Aila!!

As you might know, Kolkata is near the middle of crescent shaped coast line of Orissa, West Bengal, and Bangladesh. And each year, one or two cyclones (or Hurricanes) threaten to come towards Kolkata, and just before it hits the coast near Kolkata, it diverts to either Bangladesh or Orissa. But this time, today, it didn't move like Warne's leg spin, nor like Murali's off spin... instead it came on straight towards coastal West Bengal, just like Kumble's regular. And like his balls, this came fast.

Only this morning, did I see the warning in the newspaper that a cyclone named Aila is coming towards coastal West Bengal. And I could see the drizzle outside. When I left home, it was still drizzling with a mild wind from East to West. By the time I reached office, it was raining heavily with strong and erratic winds, mainly from North to South. It soon turned violent with very strong winds which was lifting Asbestos shades from the roof, and bursting electrical transformers. The trees were swaying like crazy and the visibility was poor too. Even mobile networks started acting funny (fortunately not my provider). Some temporary vending stalls were flying in the skies, and old trees were being uprooted. At around 2 pm, we heard a warning that the "main" storm is going to pass over Kolkata at around 4 pm, and people were asked to stay indoors. So we left office, and headed for our homes.

It took me almost two hours to reach home (normally it takes about 40 mins) because of all the trees that fell on the roads, and traffic diversions. Fortunately the rains had stopped by then (only slight drizzle and moderate winds). Reports now say the the cyclone has weakened and there will not be a bigger storm as predicted earlier. Rains and moderate winds should still be here for the next couple of days. I hope things come back to normalcy soon.

P.S: My phone's display is gone. I don't have any way of calling you since I don't memorize phone numbers, and if you call, I won't know it's you. Please bear with me till this is fixed.