Rain, cold wave play spoilsport

Post News Network

Bhubaneswar, Jan 1: The mild, cool breeze and the mushrooming clouds that so enamoured revellers in the city proved to be the ultimate nemesis on both New Year’s Eve and New Year Day, literally drenching the plans of hundreds of residents in the twin cities who were planning outings to nearby destinations.
Continuous rain, all-day long, forced most people to abandon  altogether
their plans of going out to celebrate New Year.
Meghna Mishra, Ollywood actress, had booked tickets to Puri for a family trip almost a month back. “Sadly, rain played a big dampener and I’ve had to postpone the trip. I was planning this family trip for such a long time and had booked a resort in Puri. But with the cold and the non-stop rain, I cancelled the plans as my daughter will fall sick in this weather,” Meghna said.
The roads wore an unnaturally deserted look for this time of the year as people preferred to stay in the comfort of their homes. “I like rains but today I didn’t venture out as it was very cold weather,” said Minakshi Mukherjee, an engineering student. “All through the day, I couldn’t help thinking how I could’ve been having fun at a theatre or a mall with my friends, but for the weather,” Minakshi said.
A month ago, Abhimanyu Sahu, an IT professional, had his weekly off-day shifted to Thursday in order to coincide with New Year Day for this week. “I had to charm my boss like anything in order to convince him to shift my weekly off for a day, but little did I know that the Rain God had such brilliant plans in store for me,” Sahu said with a hint of sarcasm.
Those who would be expecting the weather to clear will have little to hold out hope for. The Met department said the sky will continue to remain overcast and added that it will rain in the state till Saturday. Rain and thundershowers have been predicted to occur at most places over North Orissa and many places over South Orissa, although warning for heavy rainfall was thankfully not issued.
“From January 5, a cold wave situation may prevail, bringing the temperature further down. While the average temperature till January 5 will be between 20 and 23 degrees Celsius, the lowest temperature in the state may dip to 13 degrees Celsius,” said SC Sahu, Met director.
The rain, occurring due to the formation of a low pressure over west-central Bay of Bengal, may not lead to water-logging or clogging of drains, but has certainly done its bit in dampening the spirits of the revellers. While city parks remained empty, the roads too witnessed sparse traffic with many preferring to watch movies at home. Interestingly, Nandankanan received the lowest footfall in the last one decade, an official said.