The cyclone I cannot forget

a poem by Ramesh T A

So enormously powerful the wind force of the cyclone is since the inception of the Earth
That man finds it impossible to harness it for any useful purpose so far in the world!
Like a spiralling Nebula of the Universe,
Like the rotating eye of the living beings,
Like the spinning wheel of Mahatma Gandhi,
Or like the rotating disc of Lord Vishnu
The wheel of cyclonic storm spins off from the sea to the shore!
On the way the natural force tosses about the anchored boats
And simply hurls all like a cricket ball to the shore to pieces!
Entering the shore the storm breaks down the tree branches everywhere
And in some places even uproots the whole trees that are tall and old,
Blocking the road ways and making traffic impossible in and out of the town!

Afterwards calm prevails over the whole place making it an island having no links
With the outside world before the final phase of storm strikes the town!
Without electric power, communication links and conveyance possible,
The whole town is besieged by uneasy calm for hours together in the night
Making the people silent spectators to simply witness the havoc at the climax!
In the next day the final assault of the storm starts at 2 pm and ends at 9pm!
In the seven hours the cyclonic storm at a steady speed of 80 km per hour
Tosses off all the metal boards, clamps, loose roofs and unprotected materials
In the sky and makes them fly away to nowhere, never to be seen again in the town!

In the year 2000 it happened so in our town after a long time, never to be forgotten!
Also in the previous year cyclones had destroyed acres of agricultural lands in Andhra Pradesh;
Marooned many villages in Orissa rendering the people bleak and helpless for many months!
Before that some years ago a big cyclone hacked havocs entering the cock-pit of Bangladesh,
Wherein thousands of people were flown away to nowhere and never to be seen again there!

It is a greatest human tragedy never to be forgotten in the history of cyclones!
Many nations came forward to give humanitarian assistance to the cyclone hit nation.
It seems, Nature has got its own way of maintaining the balance of human population
By causing earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and cyclones now and then!
As in the war times in such tragic situations only world people are united in heart
To help their suffering brothers and sisters here and there in the world now and then!
Though however materialistic, satiristic and a political animal man is anywhere,
He is reminded of his true self on such tragic occasions only in the world!
Perhaps to remind man of his true self and his service to human society that way,
Natural calamities like Katrina, Rita or Wilma occur in the world here and there;
Otherwise, where is the chance for man to think about
World Unity, Universal Brotherhood and One Human World?