ChinmayC Blog

The South West Monsoon arrived dot on time in Kerala on 1st June, 2020 and hit Maharashtra on 11th June--late by only a day. In the next two days the Monsoon covered all of Maharashtra including the COVID-tormented city of Mumbai. While there have been heavy rains in all parts of the state Mumbai and its suburbs have not felt the presence of the Monsoon yet--rains so far only scattered and inconsistent, unable to lessen the discomfort of the people as humidity was increasing all the time. Recently cyclone Nisarga headed for Mumbai side-tracked the city at the last minute and roared into interior Maharashtra just before the Alibaug town on the coast. That was perhaps a sort of a divine intervention sparing the city reeling under COVID spread from another disaster. In the last two days thunderstorms as per weather forecast for Mumbai and Thane didn't materialize at all. However, we would rather not expect the same treatment to be meted out to the city in regard to the Monsoon too.  T...

When the extremely severe cyclonic storm Amphan hit Kolkata and adjoining districts of West Bengal in the evening of 20 th May, 2020, with a speed ranging from 110 to 133 km per hour the damage could very well be anticipated. West Bengal is not new to cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal, in fact, three cyclones namely ‘Fani’, ‘Bulbul’ and ‘Amphan’ swept over the state within a span of one year only—from May 2019 to May 2020. However, the force and speed of Amphan was unprecedented in the state as some point out that the areas had not seen such a severe cyclone in 283 years. By late night that fateful day, closeted in the control room of her secretariat in Howrah, Chief Minister Mamata Bannerji, distressed and sad, said while briefing the media online that a few districts of her state and Kolkata were totally destroyed and it would take days to assess the damage apart from the loss of lives. She desperately hoped that the central government would come in with some help as her st...

The biggest ever natural calamity to hit USA came on Monday in the form of Hurricane Sandy and is far from over on the third day today. The super-storm first attacked Atlanta city in New Jersey demolishing the gambling mecca there in particular, maybe as a symbolic fury of Mother Nature for sinful human excesses. Then the raging storm advanced towards New York City and caused maximum damage on the most happening place of the world. On the third day today Sandy headed for Canada . Arguably the most advanced nation of the world has been found crying for mercy as Hurricane Sandy methodically progressed on its incredible course of devastation. More than 50 people have perished so far despite all the precautions taken and evacuation done on a war footing. More than 8 million households and businesses have lost power, and again incredibly enough it may take days to restore electricity. Swaths of NYC have been submerged under water continuously. More than 15000 flights have been cancelled ...