An open letter by CYCLONE VAYU:

“Homo sapiens are a weird lot. Here, I am heading at terrifying speed to strike their cities and these fools are too busy trying to give a name to me. What does it matter what I am named. After all, I will vent my anger for say, two days and then I will disappear. 

Anyway, I am hovering in the middle of the Arabian sea wondering how to proceed. I am in a dilemna. The coastline is long and I could hit any of the cities or towns but some deep sense of goodness halts me, pausing me to question the consequences that will arise out of my viciousness. 

Since I have heard so much about this invincible city called Mumbai, I thought I will get a peep and decide whether it is really as unstoppable as it was described to me. Even as I tried to make my presence felt, the city continued its routine with a nonchalance that surprised me. My presence created little bit of water logging, heavy showers & winds that pulled down metal sheets from walls and killed a man. Still, the city continued its pace. There was no stopping of devotees thronging the shrines. Be it the famous Siddhi Vinayak temple or Mahalakshmi or Haji Ali, I realise my presence has not deterred them from their faith. They continued to queue up with their umbrellas and rain coats. Some even got drenched. The city local trains ran in full capacity. Some of the travellers hanging onto the doorways seemed to enjoy the first showers of the season. The street children were unabashed about playing in the slush. In spite of weather warnings, there were young men and women dipping their feet in the sea water and posing for selfies.

I looked at all the faces of these city dwellers. There was no fear about me lurking somewhere nearby or that in a few hours, I may strike at their beloved city and render some of them homeless. No, there was this indomitable spirit that unfazed them in the face of any adversary. 

Even if some part in me wanted to wound their pride and smash it to smithereens, the tiny good part in me wanted to salute their unyielding ethos.

So I passed them, looking for other parts of the coast to vent my anger....

Would I go on to unleash my fury on Gujrat or withdraw into the ocean and dwindle into its depth?

Catch me soon...Till then

Yours truly

Vayu”