The Night When the Lights Went Out...

It was 2:30 am in night. We were in a deep slumber, our room was cool enough, and the Wal-mart fan was making its sufficient noise (yeah, I am a victim of white noise…Cant sleep without it!). All of a sudden, everything turned pitch dark and quiet…the fan stopped making its beautiful noise, I couldn’t even hear my humming fridge! Obviously, I woke up because I can’t sleep without my white noise. Then came the Lightening and roaring thunderstorm…I thought,” This is not my white noise, it is all black and blue and angry but it aint white!”

By now you must have realized what actually happened: the lights went out that night in Eden Prairie: building by building, block by block, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Am I normal? Why am I writing a blog because lights went out? Common, it’s a daily event back in India, where half of our population stays without any light! Well, I am writing about that night because that was the first time I experienced ‘light-out’ in United States. Enough of a reason, right? And the weird part was: I was thrilled! Instead of feeling irritated because of lost sleep, I was feeling at home. I got up and roamed around my house in dark, trying to locate every corner of my home and was exhilarated when I found all! I stood next to window and experienced the black darkness outside for sometime. I experienced a kind of sadistic pleasure in knowing that even a country like US can have such unforeseen problems. The Blackout lasted only for an hour or so but was enough to make me feel at home...

So, that was about my short virtual feeling trip to India, courtesy light-out in Eden Prairie :-)

The Storm that hit on Friday

We love walking in the woods...to breathe in the fresh air, to experience the tranquility amidst the green tall trees, to walk the winding trails and to be just happy and content. But yesterday, when we went to Starring Lake Trail, we were in for an unpleasant shock.

I knew there had been a storm the day before, the lightening and thunderstorm had woken me up numerous times during the night before. Also, Saturday evening had a thunderstorm warning in Hennepin County and it rained cats and dogs in the evening. But I had never imagined that the damage was so devastating.













There were numerous trees uprooted, fallen and blocking the trail at various points. Because of the hindrance, we were forced to take detours, duck under fallen trees or walk on unpaved trails…

After the 2.5 miles walk, I had a medley of feelings going inside me. On one hand, it was distressing to look at the destruction caused by Mother Nature. However, on the other hand, I was happy to see fellow walkers doing their daily jog/walk/bike in spite of the obstructions on the way; their enthusiasm made my day!

I know the trail would be cleared soon and I would be able to have my pleasure walk again…Till then, happy dodging, ducking and running around!!