I think Vardha’s arrival has left 2016 etched in our memories for the years to come.
India, being a peninsula, is prone to more water-natured calamities. We are far likely to experience the wrath of tornadoes and volcanoes. On some occasions, we are graced with Tsunamis and earthquakes. But Cyclones and hurricanes are our best friends, as calamities go.
Though I live on the coastal city of Chennai, I never had the chance to witness any of Nature’s acts. Though recently I had the pleasure of experiencing Floods. But never a Cyclone. Not one with this intensity of course.
Though Vardha’s arrival was forecasted early, we underestimated her wrath greatly. They predicted a speed of 80-90 kmph, at the worst 100 kmph. But the power I witnessed seemed more.
It began with light rains in the morning at around 5:30. Being a very light sleeper, I was the first to awake in the family. The power had been cut and though it was 5:30 am, it felt a lot like 5:30 pm. We slowly started the day and went about our daily life. But around 12:30, we witnessed Vardha’s real power.
It was like a superhero movie where the villan underestimates the power of the Hero until the last moment.
Man oh man, did it blow! I have never seen such raw power. The buildings and all other man-made constructions underwent an unpredictable Load test. Only the coconut trees withstood Vardha’s power. But they could only hold on for so much long. The main passing of the storm lasted for about 6 hours along the coastal areas.
Vardha seems to have passed but the electricity seems to have gone for good. Being without electricity and gadgets is a real test of one’s patience and creativity. Having switched off my Wi-Fi network to save my phone’s charge, I wondered about the options I had to pass time in the dark without any power. SLEEP is the only answer that stood through all the logic.
But having a roof over my head, sleep is a given to me. But those without a shelter are the ones who are really struggling. Being a developing country and with a population of about 2 million people(I guess), power is a real essential commodity. Not just developing or under developed countries, I doubt even the Developed countries can last without power. Sure, we can handle war or any other attacks between nations. But what about the people. Unless each and every household in a nation can survive without electricity, no nation can be branded as Developed. Many more things such as “How will we know if there is an impending attack or an explosion or an invasion or small things like if the people we care about are safe, will we able to cook tomorrow?”. I know these are unimportant things to worry about. But given my situation, thinking is my one and only pass time.
We say we have evolved over the decades. But how far have we come? One wave, one platonic plate movement, one superheated explosion and everyone is sent back to the Stone age for atleast 2 days (in my estimate).
So the question we should be asking ourselves is “Will we survive without technology ?”
~Masha
Unstoppable Thoughts 