What with all this rain and my laptop and my cell phone all going dead for a good couple of hours (there was a power cut in entire of North Kolkata due to the power disruption caused by the cyclone Aleya [Ayala according to some] that took about 30 lives in Kolkata alone) , i decided to stop procrastinating and start writing. Just general chit chat events, if not amazing things, which i cannot write anyway!!
Went to sleep at three this morning and saw that it was drizzling. Pleasant breeze blowing. Jaak babba!! Uttopto Kolkatar buuk ektu thanda holo! But by nine in the morning, what was then a slight drizzle had turned into a torrential downpour accompanied by heavy gusts of wind and the frightening howl that only a cyclone can bring.
Ma and myself were running frantic in an attempt to keep the house dry as no matter all windows and doors that remained shut, the wind and the water somehow found their way through. All afternoon went in an effort to keep the water out. The water that was so welcome a couple of hours ago, had turned into nuisance and was soon turning into a terror!!
It was not without its reward though!! With the rains came the reason for "khichudi" and "kosha maangsho", the leisure of "muuri" and "peyaaNji" and the relish of coffee and long forgotten bits of anecdotes.
And then there was the television. It's perhaps not wrong to think that the Bengali always keeps a keen eye on all events that happen around him... no matter how material or immaterial!! We too keeping true to the tradition, tuned in to the news; partly because there was little else to do apart from eat and chit chat; and partly because we were concerned about the condition of the traffic with Baba not home yet. Tit bits of news kept floating around me as i munched the papad with concentration. People dying due to uprooted trees. Colonies flooded as water gushes inside. The adversely hit villages of Gosaba and Patharpratima in Sunderbans. We click our tongues and discuss about the sad plight they are facing at the moment.
Politics zooms in and we agree on Mamata Banerjee's accurate strategy of visiting Kakdwip instead to going to Delhi. We smile knowingly about the Chief Minister's decision to visit the affected areas. Babba.... etto din toh jaoya hoyni!! Mamata ashtei bujhi chhowk palte gelo? We are after all, the sitting-at-home-watching-TV-but-know-it-all Bengali!!
But then, the media has been always known to be a great influencer! The rains, the swaying of trees, the water making a mad rush, the upturned autos, the breaking down of the bank of the Ganges....it sends a chill down the spine. All of it does!! Just the enormity of it if not anything else.
Its just that all this rain and storm makes me wonder how trivial, how insignificant, how helpless we are in front of nature!!
Traffic comes to a standstill in Kolkata due to the uprooted trees and water clogging.
The mighty Ganges. Still hungry after gobbling down a jetty.
Speed thrills, but it also kills!! A bike skids on the Vidyasagar Setu.
Police at the mercy of Mother Nature? A police jeep lies helpless in Shakespeare Sarani
Weight down by nature or by our own deeds?
The lamp post bows down for mercy!!
A very common scene on Monday. This particular one from Bangur Avenue.
A brave yet futile attempt to keep the water away!