Rainy Days in Chennai

It’s the fourth continuous day of rain in the city of Chennai. The good thing is that the temperatures have gone down considerably, I am not finding any difference between the present climate of Chennai and Bangalore. The bad thing is that it rains heavily when I am planning to leave for the office in the morning and while I am planning to leave for home in the evening.

Added to that I do not have an umbrella and I’ve not brought my raincoat from Bangalore. So I am totally at the mercy of rain god. In fact after I start my bike, I lookup to the sky and say a silent prayer that I should reach home dry and safe.

On Monday, I was sprayed by one of the fellow bike driver while I was on my way to office. So I devised a strategy to be followed when I drive on roads while its raining. I’ve been following this strategy and its been very successful for the past 2 days. No dirt or stains on my white uniform!!!

I never stay behind a two wheeler, what I do is, I follow a large vehicle which is moving along with the divider in the road. I maintain a safe distance and do not allow other vehicles to get in between me and large vehicle ahead of me. On Tuesday, it was a truck, while today it was an Ambassador car.

The roads are not flooded, but there are muddy puddles in the middle, which are a serious threat to my white uniform. Somehow I have been successful in avoiding all of them in the past 2 days.

It was raining yesterday night too, and I was stuck in my house, unable to move out and have dinner (We do not cook at home). I had to order pizza from Dominos. 90 bucks for a simple Non-Veg pizza!!!

According to the Met department, the rains will continue for another 2 days. So I need to follow the same strategy for the next two days too. Wish me luck!!!

Its been raining very heavily in Bangalore too. Most of my friends are spending 3-4 hours stuck in the traffic, in the heavy rains, between their office and home. In fact one of my friend, decided to stay back at office rather than getting out in the mess. May areas are submerged in knee deep water – Hosur road, HSR Layout, etc. Madiwala lake is overflowing.

I’ll be leaving for Bangalore this weekend. Due to the rains, all the major roads between the two cities are in a bad shape. I hear that the road is shutdown for traffic today. Another bad news is that on Sunday, Bangalore Kanyakumari express derailed in the Bangalore-Jolapettai section, due to which the rail traffic has come to a complete halt in that section.

I hope that things start stabilize by Saturday, so that I can go to Bangalore for a 4 day Diwali break.

I’m busy reading The Negotiator by Fredrick Forsyth. An amazing book, I really had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep. It was 1am when I finally decided that I should sleep. The narration is brilliant, always keeping me guessing. Have read half, and the way Forsyth is taking the story, I’m sure that I’ll complete the book in 2-3 days.

This one will definitely go straight to the top of my favourite books list, along with The Bourne Identity, Godfather and Total Control.