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WRATH OF NATURE

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SANGEETHA KAMATH






WRATH OF NATURE


Outside, it's usually pitch dark at 5 a.m. The dawn has plans to reveal itself in bits and spurts. First in sepia and then with pastels. 

When I long for the multitude of vibrant hues of the sky, it amazes me with a splash of tangerines and ambers which heralds the arrival of the sun.

In the evening when I leave home from work, I can only hope to witness a sunset, a dull mauve or even a muted champagne canvas that is gentle on my eyes like a vintage photograph.


But, this morning, as I look out of the window, the sky has an unusual splash of orange cast onto the otherwise pale clouds. The air is buzzing with static.


The breeze rustling the trees whips my hair so violently about my face that I can barely open my eyes. Newspapers fly about as if caught in a whirlpool. The trees creak, their branches straining against the brunt of torrent.

There was something odd though, there was an absence of birds and a skittishness in the stray rabbits and cats. That's when the whispers of "hurricane" began.


By midmorning it was blowing a potent dust storm and whisking away anything light that wasn't secured. Everyone prayed that it would leave their home and families alone and go somewhere else. 


I guess it could have gone out to sea if it wanted to but it hit the coast and kept on going inland. It wasn't supposed to hit our town, but it came right for us! Like it took a fancy to our town named Seaman's Cove and decided to make a pit stop right here!


 

I hunkered down in the old wine cellar of our home.The hurricane had grown to a gargantuan spin over the sea. A 74mph tempest and gale was howling like a banshee. 

The cellar was as black as a coal mine. When I manage to look at the time on my phone, it was almost noon..

It was right overhead, gusting so enormously that I had to clamp my palms over my ears. It felt like my ear drums would explode! 


The beams of the house groaned in a way that sent shivers down my spine. I stayed on the floor for an eternity! The hurricane showed no sign of quitting. It was boundless. I could hear objects crashing on the roof of my wine cellar.


All the houses in the town stood on trial. Roof tiles were ripped apart as they flew haphazardly like rogue missiles. The panes rattled as if in seizures and splintered while still in their aging frames. The walls creaked, cracked and chunks of plaster, wood, cement came down like a ton of bricks. 

The gale continued screaming around each dwelling as a fury, pushing its way under every door and through every window.


Then, as suddenly as it all began, all went silent in a trice. Absolutely nothing stirred. Not even a whisper! 



When I poked my head through the gap of the wine cellar, the house was gone! Only a levelled expanse of land covered in ruination that was our neighbourhood, surrounded me.

For a moment, everyone was blinded by the brilliant sunlight, for, every livid cloud had disappeared like a ghost that never existed.

The sky was once more a perfect powder blue...just like a fairytale dream! All that remained were the heavens and the earth and many broken families and dreams...



The hurricane had swerved it's trajectory like an indecisive devil on whim, unleashing it's wrath on everything in its path.


It had made its exit noiselessly and without fanfare--- like a vengeful, contented dragon leaving behind a trail of a heap of rubble and twisted metal. Maimed trees uprooted and lying on their sides, looked like mangled pieces of driftwood!


What an apocalypse!


The once picture perfect town we called home looked like a scene right out of the end of days. Such was the speed and savagery of nature's fury called 'hurricane'.

 


Pic Courtesy: Pixabay
©️ Sangeetha Kamath Prabhu

 


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Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 20, 2022 at 9:38 PM

    Visual artistry of color and rhyme....I saw it unwrapping the fury , sound, fear, anxiety, fear, time lapse....and then the stillness in a trice....I lived every step of it in the coal dust wrapped wine cellar which saved me when home was razed with the rest of the neighbo hood- amazing poetry of the horror hurricane.

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  2. MoumitaFebruary 24, 2022 at 12:08 AM

    The descriptions and scenes were penned very well. I could visualize all. The changing hues were described beautifully. What a scary situation! The silence after the storm, the ruins, hiding inside the wine cellar... what an experience one must've had then. Nature's fury was well presented with good choice of words. Though a devastating situation, I enjoyed reading the story. :)

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