Hurricane IKE

I can be a pragmatist and say that this is just another hurricane, what happens will happen, no matter what. I can be a philosopher and say, the world is giving back to us, whatever nature of treatment it got from us. I just chose to run.

All the hype and hooplah surrounding Gustav came to an end, rather disappointingly, and I happened to see the news one day at the gym. Weird as it looked, IKE, a new hurricane [H for Hanna died in the waters] was on its way to the US mainland. Time progressed, the experienced and the learned didn't really follow the news, for what Gustav played with our minds.

Ike turned out to be slightly major in all aspects. It dangerously went close to Haiti and Dominican Republic being a Category 5 hurricane. It was headed toward the US coast, the questions were only how it would sway and how big it'd be before hitting. The Gulf of Mexico, trust me, is very flummoxing. 

Ike entered the gulf, and blew up like a huge balloon, covering up around 80% of the gulf! It had a diameter of some 850 km. Pretty small huh? ;)

We were told a day in advance to vacate the city. Like we did the previous time, we thought we'd abide by the college's decision, as we didn't repent much for the fun we'd the previous time :D. The day of registering, we find out that the college had limited seats on the buses, more so, coz around 1 million people were evacuating this time. Quite understandable. That literally left us stranded there, with nowhere to go. Luckily for us, Moraiah asked us if it'd be fine for us to jump in the back of her truck, and follow the college buses. Accommodation wasn't a problem to wherever we were going you see.

Nacogdoches, TX. {Pronounced 'nacadoshes'} The destination for this evacuation. Stephen F Austin State University, some 200 odd km from Beaumont. Took us exactly the stipulated 2 hours, 40 odd minutes. I sat in the back of the truck. Nice fun. With Moraiah speeding up to as much as 90 mph, my hair could have put Markand Deshpande (of yun hi chala fame) to shame. Apart from that, my hair managed to get quite a few 'impressive' looks from people of all ages. It was more fun now :).

This place was ok, food as usual sucked for me. B-L-A-N-D and unhealthy. Nacogdoches is apparently the oldest town in TX. It looked so. A lot of people here and there, unlike Beaumont. No wifi, no cots, no blankets let us quite a little discomforted in the place. 2 days in SFA, we saw on TV how bad Ike had grown upto. Texas was barely visible! Houston, Galveston, Surfside beach were under super threats. Toward the evening, Galveston was pounded miserably. By night, it finished its purpose. The videos looked scary! The next day in Nacogdoches was interesting. I was almost displaced by the wind and rain - here, a place around 250 km from the coast! It almost blew me off!!

Our college was a little damaged. No power and water in the whole city of Beaumont and parts of Houston, IAH was grounded. The power company put an estimate of 2 weeks or more for total restoration. The unbearable cold at the basketball court in which we slept, that tasty food, limited clothing, no laundry. Sounded quite a lot of trouble to me. Under such situations, at such places especially.

My cousin and I decided that I go to her place, at Phoenix, a 2 hour journey by flight. Hurdles? How do I get to the nearest airport at Dallas? Greyhound - the bus service that takes you between cities. To my dismay, there was one greyhound from Nacogdoches to Dallas, and had a strong possibility of getting cancelled due to obvious reasons. My cousin found out that it was there, and we decided that I get out of SFA at 3 ish PM. The bus was at 4.30 PM. To get to the bus station, I'd to take a ride. Moraiah :).

After what seemed like a 'lost way' and a long drive through the woods, we found ourselves just ahead of the bus station. Turned back, and finally landed at the bus station ten minutes before the bus left. The guys were loading the luggage. Rushed in, bought a ticket for myself to Dallas, hopped on to the bus, and was off.

It took a whole 4 hours, with one bus change somewhere in between, to arrive at Dallas. The roads, as usual to US, were fantastic, and the bus station in Dallas was right in the centre of downtown. It was a sight to see. Tall buildings, breathtaking lights, wow!! But no people anywhere outside, at 9 PM! The shuttle service i was supposed to take from there to the airport was apparently not there at that time, and the best way to get to the airport was by cab. There was no other way! I'd paid $40 for a 4 hour bus ride, and paid $60 for the cab, to take me to DFW airport, a mere 30 minutes away!

Stayed at the airport overnight, saw a few movies on my laptop, boarded the flight the next morning at 6. Reached Phoenix, finally. It was so much like home there. Food!! Home food!!Temperature, was berable, unlike the harsh AC there! Much relieved to go there, I must say. Laundry, I needn't had to worry about not having underwears ;)

My cousin, her daughter and my brother in law made sure I made the most of my evacuation trip. Went to all types and sizes of malls there, it was a nice exposure for my mind and senses. Outdoor malls, where mist was sprayed coz you couldn't put an AC there! It was nice. Had loads of fun! The school at which their daughter studied, visits here and there. Found out a lot about stuff I didn't have a clue of. The following monday, she dropped me off to ASU. I've to tell, it looked more like a town, than a university. I got lost a couple of times too! It was huge. Had a sneak peek at the dept., spoke to some people, had my lunch that I'd got from home, took a city bus and went to Arizona Mills, a factory outlet kinda thing. Phoenix is very picturesque. Seems pleasant, till you feel the heat :D. Saw a 3D documentary there on whales and sharks, roamed around the place and she picked me up on her way to home. The next morning, I was out of Phoenix.

College was staring on thursday, and it was a wise option to return on the tuesday. Arrived at Houston, at around 2. The guy who picked me up wanted to wait for one more guy who would arrive at 10 PM. We hung around in houston, went to a huge mall called 'Galleria'. By now I was exhausted gaping wide open at how large buildings can be. Galleria, till date remains the largest, I've ever seen. Visited an Armani showroom there. One of the bigger mistakes in life, at this stage. I'm clad in shorts, and enter the showroom with such elan, that I'd to know would be shortlived. The female opposite is clad in a suit. I tell her that I'll check things out myself, saw a blazer for $3,125, and a shirt for $500. Vowing that I'd never enter an Armani showroom again, I stormed out. I mean, not now, not in this stage atleast! Went out to eat to an Indian restaurant there. Went to the downtown, and I forgot all my exhaustion and started gasping and gaping again. The parking lots were so well designed! Sheraton - Hyatt - Hilton were side by side in the downtown :D.

My mouth started paining. Everything in this trip was good to my eyes. Dallas, DFW airport, Phoenix airport, Phoenix, Tempe, (where ASU is), Houston airport, Houston downtown, ARMANI. 

Girogio Armani. I'd dreams about the clothes i saw, the first time ever, and I've just added that to my list after I buy a Lamborghini. Shouldn't the clothes match the car? ;)

Back in beaumont, I found out that the trees outside my house, 3 of them, fell in opposite directions. All fine here now, after an eventful trip. If not for anything, atleast, I travelled alone, which was a lot of fun. I got to know so many things. Lets see where time takes me next.

Rock you like a hurricane!!

Little did I know when I sung the evergreen Scorpions' song on stage for Rhythmica's Tonic, in June earlier this year, that it'd really come running and rocking like this for me :D.

Yes, for starters, hurricane Gustav, the major hurricane that was supposed to hit the US Gulf Coast, let all of us hither thither, scampering for a safer place. Of course the fact remains that this, happening in a few days time of my class starting here, at Lamar let me a little bothered.

Gustav was playing with our minds. Let me use present, for obvious reasons - I don't wanna enrage it again :P. It created havoc in Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Cayman Islands and strengthened consistently over a very slow period of time before attaining a superior status and making a landfall at Cuba. Needless to say, Cuba should have been devastated. A majority of the oil rigs of the US, in the Gulf of Mexico were shut down and oil prices soared up. There were predictions that as Gustav - (I really wonder who names all these hurricanes. Gustav means, 'staff of the Goths', by the way) would enter the Gulf, it'd intensify to its highest attainable degree, the Category 5 status. Now, the last time such a hurricane hit New Orleans, which is about 270 miles from here, flyovers in Beaumont were under water. When I got to know that, I really knew I could panic. I mean, it was valid to panic.

My normal brain could also realise that it'd mean, getting air tickets to my cousins' place at California or Arizona would be far fetched in terms of availability. And since the oil prices soared, you didn't need a genius brain to guess the prices of the flight tickets. The airport that is close to Beaumont is under a flyover's height, so, technically, the airport would be shut down before the city receives havoc rainfall.

I'd to get to Houston to board a flight. On a bus. From the bus stop, a cab, to the airport. Then see what flights are empty. Then board whichever was. Then reach either CA or AZ. I thought its getting way far fetched than what I'd imagined and cancelled that plan. One of my very good friends - Nani arranged for accommodation at Arlington and let me decide for myself about the way to go till there. He works FAST! I chat with him at eerie hours of early morning from Beaumont, to Bangalore, and he arranges for my stay at Arlington! It wasn't difficult for me. I mean, Arlington is a 5 hour drive from where I stay. I could easily hop on to a bus and ride off. By then, the college declared a shut down on the Tuesday and there were rumours that they would take us to Dallas, which is closer to Arlington! I'm sure there was some connection breach when we were chatting ;).

So, by Friday noon, it was known that Gustav would hit, and it would hit real bad. So, we were told to evacuate and if we required the services of the university, we could board the arranged buses by 5 PM. After long hours of registrations and waiting, [love to say this] at 6:20 PM sharp American Standard Time, [;)] we left. Took some photos in case the roof would get blown over our house.

There was traffic that fateful day! We were being taken to Huntsville, which is some 113 miles from here, and ideally takes some 2 odd hours. We reached Huntsville at 1 AM. This was because of the traffic purely, won't say AST here :P. 

We stayed at Sam Houston State University. Man! What a campus! I was wondering why I didn't know about this university till I heard that it doesn't offer Engineering as a major. Such a pity! SHSU also comes under the Texas State University System apparently, so, it was a sister concern for them to take us in. 

I expected it to be a refugee camp. Frankly. What else would you expect when you drop in, in numbers exceeding 200 to a university at 1 AM? YES? NO! Once we got ourselves registered, they put on a pink (why pink on earth, I still don't know) band on our wrists, that was water proof, which was a permission for us to use the facilities SHSU students could use, albeit with a very few restrictions, which were understandable.

American food! Yeah. I wouldn't say YEAH! Coz, you know what I'm talkin' about ;). But the best part was, you could actually eat till your stomach was full. Since I'm an exotic food lover - [subbu coined that term], I thought of trying all the food from beef to turkey to fish to pork. Somehow I couldn't convince myself to eat pork. The rest were ok. [:)] The eating hours are odd, with lunch at 11 and dinner at 5! AT 5? Yeah. At 5! But added to this, was the unlimited free snacks that were given in any required quantity from 7 AM to 11 PM. Anything from water, cold water, fruit juices, snack bars, chips, honey-buns, et al! We could also ask for a toiletries pack, which would have a toothpaste, a brush, a comb, a mouthwash, and a deodorant. We could also ask for towels, soap, shampoo and hair gel. Not that it was humid like in Beaumont, but for cleanliness freaks like me. As though we require to do all that when we are in the AC 24 x 7 :P. I went to check out the showers on sunday. The men's locker rooms. We've seen that in movies. Open showers and all. It was good! And what do we do after all this? Go to the basketball court where all the guys were put up, recline on the half-couch, half-cot-something and plug in your laptop to the free Wi-Fi of the university. You wanted to sit and surf the net? No problems. The university was generous enough to provide us with around 10 laptops, at one end of the basketball court, with internet access, needless to say. There were basketball courts, for people who would play, and swimming for people who could swim, I'll also mention soccer, rugby and pool. [Yes, I was imagining how much you'd have played, chetan ;)] Oh, and whenever we walked around the dining hall, which was a little far from the place we stayed, we got.. Ok, I'd say I got some female attention because of the pink band (now I know why pink :)) and I'd end up talking and explaining them that we are EVACUEES from Beaumont. Phew! EVACUEES!

Meanwhile, the hurricane had subsided, (unfortunately :P) and a meeting was called to tell us that we'd be leaving Huntsville to Beaumont. And seriously, none of us liked to leave at all! It was an evacuation trip - sounds like a road trip or something! In the wildest dreams wherever I've imagined of living a royal life, I'd never imagined I'd be treated like this, under these circumstances, where in, the people arranged shuttle services from the basketball courts to the dining hall, on monday, when, few showers were expected toward the evening! A shuttle for a 5 minute walk!

Anyways, we're back, back in Beaumont. The place looks barely touched by the hurricane. So much for all the hoopla about it. Gustav is currently a tropical storm, somewhere over Dallas, and Louisiana was saved of the bitter experience.