The 'perfect storm' that never was...

It had all the markings of a perfect storm, a cool name, just the right intensity and hype - as well as a holiday to welcome its coming.

When the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) - yes, they still call it that, announced that all schools and colleges would close early on November 11 and would remain shut the following day because of Cyclone Phyan (which means 'cherry fallen off the tree top' in Burmese), I was excited!

I had never witnessed a cyclone before and this was to be the first one to hit the city in 67 years.

There have been sporadic downpours since the beginning of this month, which was surprising because the monsoons usually deluge the city only in the summer.

All this was apparently caused by a tropical depression in the Arabian Sea that morphed into Phyan.

We waited with bated breath as Phyan was set to cross Goa and hit Mumbai on November 12.

I had stocked up on food provisions and was looking forward to a cosy day in my room, when I realised towards the evening that the winds had died.

I was just telling myself that it was just a lull, the storm was just waiting to regain strength, when it stopped raining altogether.

The news came in late that night that the storm had missed its date with Mumbai, though its passage over the Arabian Sea had left more than 70 fishermen missing.

That Mumbai escaped can be no bad thing, but to us it meant something else - no day off!

I woke up the following day to see grey clear skies outside.

Looking around, I found all my roommates still in bed, wearing the same sulky expressions at being "let down".

"I'm getting up in five minutes," one of them declared.

I got back to the room 15 minutes later to find her still in bed.

"Lady, I think I heard you right, didn't you say you'll be up in five minutes?" I asked. "That cyclone duped us," she replied groggily.

"Yeah, too bad. I don't feel like going out at all."

"It just ruined a day of peace and quiet."

"Funny you should say that. With all the weird phenomena that keeps occurring here, I wonder if that's the real reason why people call Mumbai a happening city."

At that precise moment, a chorus of voices from the nearby school could be heard:

"Showers of blessings,

Showers of blessings we need.

Mercy drops round us are falling,

But for the showers we plead"

How ironic!

¥ Jennifer is a former Bahrain resident, now studying in Mumbai

Copyright 2009 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group

'The 'perfect storm' that never was', Gulf Daily News, November 21, 2009, Jennifer Gnana