North-Western

Have you ever heard of a ‘North-Western’? And no I do not mean the region in the north where it is far to cold to live but people seem to enjoy it anyways. In Bangladesh it is now the north-western season. This means that out of literally nowhere a storm (coming from south east) over takes the land. In a matter of minutes a clear blue sky turns black, and as if some supernatural force has turned on a tap the rain pours down. It is not unlikely that hail the size of golf balls come with it. 10 minutes later the whole thing is over and one stands wondering what the hell just happened.

Well that happened two days ago during our visit to Pink City. We went into the building under a clear sky and 20 minutes later when we had seen about all the bling bling we could take we went out and found ‘the day after tomorrow’ type of scenario. May be that is why I lived in the belief all yesterday that it was Tuesday. And Tuesday means one thing: social tennis at the Nordic club. (Social tennis is when no one can book the tennis court, and it is open for all adults to play one doubles match at a time…complicated to explain but never the less fun).

As I left the office to head to the tennis court I saw that the sky was becoming more and more black. But I decided to challenge fate and run to the tennis court anyways. As I reached the court my friends told me that though my tennis ambitions were high I was out of luck with regards to my sanity: it was Monday and not Tuesday. But they let me play with them, and we all were rather foolish to play when this monster storm was developing right over our heads (one could actually see clouds emerging right over us). And when lightning strikes one does not want to be caught in a serve with the tennis racket pointing towards the sky. 10 minutes later there was no mercy and the skies opened up. We gave up on the tennis and I had a beer with a another friend instead.

It is frightening to realize that when it gets to Mother Nature, we are after all, rather small.

/Chris