Leaving Las Pondas.

437am
29.11.8
So today is the day that I leave Pondicherry, and if my suspicions are right, today is going to be the first fully beautiful day in Pondicherry since I arrived. You see, since I've been here, Pondicherry has been hammered by rains and Cyclone Nisha. And to make my point of how dreary it has been check out this photo.



So for those of you who don't know... that's the constellation Orion. (Perhaps the most identified constellation). And the point is this, until last night the sky has been overcast the whole time I've been here. In what has been called by locals, the worst rains since they've been here.

Pondicherry (short hand: Pondy) has one major canal (aka. Drainage ditch) in the middle of town, going north south. Which usually does a great job at keeping the city dry. But it has been raining so much that a few days ago (the 26th) the rain filled the canal (about four feet deep). Notice how close it it is to the bridge.



And even then the winds at that time were bad enough to sheer branches off of trees. And the branches were often, surprisingly, young and green and not old.



Yesterday, morning on the way to mass, I noticed even more distruction.



I commented to Michelle on the phone that I feel like Jesus entering Jerusalem, because of all the branches and leaves that are layed upon the streets before me.



But it wasn't only branches and trees, but also a very many trees have been felled by the storm... from the young



To the Old.



The problem, as I see it, is the ground is completely oversaturated with water, and the roots are beginning to rot due to such constant drowning. So when the heavy winds came, trees would fall.

I didn't get a look at the canal this past morning, though I imagine it was higher than the other day, due to the volume of rain we got the night before. I also imagine that it was higher, due to the fact the waters were so high that the drainage system became springs.




I actually kind of like having gone through a cyclone. I mean, it was a once in a life time experience for the Pondy residents, and I got to share it with them. Even though I didn't really know it was a cyclone until the day before it finished. God loves to give me little fun gifts like this. And I love to get them!

Blessings,
Edward
456am
Edit: 1018am I'm leaving within the hour... pray for me!