While I had packed clothes fit for the expected summer, heavy hailstorm ravaged the area! Hailstones it out violently over and into the homes as well. A couple of them hit my knee and toe. What followed was unusual for someone like me, sweating it out to fix the path leading to the puja pandal by laying bricks. The summer heat had dropped. The excitement prevailed as the youngsters left to get the idols home.
Our path lit by the moon, torches and cell phones. Braving the slippery grounds the transportation arrived, a “rickshaw” one of a different kind though. A cycle attached with wooden planks (a sort of a cart) which is usually used to carry goods and in these parts people too. Reluctantly I sat onto it, my legs dangling and mind in a flurry of thoughts. The ride did not seem very appealing as I occasionally closed my eyes in fear especially while going over the various speed breakers!
We got the idols via the same mode of transportation into their temporary home, the pandal in our courtyard .An amazingly eventful evening went by as in retrospect I remember the hot tea after the back breaking work that I immensely enjoyed. The unconventional ride .The weather had taken an instantaneous pleasant turn which left everyone dumbfounded .The elders recalled how they had never seen the streets this white due to the hailstones. A miracle perhaps, which saved me from the torturous heat!
