As the day turned into late evening and the sun had almost set, it started raining. Soon it was quite dark as my working day came to a close and I sent my training batch back to their homes. A few colleagues and I made our way in the rain, across the railway tracks and to the bus stop. The rain ceased and we were talking and laughing while waiting for a bus to take us to our residences. We didn’t see the car actually hit the bike but we rather heard the collision and when I turned I saw the sparks fly as the bike skidded on the road. A guy in a maruti car had hit a fellow who was riding his bike.

We saw the biker stumble a bit and then walk to the side of the road as he tried to avoid being hit by the car. He was ok. The car driver took a look at the surroundings, reversed his car a bit and headed for the turning and tried to make a break for it. He was fleeing the scene of the crime, an illegal hit & run case! And the sparks did really fly as several bystanders chased him and they hit his car windows with umbrellas and a helmet. He almost made it to safety but there were way too many people around and they were able to make him stop. As I got into a bus, I could see the crowd dragging the car driver out of his car. I couldn’t see anything else and can only imagine the thrashing that the wretched sonofabitch must have received at their hands.

Finally the municipality authorities of Greater Cochin have woken up and smelt the stink of a ton of waste! Today, after many days of waiting & holding our noses in disgust at the piles of garbage being stacked on top of each other in numerous locations across town, the row of trucks have come to take away the trash. It is thought to be so bad that the streets might start smelling of the rotting garbage, that all schools, colleges & government offices were closed for the day! Great, but the rest of us harmless folk have to bear the stench, eh?

About bloody time too, as my fellow citizens of this wonderful city will say. In certain areas you are forced to dump the garbage on the side roads since the waste bins are overflowing and they have started flowing onto the streets. When you go in a car on said roads, it makes maneuvering through the piles the garbage like going through in a video game with hurdles & obstacles.

Today there was a public bus strike in the city of Cochin. The reason for the strike – the state of the roads in the city being so terrible and not deemed worthy of the tires of the buses. Hence commuters of the city are being punished and they have to find alternative means of transportation from and to work / school / college etc. My company provided a pick up in a van and I only had to wait outside my apartment building for 5 mins for to arrive. On my way to work today, I passed by the area of Kakkanad. The area is looking pretty good and it still has lots of open spaces but new buildings for business and residence are mushrooming up everyday. It’s becoming a hip place to stay in.

A couple of years ago, a bus strike would have paralysed the city and many companies would have very small attendance levels. That was a given in those days but not anymore. Many employers, like mine, arrange cabs to get you to and from the office and work goes by almost smoothly. There are some hindrances that cannot be avoided but it is like a normal day at the office. So what will the strikers do?

Oh, as we were going by Kakkanad, I couldn’t help but notice what a lovely day it was. Crisp, cool breeze blowing in my face, the sun was out but it was far from hot. And the clouds in the sky were cotton like. And there was one section where it looked like the opening scene from the Simpsons show!

Song for the day – “14 Years” – GUNS N’ROSES

Holy H2O Batman! The rains aren’t letting up, pots holes are being made a dime a dozen on the streets and I don’t feel like getting up early. It can get so cold & wet that we have pigeons taking shelter on the bathroom ventilations, under the cars in my building car park & who knows where else. Today while taking a leak in my bathroom, I was startled to see & hear the flapping of the wings of a pigeon, who had settled on the ventilation. Needless to say he was shivering due to being cold & wet.

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On my way back from work, most of the paths are filled with water nearly a foot deep! In areas where the drainage is not properly maintained (that could be the entire state) it is a horror to walk, unless you happen to wear thick boots that go all the way till your crotch! And even then you will have drenched socks &  heck even your underwear is soaked.

Go On Overtaker…….I am an Undertaker!
Saw this on sticker that some dude had stuck on the back of his brand new car. I thought it was hilarious. Right on!

So my wishes were answered last night as it rained quite heavily and there was lots of thunder & lightning. The balcony of my apartment was completely wet and I almost slipped there as I went there in the morning. I missed most of it, enclosed as I am in my office building and inside my training room. When I went to the open air canteen (well we have a huge roof but it is not enclosed) at around 8:30, it wasn’t raining yet.

But a little after midnite it started raining and pouring like so heavily that the roads were filled with water in some places. Luckily it didn’t rain for too long. But it is a welcome sign of things weatherwise.

I had to go all the way to Vypeen before reaching home. For a guy whose work got over at 1 am, I reached home only by 3 am. The reason being that everyone else in the cab were dropped at their residence first since they live closer to the office but there was this one girl who lived in Vypeen. We have to ensure that there is atleast one guy (other than the contracted cab driver) from the office left in the cabs if there is a lady still to be dropped back to her home. And he has to see to it that the girl reached home safely. Being the only male left, I had to accompany her till her house and then get dropped back to my place, which is closer to the office than her place! Anyway that is to be expected. But I was so tired & sleepy by the time I reached home.

But it wasn’t a total waste of time; she was good company & very knowledgeable and we chatted quite a bit about her project (slightly different from the one I am in) and I got to know a lot about the issues that they are facing.

Song for the day – “Weapons” – TARA MACLEAN

So we had some heavy rain, then not so heavy rain and then a little rain. Now today it’s like it never rained at all!

It was nice to have rain for two days and then occasional showers to quench the thirst of the Earth. It made the air cleaner and cooled us down considerably, thereby making the evenings & nights much more pleasant. The mornings (until say 9 am) is usually a bit cold and taking a shower in the chilled water wakes you up and every part of your body in ways you can’t imagine. Older people have to switch on the water heaters in their bathrooms before they take a bath in the mornings. Me, I don’t bother and since I normally sleep for less than 6 hours on workdays, I need the extra stimuli to vitalize me.

It is also lovely to sleep the mornings in bed, which unfortunately I can’t do at the moment since I am working a 9-6 shift as I have a training batch. But I fully intend to utilize it on Sunday.

The side effect of all this rain is that the roads get muddy and you tend to get wet on the way to work or going outside for some fun. Umbrellas are in full swing. The whole city gets a slick feeling but better be careful when you are walking. And people tend to get sick when they get wet in the rain.

But today, the heat is back. Two days of no rain and we are almost back to the sweat and the blaze. That is not good. I hope it rains tonight or tomorrow.

Song for the day – “Rainmaker” – IRON MAIDEN