Nerve Endings Firing Away

It is raining hurricanes in the Southeast. People have been given evacuation orders and by the time, you read this Hurricane Frances would have already battered poor Florida and moved menacingly towards Atlanta; hopefully with less strength. Although we have been promised a glorious weekend, the week promises much rain. Ever notice how the meteorologists out here are frighteningly accurate, even with Atlanta’s unpredictable weather?

I sorely miss the grainy pictures on Doordarshan with puffs of cotton over a dark Indian map and the minimum/maximum temperatures for the four metros. Normally only a few degrees varied in that range, at least for Bombay and Madras (as they were known then). The “garaj ke saath cheete padne ki sambavna hai,” predictions either missed the garajna or the cheete. I don’t recall being peppered with newscasts of dire weather and ominous predictions that we normally hear on the local channels here. Heck, sometime even the ensuing storm is the lead story; much before the Russian-Chechen turmoil or the military coup in Latin America. However, it isn’t, always, the hype. Florida was totally battered by Hurricane Charlie and caused billions in damage. Frances is all set to repeat recent history. It almost seems like a household with truant kids; Charlie leaves a trail of devastation, romping about wildly and Frances comes in roaring, tearing up everything; and here comes Mom, everyone hide or blame the other!

But it seems like hurricane season all over the world. The Indian subcontinent already had its annual share of typhoons (that’s what they call them hurricanes in the Indian Ocean). Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Bangladesh are regular victims and I think people must have seriously considered constructing amphibious houses. That is a great idea, nah? I wonder why no one ever thought of it. I love my brainwaves while writing for my blog. Anyways, getting back to the serious issues, can we ever perfect the art of staying one up on the weather gods? Although we have enough technology to construct an atmosphere for Mars but sadly the weather keeps us guessing and is always one step ahead.

PS. Last I heard, we Atlantans will be spared from the fury of Frances but Ivan is waiting in the wings.