I Am October

I am October - the tenth month of the year,

Reminding you that another new year is near!

Yes, round the corner, just two months after me!

Why think of endings; why not the journey?

Cyclone Phailin

Last week, we visited one of the most important ShaktiPeeths of India,  the Maa Tara Tarini Temple in Berhampur, Odisha. As our visit was after a couple of years, we were happy to see the developments there but sad to see the absence of the erstwhile greenery. Some parts of the once green hill now look barren & as if all the plants & trees have been cleanly shaven off... just like a clean-shaven head without any hair...

From this newspaper article, we realized that it's the result of last year's Phailin Cyclone attack where Gopalpur and its surrounding areas in Odisha, including the Temple-City, Bhubaneswar & the Silk-City, Berhampur, were badly hit.

Cyclone Phailin, a Category 5 Cyclone,  made its presence felt last year from October 4th to 14th, 2013.

The landfall  was near Gopalpur, Odisha with the highest wind being 260 km/h.
In Odisha, 11.5 Lakh people were evacuated, while in Andhra 1.3 Lakh people were evacuated.

In contrast, the recent Cyclone HudHud is a Category 4 Cyclone that has emerged from October 7th 2014 onwards with winds about 175  km/h.                                                    
In Odisha, 1.6 Lakh people have been evacuated, while in Andhra 5 Lakh people have been evacuated.

Last year's memories are still fresh in my mind.
Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha, was also ravaged by the strong winds and the heavy rains.

Here are some pics taken last year in Bhubaneswar by my sister from our home's terrace:

Notice the fallen branches of trees.