Odisha Diaries - But First, Ornab Diaries! - Part 1
26.10.2026 I check the cyclone tracker for the umpteenth time on my mobile, just like I have been doing the whole day. To be precise, this checking has been going on since a week. Ever since a cyclone named Ornab (also pronounced as Arnab) was predicted for Odisha, I have been checking the weather app and getting disheartened after seeing heavy rain forecast in Odisha in the coming two days. Then Ornab formed, and I switched on to the cyclone tracker, carefully monitoring the forecasted path of the cyclone (as if my monitoring would make the cyclone change its course). You see, the day on which Ornab was supposed to land on Puri was the same day that my family and I were supposed to land at Bhubaneswar. Via flight. Which is the most terrifying part for me. Not thunderstorms, not heavy to very heavy rainfall, not cyclones, but flying over a cyclone and the turbulence that is sure to occur. When we booked tickets for Puri, we had no idea that we would be flying un...