It was around 8.15 pm according to my cell phone, when I realized that I am the only one working in the office. So I quickly packed up my bags and started walking down the fourth floor ( the lifts don't work after 7.30 in our office building) and the moment I step out of the building I realize that a huge dust storm was in its full glory.
Thinking whether to turn back or go head, I wondered what a shame it would be not to experience the harshness of mother nature at its best. And so I decide to walk along and see what she had in stored for me. So I put on my phone's earplugs and start the music and Into the night by Chad Kroeger and Santana it played.
I reach my scooter and the wind is still blowing...not too harsh, neither too calm. I sit on my ride(An LML that I am not too proud of...) revive the engine and take off. The moment I reach the parking gates I start feeling the the loud blows of wind,....coming, and yet to come. I by default decide to take the Ring Road as I felt it'll be the safest way back home...trust me I don't wanna get crushed under a tree.
But before I could even reach Ansal plaza, I start getting second thoughts about going on with this stupid venture of mine. For there was dust blowing all over as if Delhi was to become the Sahara. I could already see huge chunks of tree branches on the road. And the wind blows were so high I could barely keep steady.
But finally I managed to reach the Ansal plaza somehow. I was indeed glad, but my joys were short lived as then suddenly, it became more and more and more windy. I didn't realize what was happening as I was trying too hard to keep my eyes open and stay steady at the same time.
It was then, that reality struck me " Shit! I am actually in the middle of a dust storm". There was no turning back now, even the song changed, and before I knew it I was listening to Areosmith's Taste of India. Taste of India? I am not sure, but dust...I almost can. I had to go on.... not to prove a point to anyone, but out of curiosity.
I was exactly parallel to Ansal when I just had to stop, for moving on at that point of time seemed like nothing less than impossible. While to my amusement I kept moving, fighting the wind, fighting mother nature. Somehow I manage to reach the Ring road, the south ext flyover i.e. The storm had calmed a bit till then. And I thought now the journey would be uneventful.
I took a left turn, and there I was right on the Ring road. And in the middle of south Ext Pt-II, I get face to face with the dust again. I could actually feel sand piling up in my eyelids and nostril's . I kept my mouth shut the entire way, for I knew I'd chock to death if I dare open my trap. trying to ride steady, not able to keep my eyes and head normal, I notice the wave of sand flowing....and actually flowing on the concrete road. It felt like being a part of those Arabian nights stories and your in a camp fire in the middle of the desert. And all that I could hear was Come on baby light my fire...by Jim Morrison. It was a scene that no words can express.
It was not before I crossed the AIIMS flyover, that the storm began to rest. Suddenly there was a smooth cold chill in the air. The cruel dust storm had suddenly turned into soothing breeze. It was almost like standing right next to the Niagara falls. Now I know for sure that the dreaded dust storm is at rest. Felling relaxed, I was now driving with full control.
Noting much happened in the rest of the journey, though right before the Hyatt flyover I saw a sing board which guided the way to the airport, except that it was in the middle of the road. And from there till my home in R.K Puram I kept wondering, what if someone was underneath that sign board when it fell.
I parked my scooter in my lawn and started walking towards the main gate, marking the end of this whole encounter with storm, I hear....Riders on the storm By Jim Morrison.
Dammm....... bad timing!
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