Super cyclone

exactly 10 yrs ago, i was sleeping besides my parents and sister. The wind out of my window was at around 200km/hr. The super cyclone of 1999 was at its peak, destroying everything that came its way. In its life span of 36hrs, it killed 9000 people and displaced 12million and affected the life of another 30 million.

29th morning was the time when it all began. my mom was busy preparing breakfast for all of us when first round of winds hit bhubaneswar. It was predicted to be a category 5B cyclone(the highest a cyclone can get), but none us knew what this 5B meant. We thought it will be one of those cyclones which come and go. my sister and I left for school at around 9am only to find the school has been closed due to cyclone. my inital thought was "why dont we hv cyclones everyday", but then i realized that the cyclone must be something big and we rushed back to our homes.

By 1pm it was a proper cyclone with wind speed of around 100km/hr and it was raining as if it wont rain again. By 2pm telephones were dead. Things were flying all over the place. When my dad saw a 10ft*15ft tin hoarding of US64 flying, he knew we were in danger. All the grills and doors were locked. The windows were strengthen by knotting them with ropes. The house was searched for medicines, dettol, cotton, torches, batteries, old radio sets, ready to eat food was searched(although we never found one), gas cylinders were lifted to see how much is left in them, water was boiled and immediately sealed for future use. I found all this very fascinating as it was like preparing for a war. What i did not realize was the presence of mind on behalf of my parents. The winds continued to gain speed. At around 6 in the evening,3 windows of my room and one from sisters room gave up and everything in that room was flying here and there. My parents locked those rooms and asked us to forget everything we had in those rooms. It was then i realised that we were actually in mortal danger( i later learned that cyclone at 6pm was at 250 km/hr). At around 6:30pm, sun said good bye to us and left us with the agony of darkness.
It rained through out the nite and the winds just kept on making all kinds of noises. Throughout this time I was thinking abt my frnds( i didnt even knew if they are alive), my school(has it survived this onslaught of nature), my room and my Omni car that was parked outside.

At around 9pm, dinner was served in candle lite. Mom had put a strict rationing on who is going to eat how much. I being the youngest was allowed to eat as much as possible. i helped myself to two rotis and one cold sabji(the gas was really low). As we went to sleep, i remember my parents praying for the house to survive this onslaught. Next morning, everyone woke to the relief that the house has survived the cyclone. The cyclone was not at its peak, but it was still very strong(the met department later put it at 170 km/hr at 9am). we looked outside the window and all we saw for 1km was barren land, the whole area which was once a dense plantation was now clear. At around 4pm, the cyclone finally ended and we decided to venture out to see the damage. I first rushed to see my school. thankfully it had survived. The school canteen was not tat lucky. We then went to see my dad's office and for the first time in my life I saw tears in his eyes. His experiment on BT rice was all gone. 3 yrs of research, 2 crores on funds, hundreds on sleepless nites,everything was gone.
The SP garden, known for its trees was as flat as a cricket pitch. the gangotri appt( which later became my permanent add) had lost its reliance mobile tower and community hall was on the ground.
When we returned back, we saw everyone in our colony greeting each other for surviving the disater. Soon we had a community kitchen up and running, where everyone polled in their rations(it was end of month,everyone was short of it). There was a sudden sense of brotherhood among everyone. Beggars were given the same food which was prepared for us and Rath uncle gave all the medicine from his store free of cost.
The usually corrupt dept of govt suddenly became the most active ones. ALl the electric towers were up in just 4 days and water service was restored in 7 days.Electricity came after 14days. Everyone worked at 200% efficency and everything was shared. Milk powder reserved for teas and coffee was given to slumps so that poor kids can atleast survive till the govt aid came. The All india radio was up and running in just 2 days and it was then i realised why we need a radio(i later went on to become a communication engg). The news used to come at 6pm everyday and the whole colony used to listen it. We were told the whole nation was with orissa and the death toll was unimaginable.
For all those who think cricket sucks, here what cricket can do to people distress. On 8th nov news, the radio told us Sachin has scored 186 not out against new zealand and India was won by over 100 runs. It was a news which acted as a stimulus to everyone of us, we danced and sang songs. Sachin is a god in India. It was the first time in 10days people were happy and they left no stones unturned to celebrate it.
Unfortunately, the next day newspaper was delivered (Indian Express, bhubaneswar edition). It was 4 page special printed in the worst possible form.I came with a caption, "we did not sleep coz we need to inform you abt this".The headlines was "If there is a hell its here". the pic of a excavator throwing dead bodies in a mass grave. the death toll reported was 3000 with 1000 in bhubaneswar itself.

By 11th nov, we had water and electricity and cable TV was restored. I was summoned by my NCC head to report at police grounds immediately. I along with 40 cadets from my school went there and we were told to voluteer in the relief work at ersama block. We were told to be mentally prepared for the worse. The water had just receded and it was told that we might see few dead bodies. However with wat all had happened in last 14days, all of us said yes to the call. We went to ersama on 11th evening and camped at 30 kms from the main disaster site. next morning, we went there and for the first time in my life a saw a dead body and then another and then another and then 10s of them and soon 100s of them. they were rotting and there was no one to even cremate them. Slowing we reached a viallge where only womens and children had survived. we stayed there for 2days providing medicines and building tenting(last i heard in 2008,those ppl were still in those tents).

By 20th novemeber the official figures were out. 9000 deaths,30 million people affected. over 6000 deaths bcoz of flooding.
Bhubaneswar recieved 600mm of rainfall in 36 hrs, ersama block recieved 900mm. bhubeswar lost 1000 people,ersama 7000. rains killed them, rains are bad, floods are even worse. The total loss was 30000crores.

But there were positives from the cyclone. Orissa in general and Bhubaneswar in particular changed after cyclone. there were less crimes, more friendly people, more friendly teachers, more friendly shop owners and most important a new spirit.

Bhubaneswar had just one big company in 1999, that was NALCO, 3 engg coll,1 five star hotel and no shopping malls. Now in 2009, it has TCS, WIPRO, Infy, Genpact, Biocon, IBM, polaris, satyam, Mindtree, 22 engg coll, 6 five star hotels and 4 shopping malls. The population has tripled. Bhubaneswar has come a long way from a destroyed town to a modern city.

Today I m in goa, mom n dad in port blair, sister in bangalore, but i m sure everyone wants to go back to the bhubaneswar of 99, when ur neighbour prepared food for u and when ur car pulled water from well for the whole colony, when preparing tents for poor was not something u did for riting it on ur CV but bcoz u knew u are providing then a shelter, when sachin's century was a reason to celebrate and when a four page newspaper came without ads.........

They said that a black man will be president when "Pigs will fly".....Indeed 100days of Obama in office and swine flu!!!!

Being a celebrity is great, ur every move is covered by media. Obama completed 100 days in office and took her charming wife on a date. And media made sure we saw that(it was the front page news on ToI and DNA). Well whats the problem yaar, a man took his wife on date why is media hell bound to let the world know it. Really when i read newspaper like Mid day and Mumbai Mirror, i curse the day i started reading english.
Whatever, today i saw a man wearing a mask in VT station, probably he was taking precaution against Swine flu. Well the sight did sent a chill down my spine, if the flu comes to mumbai- who will stop it. You just have to see the jam packed locals to imagine how quickly swine flu can spread in mumbai.

God save mumbai!!!!!!

What if.......

I m currently reading Rashmi Bansal book "Stay hungry stay foolish", its preface goes like this

"Of all the questions we leave unanswered, the one that comes back to haunt us the most is: "what if...
what if I had married my college sweetheart?
what if I had the good sense not to?
what if I had been born in this job market?
what if...
what if I'd planned a little less?
what if I'd planned a little more?
what if I'd chucked it all, and started my own company?"

"What ifs" are never idle fantasy. They are hopes, dreams and desires.Logic and reasons are the naphthalene balls we use to pack them away into a sandbook called "someday". But when that day comes, we are too old, too poor, too tired or too lazy..... those people who seized their moment. So they would not wake up one day with regrets.

As i read this book, i have made a sort of promise to myself: i will try to do everything even if i fail, i will try to keep that sandbook as empty as possible.

Lets see where i reach !!!!