Oh! Kolkata - Kolkata spends Monday battling Aila

Yesterday was not a typical monday at Kolkata.
Nobody can tell that yesterday this time Aila was terrorizing the whole of Kolkata.It looks near normal now.

Yesterday morning it was raining but I had no clue that the day would turn out the way it did.
Around 10ish the rains intensified and with it came the terrifying howling wind! We thought it was just another stormy day but later when the storm intensified... we could hear things breaking,we heard that trees were uprooted in various places and there was chaos everywhere...It was nightmarish!

Our office decided to close early (around 2pm) so that we could reach home before the storm got worse. It was complete chaos outside...the wind was strong...i had this feeling that I might get whipped up easily and mercilesslyby the wind anytime...
The roads were full of people making their way home.Uprooted trees, and traffic jams added to the chaos. There was practically no means of public transport to take us home. My colleague dropped me home and on our way we managed to give lift to quite a few people.
The city witnessed intense storm till 6pm and then it was somewhat controlled. Though it picked up intensity again but it had weakened considerably and everything quietened by early morning.
Officially the wind claimed 35 lives in Bengal, 15 in Calcutta and Howrah and 20 in other south Bengal districts.

Aila brushed past with less than 50km to spare at 6.30pm on Monday. If it had actually hit Kolkata, the situation would have been worse.
Inspite of the terrifying situation yesterday, Kolkata's spirit is unbeaten. It is another normal day today with full attendance at work.