Hurricane Mupaatha!!!

There has been a series of rain storms tormenting Chennaites and denizens of Tamil Nadu in the last 6 weeks. These hurricanes seem to be never ending. Just when you think that you have seen the last of the mupaathas, Bay of Bengal conjures a brand new Miniamma. I am tired of going to the office soaking wet. It especially takes a toll on your mental and physical well being when " the concerned authorities" in your office believe that a soaking wet employee would be VERY productive when you make him freeze in a centrally air-conditioned room. Actually, coming to think of it, it has increased my productivity levels. My frequency of visits to the rest room has doubled in the last month. If there are any tests like Arctic Circle Certified Eskimo, I think I would ace it.

Every morning I leave my home 'smartly'(please, my blog is the only place where I am given the liberty of associating myself with such adjectives) attired, looking forward to do some kili josiyam (an impolite way of saying market forecasting) with the North American enterprise communications market. I step out of my house, and I see a puddle of water lying between my house gate and the road. I try my best to long jump to the dry road (onlookers have mentioned that my run up and movements resemble Carl Lewis). 9 out of 10 times I manage to make the jump and save my leather shoes. Then the next big ordeal is to reach the auto stand dry. The only way I can do that is walk in the middle of the road as walking on the sides of the road makes me feel like a small fish in a HUGE pond. Now, walking on the middle of the road is not very easy as there might be this occasional kuppathotti vandi (garbage van) that will appear suddenly. One has to be extremely alert in such a situation as you will only have seconds to decide on your altered course to the auto stand. Lunging towards the right side of the road or the left side of the road should depend on the shallowness of the puddle on each side and your high jumping capabilities. High jumping because, you wont have the luxury of free space to take a run up to gather momentum and cross the puddle. 6 out of 10 times I manage to take the right decision and lunge my way to safe and dry land. Its very tough to do and you get better with practice. On reaching the auto stand, if I am still dry, I thank God for his divine mercy and start haggling with the auto-driver. Auto drivers these days just need a reason to charge you an exorbitant fare (the last absurd one that I heard was Sourav Ganguly not making the one day team). So the rains have made them double their usual fares.

So, now on getting into the auto I am resonably pleased with myself and I begin to entertain visions of reaching my office perfectly dry. But life is cruel my friends, I found out that the chances of getting wet inside the auto is double than walking the same distance by foot.The auto stops being an auto and gets converted into a motor boat once we reach the main roads (you should consider yourself lucky as long as the auto doesn't turn into a submarine, it has happened quite a few times in areas like Tambaram). Bright motorists rev up their engines and hit their foot on the accelerator pedal so hard that displace half the water on the main road into the auto. So the only way of avoiding the water is by sitting on the center seat, removing your shoes and placing it on the boot of the auto and rolling up your pant. When I step out of the auto on reaching my office, I look like the farmers shown in vayalum valvum (agricultural programme) on DD, wet and muddy. Instead of having paddy in my hands I will be having my shoes in one and my bag in the other.