The cyclone hit & so did my sense of privilege

I had this idea to note down my experiences during the cyclone but ended up procrastinating a bit. Finally, I managed to get up and grab my laptop and pen down my thoughts.

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Cyclone Amphan hit us around 05:00 pm on Wednesday and wreaked havoc. During the cyclone, when the electricity was out and the wind was strong enough to bring sturdy trees down, I became well-aware of my privilege again and thanked the universe. I have been reminded of that since March, where the coronavirus pandemic became the front-page news here. So, while the poor and homeless people out there, taken into shelters during last night’s calamity, and stray animals running berserk to find shelters of their own, here I was… only a bit miffed at how the glass window in the bathroom got shattered by the cyclone and how the curtain hanging outside the living room window got torn and blown away by the wind.

I guess I finally experienced what it’s like to be truly unplugged. Though the electricity came back that very night, around 09:28 pm, the WiFi signal was butchered (no surprise there). My phone network was unavailable and so here I was, typing away at my laptop because I didn’t have any access to the internet so that I could waste my time away (not even some music to keep me company. Seriously, Spotify has ruined me). I do have an ample collection of books though. I was meaning to start Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Mass, but while I blame it on my lack of time, I had been busy being a complete waste(wo)man. The cyclone and its unplugging abilities forced me to get into it. I am loving the book. Took a cyclone to speed up the process.

I exhausted my 4G weeks ago. And I did not bother to purchase a new one. I mean, we are in lockdown. I have WiFi. Why bother? Right? (I patted myself internally for having this idea – talk about being financially reasonable) Turns out the cyclone wasn’t in my plans at that time. With my internet connection down, I would not be able to purchase a data pack online either. There goes my foolproof plan. Oh well. I finally managed to get a hotspot from my grandfather’s phone (Don’t worry, he lives in another apartment but within the same premise so I did not break any lockdown rules) and recharged my 4G. Voila! I am plugged again! As I talked to my friends, trying to gauge their conditions, I realized that some of them were having a harder time than me. Electricity out for 36 hours. Water shortage. And here, my sense of privilege strikes again. Being at a part of the city where it’s convenient to get the electricity and water supply back only after a couple of hours the cyclone came and went.

Catwoman is a good book. I am enjoying it. I took a liking to the character of Luke Fox. It is nothing new. I loved him in the TV series Batwoman. But the book only solidified the liking. I was bored. I ended up googling DC animated movies where I can find the character. Boom! Batman: Bad Blood. Thankfully, I have a bunch of DC animated movies in my arsenal. I meant to watch all of them someday. It paid off. Batman: Bad Blood was one of them. I managed to video-call a friend and watched it with her. She lives in another country and so, is unfazed by the after-effects of this cyclone (thank you, 4G. I underestimated you these last few weeks). It was a good movie. I might be biased though. I love DC.

I went to bed after midnight, grumbling about the lack of WiFi and network connection. All the while, a part of me kept striking back, reminding me of my privilege… of having a shelter, to be warm and fed.