There
was the most incredible hailstorm here late this afternoon. Seriously, I am not
given to exaggeration, but I have certainly never seen anything like it with my
own eyes in all my fifty years. One minute, there was a regular nor’wester
raging, sky black, wind howling, rain pouring, the next minute there was the
familiar rat-a-rat on the window panes, signaling the beginning of the hail
onslaught, but unlike hundreds of previous occasions the noise rose to a
thunderous crescendo, like a thousand machine guns going off at once, and I was
so terrified all my west-facing window panes would shatter that I ran to open
the windows, and the furious gust of wind laden with literally scores of
hailstones the size of large marbles almost pushed me off my feet. Within
seconds half the room was covered with ice, and so was my whole garden and the
road in front: it was as though someone had suddenly covered everything in a
winding sheet! Thank God the fury lasted only a few minutes, else heaven knows
how things would have turned out. It is still raining as I write, but now it’s
only a mild drizzle, and all the accumulated ice is visibly melting away. Soon
enough it will be only a dream. This is the nearest thing to a snowfall that
Durgapur will ever see, I think, located as we are bang on the Tropic of
Cancer, but what a spectacle it was, how much more awesome, yes awesome, than a
gentle, silent snowfall could ever be!
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(The road in front, my garden, a close-up of the garden, and my doorstep half an hour after)
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6 comments:
Wow Sir, those are real big hailstones indeed! Wish I too were there! Seeing the size, I am sure some unfortunate souls who were outdoors got some stinging pelting. Maybe its God's way of having fun -- like some kids and even older folks get by pelting animals and even humans with stones and brickbats.
Regards
Thanks for this post and the pictures, Sir. I live in a place where we have snowfall half the year, and although I have grown tired of seeing snow and ice all around me, how I wish I were in Durgapur to witness this terrific hailstorm. I have loved hailstorms (Kalbaisakhi, as we say in Bengali) all my life, inspite of the damage and inconvenience they cause- there is something romantic about them that I can't put my finger on. I just got off the phone with my parents who said yesterday's hailstorm was the most severe they have seen in their lives. And although it blew to pieces a makeshift garage my father had built to accomodate an old car, I guess the sight of watching children playing with snow in Durgapur makes up for some of that loss.
Thanks,
Joydeep
I missed the hailstorm Sir. I was on my way to Maithon on my motorcycle with Madhumita, and both of us reached home drenched in the rain. 'Mission Maithon' was a complete failure, and we had to return from midway.
I experienced some pain while driving in the rain. The drops were so big I felt someone was throwing stones at me, thanks to my large helmet that it kept my face absolutely protected.
While returning, the sky cleared for sometime, the sun rose, and I saw a beautiful rainbow, but I could not photograph it out of fear that the drizzle would destroy my newly bought camera. I just watched it fade away as the clouds covered the sky once more. It was horribly cold - as it is we were drenched, and on top of that I was driving. The cold and moist wind made me feel colder. I was shivering so much while driving that I feared that I would lose balance and fall.
The one thing that I enjoyed in that cold was the soup which Mahumita suggested we should have if we were to feel a bit comfortable. After returning home, I heard that there was a beautiful hailstorm in Durgapur, and I cursed my luck that I was not there. I could have taken some really beautiful photographs, hearing the kind of description that my mother and my cousin gave me!
Thanks,
Subhadip.
Dear Sir,
I had forgotten to shut the windows of my room and my bed was full of ice! My balcony was filled with the 'snow' (which I played with for sometime) and the streets were all white. It was an incredible experience!
Thanks and with regards,
Sayantika
Dear Sir,
They pictures are lovely and will definitely help one get through the harsh Summer. Nature often has this habit of coming to life all of a sudden, breathing new life into parched earth. I'm this was a welcome relief to all of you in Durgapur, and each of you has a story of the hail and the rain to tell.
For once April's not as cruel as the poet makes it out to be. Obviously, Eliot never spent a summer here.
With regards,
Aakash
Dear Sir,
When I first heard about this incident, I found it hard to believe. Later, on reading this post and seeing the wonderful snaps you have taken and knowing very well that you do not exaggerate, I am feeling less fortunate for not being in Durgapur to witness the hailstorm live. But it is nice to know that you enjoyed it and as Aakash da said- I hope the memory of this day will definitely help you get through the harsh summer.
With regards,
Saikat.
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