The Storm Diary 2020

The Beginning

I was sitting on the phone, jotting down a few ideas for short stories, and learning about passive income.
As I write this, it is 5.28 p.m on 17th Sunday, May 2020. The day started off as a sunny one, but over the last half an hour, the sky went from bright, refreshing blue to a sickly shade of grey; a dirty grey like that of wet ash.
To be perfectly honest, I kinda get the feeling that this time, the monsoon will wreck more havoc than ever before in my state of domicile, Kerala.
Kerala, often called God's own country (I find that ironic) is one of the most beautiful places in India.
Right now, the wind is blowing with a terrifying velocity. I have never felt this much pressure on my face due to sheer wind.
10 seconds ago, some bottles in one of the rooms in my house toppled over. I am not exactly worried for my life, but my intuition is deadly accurate, and this time I feel that things will, well, be deadly.
(Time skip 10 minutes)
I closed and locked the windows in both the bedrooms, the back door, the kitchen windows and everything except for the front door.
Sitting here, on a very comfy couch, I can hear the thunder rumbling. I had plans to host an online debate via video calling with some friends, including my teacher who acts as our official guide and supervisor. She said that the meteorological department
has issued a warning for a severe thunderstorm this evening and that if it holds true(it usually doesn't), we wouldn't host the debate.
To all those reading this, let me tell you that climate change is real. We need to switch to eco friendly sources of energy. I am lucky that we have a couple of solar panels installed on the roof of our house, because within a few hours, electricity will probably not be available for those depending on public electricity.
The lighting is however, going to make up for the loss of light. Consistent, bright strokes of dangerous, powerful energy are getting closer, more frequent and louder as I type each letter. I can barely hear my father speaking to my mother over the sound of thunder and the heavy rain pelting uncovered land.
As a matter of fact, I don't think I will keep typing this diary entry on the phone if this keeps up.
This stirs up memories, not the good kind of course. Last year, and the year before, Kerala was pelted with a barrage of rain for months at a stretch. The last two years saw the two greatest floods that Kerala faced in the 21st century.
Both times, my home district of Thrissur was spared from the worst. Thanks to the floods, kids my age (By the way, I'm 15), have actually paid attention to the news for once. Why? Because it was that bad! The 2018 floods alone caused an economic loss of about 20 billion U.S dollars. That is a huge part of the economy of the consumer state in which I live in.
Scary, isn't it. As much as I am stressing on the fact that climate
change is real, let me also state that after a while, people learn to live with things. They get used to it. It's part of the reason why human beings have survived for so long when countless other species fell prey to death.
We are resilient. That cannot be denied. However, we can also be stupid at times. Don't you agree? Think of 3 times when you pondered over the fact that people (Who are the same species of animals as the great Albert Einstein) can be so unbelievably stupid.
As a matter of fact, a lot of my friends are more worried about the floods than COVID-19. I am sorry to bring it up, but COVID-19 is something that can no longer be forgotten in the next decade.[I don't say century for a reason. Humans have a shorter attention span than the average goldfish.]
I see that I got carried away from the narration of the rain, but then again, are you sure you want to read something that depressing?
I mean personally, I LOVE THE RAIN. To be honest, the rain doesn't bother me directly. The puddles of water don't bother me either. Seeing houses and people drown on TV all the time, (The news channels literally play the videos 24/7, and no other channels are available) really does bother me. It should bother most humans. And now the rain has stopped. I hate that. Why? I find heavy, ice-cold rain more comforting than having severe lightning cause the windows of my solid brick-and-concrete house to shake!
I can say for a fact that things as going to get a whole lot worse. I am not being pessimistic. I know my weather. As for COVID-19, the current situation looks grim. Now that the thunder is shaking closed windows of my house with greater ferocity, I shall end this entry.
I shall write another entry after a few roofs are blown off, and maybe a couple of people die. That won't take too long.
UPDATE:
Today is the 18th of May,2020. Like I said yesterday, I may have regular updates. Just yesterday a person died in the neighboring district of Pathannamthitta. He died because he was hit by lightning.