The All in One Storm.....

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     18 April 2005.... Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, It was a day in office as usual. It was around 5 pm. I was busy with some usual work... The phone rang; it was Elmer, Client side project manager for the project I was working on. “Nik, come here quickly.....” whenever he called this way, it used to be something interesting. We shared a common passion for General knowledge. When I went, he simply pointed to the glass wall where some 3-4 people from office were standing and looking outside. I too joined the group...The scene outside was something I would never forget.
     A thick dust cloud was moving ahead swallowing everything that came in the way.... if you have seen movie The Mummy then u may be able to imagine the scene.
     From the 15th floor one could clear see the city slowly moving into a thick dust cover.
     Yes, it was a sand storm. It was amazing to see how the slowly forwarding border of the cloud was changing the visibility from clear visibility to almost zero visibility.

     I was excited with the first view of a sand storm in my life. I said “I m going outside to experience4 the storm” I knew it was once in a lifetime chance for a person like me. Despite others saying don’t go... I had already headed for the lift.
     I came outside of the building. Wind was so strong that it was difficult to stand. I decided to take a round around the building. I could hardly see 7-8 feet forward. The marble flooring outside the bldg had become slippery because of the layer of fine dust. I advanced slowly.
     I set on my mission, “Around the office, in a sandstorm....” a few steps and I realized that I was inhaling too much dust. Pan Keeda Ajoonahi Valvalat hota.... Nakaavar rumaal dharun aamacha pravaas pudhe chaloo zala. Slowly I completed my “Paradakshina” and reentered the building.
     First thing I did was to visit toilet and clean my face as much as I could. The shirt had a new cream shade. I entered office area. Elmer was waiting. He had a smile as if he was expecting my new “Avataar”. “Nik, I know you must have washed your face. But this is different sand. It is very fine and easily settles into skin pores. So go and wash face again with liquid soap at least 3-4 times”, he said.
     The sandstorm lasted for about an hour and then faded slowly. It was only the first installment of the trouble coming. The sky was already covered with thick black clouds and the lightning had begun. Now this was something usual if i was at home. But not where I was at the moment. This is supposed to be a dessert!!!!
     Halu Halu pavasala suruvaat zali. I and my colleague decided to go back to our hotel. Valvantaat paaus baghaaycha ek durmil yog mazyaa nashibi hota. Tasa paaus rimzim padat hota but the clouds were thick. The rain got stronger with the night passing. There was of no indication of any decrease in rain.
Around 1-2 o’clock in the night; we suddenly woke up with a loud noise of something as if some small objects were being bombarded on the window pane.
To our surprise now the hailstorm had begun. Not very big in size though, but hail in dessert :-o
     It continued for almost 2 hours, during which we were forced to watch (only watch!!!) the TV because sleeping was impossible due to noise.
Next day we saw something unusual for a city in dessert. Streets were flooded with water. Obviously the drainage system was certainly not designed for this much amount of rain. And it took almost two days to completely drain the water.