The Snow Fall

First time when one of my American colleagues warned me of the winter of Chicago, I sarcastically agreed to his comment, thinking at the back of my mind about the cold winters I have endured roaming around the roads of Kodai Hills and a month long NCC Camp in the tents at the oval ground of Sainik School, Nagrota, Jammu during the peak winter.

Today, my preconception about cold was shattered and the winter of Kodaikanal turned warm when the first big wintry storm with a combination of sleet, snow and ice blustered around Illinois, covering everything exposed with a blanket of snow and ice. In spite of the cautious gestures of my colleagues yesterday to stay warm and not to bother attending office today, I got ready to office the usual way, only to be dragged into the Teleconference and Web Conference bridges to attend the flurry of incessant calls pouring in from the managers to ensure the projects stays warm even when everything is freezing in this prickly cold.

The maximum temperature was –3 degree Celsius while the minimum temperature was –10 degree Celsius against a minimum +29 degree Celsius and a maximum of +38 degree Celsius at Chennai.

Deciding to work from home, I stepped out of the house only to see the snow covered streets, roofs, and commuters walked gingerly along slushy road in front of the apartment, people shoveling the snow in their door steps and side walks, digging out their cars buried in snow.

All trees big and small, no longer demanding the sun light for photosynthesis, as their leaves have withered away in the fall, were dressed in the white clad snow in complete submission to the over-powering weather. However, this one plant still with its tender leaves and beautiful flowers is fighting like a warrior, unwilling to give-up, hopes for the sun to appear. A great inspiration!

Though everyone were cold like the weather, only the kids seem to be excited and fancied by the fluffy softy snow, building varied shapes out of it.

This kid pulled his mother out of the home giving her a tough time, jumping into the mounting snow, picking and throwing at his mother, was having a ball.

Though there has been talks of power outages, burying streets and roads, plunging temperature, accidents on the slippery roads, flight and train delays – I enjoyed working from home, occasionally peeping through the window to see the snow turned world outside.