From Hurricane Sandy to Cyclone Nilam

I was still groggy and tired from the Halloween party on Saturday night, while the East coast of the US was getting ready for Sandy. Since I was flying out of the West Coast of the US I really didn’t bother tracking Sandy. But as soon I spoke to my friends Uma and Stephanie on the East coast, I realized its impact, though both of them sounded prepared more than anxious.

On the Dubai Chennai sector of my flight from SFO, a septuagenarian Adyar Mami sat beside me and revealed about the low pressure in the Bay of Bengal. I didn’t experience any turbulence on hearing her, since low pressure and cyclones are common part of the October and November weather in Chennai. When I asked her about the source of the information, she said she had spoken to her brother in Adyar before she boarded the flight in Seattle. And just before the descent, the Pilot came on the PA system and briefed about the weather in Chennai. He said the temperature was 27 deg C, rain-free landing in Chennai, but he said there was a low pressure sitting South of Chennai.

I reached home I pinged my friend Stephanie in NJ to check on Sandy’s tantrums. She said while at Walmart that evening, lights flickered and that she was expecting power to go off any moment. She said she was conserving her cell phone batteries for emergency, so I decided not to call her. Within the next 30 mins, must be 5 am in the morning, it started to pour cats and dogs and it turned windy in Chennai. Nilam was making her presence felt, while every news channel in Tamilnadu was tracking her coordinates. I knew I had escaped Sandy, but had to endure Nilam. There is no escape from nature especially when she does her cleaning act. Hardly 10 months after Thane in December 2011, it felt like nature was playing a cruel halloween joke on us here in India and in the East coast of US.

The day before, Mom had made a trip to the nearby supermarket and filled the refrigerator with fruits and veggies. We have enough candles to hold a vigil and Duracell batteries to power our apartment. I stayed home watching CNN and reading NY Times, Providence Journal and Washington Post tracking the impact of power outage, flooding and death from the hurricane. While local channels were showing visuals from Nilam making landfall. Wind started to pick up speed and very soon it almost felt like a howl. I was petrified to stay in my second floor apartment watching trees ominously sway. Nilam had possessed the green cover in the city. Not able to tolerate the howling wind, I closed all the windows in the apartment. Electricity was turned off for 5 hours while the cyclone made landfall.

Here is a short video taken from my terrace:

  

The morning after – People were back and faith was back!

I woke up at 4.30 am, eight hours after Nilam crossed Chennai. There was an unusual calmness - the sky was still cloudy, but it didn’t shed a drop of rain, and the trees remained stand still. I heard the Aavin milk van honk, I knew I didn’t have to worry about my morning coffee.

I decided to take a long walk along Luz Church Road, St. Mary’s Road, Dr. Rangachari Road and CP Ramaswamy Road to access the damage and check on the normalcy of life.

As I passed the Varasiddhi Vinayakar temple on Luz Church Road, I heard MS Subbalakshmi singing Suprabatham and the flower and coconut vendor opening up their shops. On St. Mary’s Road people had gathered for their morning prayer at the Church. Faith was back!

The usually busy Nageswara Park wore a deserted look and appeared like Ashokavanam post Hanuman’s visit. Many old trees had fallen making way for young ones to grow bigger and stronger. Green leaves were strewn everywhere and broken tree limbs precariously hanging from the tree. But that didn’t deter dogs from taking a poop-walk and mamas from taking a health-walk.

The servant maids were returning back to work, while some where already cleaning the leafy mess outside the house and decorating the entrance with a simple Rangoli and welcoming another day.

At 6 am Corporation workers rolled in their handcarts and were getting ready for another busy day. I also saw busy newspaper boys pedaling across Dr. Rangachari Road, while a few mamas standing in their balcony holding freshly brewed filter coffee and impatiently waiting for the newspaper.

At 6.30 am on CP Ramaswamy Road I saw engineering students and those who were employed at the Sri Perumbudur Manufacturing facility (Ford, Hyundai, etc.) waiting for their busses.

I got back home from my walk and turned on CNN to get an update on the clean-up after Sandy’s visit to the East Coast. As I got ready to send a message to my friend Stephanie, I received a message from her brother in-law that she was safe but was without power. I called a few of my friends in Rhode Island, NYC and NJ, some answered their phones and confirmed their safety. Some were happy that they didn’t lose power, while some said they were busy picking up the broken tree limbs in their yards. Nature has it way of showing its emotions and people had their own way of coping up with the fury. Every nation gets its Sandy equivalent. Life is slowly returning back to normal in both cities and this will always be a memorable Halloween.