Thursday, October 28, 2010

Winnnnnnnnnndy!!

Yes, we know Chicago is called the Windy city....
Yesterday my walk to V's school was very "interesting"... it was super windy. Windy to the point that I had to hold the railing of the building fence just to make sure. I know I was not going to fly away, but falling down in the middle of the street was not my idea of "adventure".
So for over 10 minutes, I help on to the fence with other people around me doing the same. Some hiding their faces to avoid flying debris of pebbles, leaves, dust, scarves etc. The little kids were the cutest. They would hold on to their parents hands dearly and have the biggest grins, while the parents had the scared expressions.
I could hear the wind howl, the people in the cars looking worried for us and above all people around me... all strangers, just trying to take a step at a time to get to there. destinations. Again, luckily it was just windy (The weather alarm said topping 45 miles per hour in some areas and topping 60-70 miles in some). Like I said "interesting" walk.
I realized, here I am, not helpless. Some part of me actually enjoying this freakish wind. I knew it was only for the next thirty minutes after which I would be in the comfort of my own warm house, looking on the streets below with my daughter safely in my arms sipping hot soup and hubby in his car driving home safely.
But at the other end, for some, it’s a way of life. One freakish day after another and they can’t count on a cozy house, a warm meal or even the kindness of strangers. And my heart melted.
We really make a huge deal of "our" own problems to not realize how miniscule they are in front of some others. More recently like the Indonesian Earthquake, Tsunami and the volcano all at once!

4 comments:

Priyanka Rajkhowa said...

Have never experienced the Chicago wind....but can only imagine hw nasty it gets...but I can see how it can make one value the coziness of a warm home , which along with so many other luxuries, we more often than not take so much for granted...

P.S. still catching up on your previous ...I see there's a lot fo catching up to do ;)...have been out of blogospher for a while now ;(

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of the time I was in uni here, I had a pile of fat software books to return to the library in my bag, it was so windy that I was picked off the ground with my heavy bag and I fell on a guy walking 3 steps behind me. He screamed louder than me :P :D

Aaaah good times :D

Garima said...

@ Priyanka, come on over and all you have to do is step outside!

@ Ananya...hahaa...that hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Oh I have had that experience! It was raining as well, and I had the misfortune of carrying an umbrella, and it flew right away :) All I could do was somehow try and ensure that the wind did not sweep me off my feet :)

Yes, we can only count our blessings. We are so much luckier than people who have to face this on a daily basis.