfall after the rain and storm had wreaked havoc.
As if nature hadn't had enough of her games this year, she decided to finish with a florish. EARTHQUAKE!!! The whole country and most of South East Asia shook day before because of the earthquake under the seas near Sumatra. Thankfully there seems to have been no major damage anywhere and the jinx of heavy rain every evening seems to have been broken.
My mum always says that whenever the weather behaves strangely and there is an unexplained cloud cover with storms and/or rain, there will be an earthquake somewhere...and true to her words we hear about an earthquake somewhere in the world in the news.But my sister's Facebook update summed it up really well..." looks like the Mayans were right..."
A l'il rain is expected around this time of the year in our part of the world. In fact it's much awaited and quite welcome. It announces the arrival of the Bengali New Year and is a relief from the hot, sultry summer days. Kids and adults wait with bated breath for the first hint of dark clouds in the clear skies. The storms mean tiny unripe mangoes get knocked of the branches and fall, to be immediately scooped up by eager half clad street urchins. We've fought with these kids to collect our share under the neighboorhood Mango treeS when we were young. As soon as the weather cools down it manages to cool frayed nerves of drivers and people on the streets of Kolkata. There seems to be less honking, less irritation at the red lights and general bonhomie increases. The buses, autos, taxis and private cars being driven by the lot of hot, sweaty, tired men heave a huge sigh of relief...after all it's the automobiles which have to bear the brunt of foul tempers at the hands of the dissatisfied souls behind their wheels. The hawkers breathe easy, stop fanning themselves with the day's newspaper and settle down to chit chat with their neighbour the discussions ranging from politics to sports and crops to world economy! The multitude of shoppers who're out shopping for "Poila Boishak" put their umbrellas away and throng the hawkers with renewed gusto buying new clothes, shoes, bags and what have you for family and friends.
This year too was going to be the same. That's what everybody was prepared for. A l'il rain and sudden storms and once it was over everybody goes about their business again. But...
This year the rains were heavy and the storms were fierce. The winds so strong that it blew off the plastic sheets covering the goodies the hawkers were selling and the rains so unseasonal that it scared the even the most dedicated shoppers into staying indoors. Every evening for the past two weeks the shopping area has had an uncanny, deserted look and people preferred not to stray out as unfailingly the storm and rain held the city hostage. But the indomitable spirit of the "bangali" won and everyday the shops saw a steady footfall after the rain and storm had wreaked havoc.
As if nature hadn't had enough of her games this year, she decided to finish with a florish. EARTHQUAKE!!! The whole country and most of South East Asia shook day before because of the earthquake under the seas near Sumatra. Thankfully there seems to have been no major damage anywhere and the jinx of heavy rain every evening seems to have been broken.
My mum always says that whenever the weather behaves strangely and there is an unexplained cloud cover with storms and/or rain, there will be an earthquake somewhere...and true to her words we hear about an earthquake somewhere in the world in the news.But my sister's Facebook update summed it up really well..." looks like the Mayans were right..."
Comments
Post a Comment
I am happy to know what you think. Just be civil and refrain from explicits please. Thank you for visiting my blog :)