What did 'Sandy' mean to me?? Till about two weeks back, it was the nickname for one of my close friends, who is a 'she'..It was with great difficulty that I accepted hurricane Sandy as HE...I wonder what the logic for naming these storms/hurricanes is. And wonder how they determine the gender..:)
There was enough caution on almost all local news channels here, warning us about the havoc 'Sandy' is going to cause. As usual, we brushed them all aside. We felt that there was a mountain being made out of a molehill. There was a similar hue and cry about 'Irene' last year. When Tsunami hit Chennai waters in 2004, we were almost close to the large Marina shore, at a distance of about 5-6 kms from the beach..The roads were beginning to get crowded, we still managed to drive our two-wheelers merrily, made way through the traffic and reached home safe and sound.. With an 'I have seen worse' attitude, we thought we would brave through this one too...
He came. Caused a lot of damage. He went. Throughout the tri-state area, a lot of huge trees have fallen off roots and there has been flooding with knee-high depth stagnation on the roads in a lot of places..A few houses have been damaged because of the trees falling over. There were heavy winds.Balconies were evacuated of all the pots and other small stuff, as per instructions from the condo staff. We stayed tight, indoors. Our area is quite away from the shores..so, thankfully, we did not get to see much water on our streets..A couple of nearby roads were closed because of the blockage caused by the trees..These were the roads which we once marvelled at for the beautiful Flora and its display of bright fall colors..Paradise, is always short-lived, they say..The change of season would have taken away the charm anyway, it was shorter because of the lost roots now..:(
We lost electricity for 24 hours..That took away our cooking capacities as stove in this apartment runs on electricity. We had planned and cooked every meal in advance before we lost power and managed to push the day with kids getting to eat on time..Just a day, so it did not seem much. We enjoyed some family time sans social networking, internet, telephone and television. That one day was actually very rewarding..It was a forced picnic kinds, inside the home..:) When power came back, life was back to the normal self, except that the school continued to remain closed for the entire week. This is how WE survived the storm..and we were quite happy at that. The way the PSEG worked was really commendable. There was call to every home from the district giving information about evacuation centres, places where food and water was available and the like. School authorities were calling every day to keep us updated about the closure. Round the clock updates on news channels kept us informed about the happenings and forecasts.When I published one such statement on a social network, my friends from home, almost named me a traitor for saying so..Their argument was that when India survives such an attack (some kind of nature havoc) for atleast twice a year, this should be no big deal for a developed nation..Little did I succeed in making them understand that damage is damage, wherever. And if I did not have gas and electricity for 24 hours, there would be an equal celebration and a sigh of relief.
We realized that only the road in which our apartment is, had received power..The city continued to stay dark and gloomy. Gas stations had mile long queues which reached the next station. Grocery stores were clogged with people. We have a pizza eatery opposite to our house. The moment power was restored, the entire city's population was there. Coffee shop was full. We thought this situation would control in a day or two..The storm passed on tuesday and it is saturday today. I went out of home and got to see the outside world after a whole good week. It was surprising to see that a lot of houses are still running without electricity and heat (not withstanding the dipping temperatures to face), schools are being closed for the entire week, roads continue to stay closed. Looks like the entire state is continuing to mourn. We got to hear that the gas supplies to the state is still not back to normal and that we are supposed to exercise caution and use this sparingly. When a developing country could bounce back to life in 2-3 days of a tsunami, what takes the grand sweet land of liberty to regain its composure and bounce back??Enquiring minds want to know..:)
There was enough caution on almost all local news channels here, warning us about the havoc 'Sandy' is going to cause. As usual, we brushed them all aside. We felt that there was a mountain being made out of a molehill. There was a similar hue and cry about 'Irene' last year. When Tsunami hit Chennai waters in 2004, we were almost close to the large Marina shore, at a distance of about 5-6 kms from the beach..The roads were beginning to get crowded, we still managed to drive our two-wheelers merrily, made way through the traffic and reached home safe and sound.. With an 'I have seen worse' attitude, we thought we would brave through this one too...
He came. Caused a lot of damage. He went. Throughout the tri-state area, a lot of huge trees have fallen off roots and there has been flooding with knee-high depth stagnation on the roads in a lot of places..A few houses have been damaged because of the trees falling over. There were heavy winds.Balconies were evacuated of all the pots and other small stuff, as per instructions from the condo staff. We stayed tight, indoors. Our area is quite away from the shores..so, thankfully, we did not get to see much water on our streets..A couple of nearby roads were closed because of the blockage caused by the trees..These were the roads which we once marvelled at for the beautiful Flora and its display of bright fall colors..Paradise, is always short-lived, they say..The change of season would have taken away the charm anyway, it was shorter because of the lost roots now..:(
We lost electricity for 24 hours..That took away our cooking capacities as stove in this apartment runs on electricity. We had planned and cooked every meal in advance before we lost power and managed to push the day with kids getting to eat on time..Just a day, so it did not seem much. We enjoyed some family time sans social networking, internet, telephone and television. That one day was actually very rewarding..It was a forced picnic kinds, inside the home..:) When power came back, life was back to the normal self, except that the school continued to remain closed for the entire week. This is how WE survived the storm..and we were quite happy at that. The way the PSEG worked was really commendable. There was call to every home from the district giving information about evacuation centres, places where food and water was available and the like. School authorities were calling every day to keep us updated about the closure. Round the clock updates on news channels kept us informed about the happenings and forecasts.When I published one such statement on a social network, my friends from home, almost named me a traitor for saying so..Their argument was that when India survives such an attack (some kind of nature havoc) for atleast twice a year, this should be no big deal for a developed nation..Little did I succeed in making them understand that damage is damage, wherever. And if I did not have gas and electricity for 24 hours, there would be an equal celebration and a sigh of relief.
We realized that only the road in which our apartment is, had received power..The city continued to stay dark and gloomy. Gas stations had mile long queues which reached the next station. Grocery stores were clogged with people. We have a pizza eatery opposite to our house. The moment power was restored, the entire city's population was there. Coffee shop was full. We thought this situation would control in a day or two..The storm passed on tuesday and it is saturday today. I went out of home and got to see the outside world after a whole good week. It was surprising to see that a lot of houses are still running without electricity and heat (not withstanding the dipping temperatures to face), schools are being closed for the entire week, roads continue to stay closed. Looks like the entire state is continuing to mourn. We got to hear that the gas supplies to the state is still not back to normal and that we are supposed to exercise caution and use this sparingly. When a developing country could bounce back to life in 2-3 days of a tsunami, what takes the grand sweet land of liberty to regain its composure and bounce back??Enquiring minds want to know..:)
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