So I have a fiitjee exam and I have to leave in about 5 minutes. I was getting ready when ma calls me and tells me about the huge storm approaching. I look out and there’s this cloud, sashaying in its enormous glory, directly towards us. The metro is about to be devoured by this beast. No one logically leaves their house in this weather.
I go out with my brother and as soon as I call for the lift the lights go out. We’re stuck on the 20th floor and there dust billowing in preparation for the arrival of the kingly cloud.
Finally power comes back on after 2 mins after we had run down till the 16th floor. We call it, and whether it was due to the dark evening or just because they had turned on all lights of the lift, the elevator just looked like a gate to heaven when it opened. Just needed an angelic chorus behind as it opened.
We get in and get down. We reach the ground floor and the is rain pouring all over the place. We get out our umbrellas and mine turns inside out. I align it with the wind and off we went. The wind is flowing nearly horizontally and the rain is all over us while we try to cover ourselves with the umbrella pathetically. Like the diligent soldiers we are, we trudge along and get to the station. After a few security checks we have to get on the station. And that’s when it really hit me, both the rain and the thought.
It was so much movie aesthetic that I felt someone was gonna tap on my shoulder and tell me I was in a movie as an extra that just went out of frame. The station is high up and open. My umbrella is not even able to support itself right now. My brother is on the opposite platform, waving to me and telling me to get near the elevate shaft for relative relief. Just imagine a movie with the last survivors trying to catch the last rescue train before the zombies overtake them all. It was beautiful but I was not dressed for the occasion. I needed to protect my phone, my books, my watch(it was a lost cause. I got it repaired the next day).
Finally the train arrives I get inside. I walk in the direction of the engine, looking for seats and then find a whole row for my self. I assess my stats. What is wet, what is not. I call ma and tell her I got on the train. I waited for a while in my drenched clothes and then stood up for my station.
The wind was there again. There it is, the message and harbinger of the storm. I get down to the station, which is just pooling with water. I panic for a second that I lost my card and then found it in my pocket. I get a roos the station somehow(its a lot of open space for a storm to saunter in through).
I get to the rickshaw stands and I fail in bargaining because the weather is killing me with worry and and he is so stubborn. I get on and try to protect my phone by curling all of my body around it.
We get to the centre and I pay him while this utter waste of breath man in a car continuously honks at us. Dude! you have a car, wait for a freaking minute.
I run inside and then breathe, take a look at the seating arrangement, breathe, and then run upstairs.
I get in a room and again assess the updated situation. I’m panting, I’m drenched, I’m tired, my possisions are wet, my phone and watch are working. I called ma on the way inside the room and told her I reached the centre safely.
