The Hindu Business Line : This storm is like a lasting match

IT'S too difficult to ignore a cyclone that stands stationary near the coast. And Baaz has been doing just that, adamantly slow-jogging near Chennai, as if it wants to let the cricket match to get under way before striking. For those who find the waiting unbearably tense, and so are filling my inbox with queries, here is some help.

What is cyclone?

It is "a system of winds rotating inwards to an area of low barometric pressure; a depression," defines www.askoxford.com.

"A violent rotating windstorm or tornado," frightens Encarta. "Cyclones are commonly called lows and anticyclones highs," notes http://encarta.msn.com. Cyclone means "a jumping spinning crescent with your front leg," according to Karate Exercises Techniques on www.neokarate.net.

From where?

Tropical cyclones (a.k.a. tropical storms, hurricanes and typhoons) are cyclones that form over warm (generally tropical) ocean waters and draw their energy from evaporation and condensation, educates the resourceful Wikipedia. However, source of the word is attributed to Henry Piddington, an official of British East India Co. It seems he coined the word `cyclone' in 1848, "to describe the devastating storm of December 1789 in Coringa, India," as www.etymonline.com informs.

From Greek kyklon `moving in a circle, whirling around,' from kyklos `circle', says the site.

Coringa?

Yes, it's in Andhra Pradesh. "The Coringa sanctuary is situated in the delta region of the Godavari. This sanctuary is famous for reptiles like the salt-water crocodile, fishing cats and others," informs www.indiasite.com. "Near Kakinada port along the Bay of Bengal," says www.surfindia.com.

`A historical perspective of Yanam' on http://yanam.nic.in speaks of the `small area of 8 square miles in extent' built on a place where the rivers Coringa and the Godavari meet.

Any record of cyclones?

Here. "1789 December India, City of Coringa: three tidal waves caused by a cyclone destroyed the harbour city at the mouth of the Ganges river. Most ships were sunk and estimated 20,000 people drowned," states www.emergency-management.net. "1839 November India, City Coringa: a gigantic 40-foot tidal wave caused by an enormous cyclone wiped out the harbour city that was never entirely rebuilt; 20,000 vessels in the bay were destroyed and 3,00,000 people died."

Piddington gave weather forecasts?

These days, all of us do, with the help of www.npmoc.navy.mil, www.imd.gov.in and so on, kept handily minimised on our desktops.

One learns that Piddington introduced the word to mariners in his book The Sailor's Horn-Book for the Law of Storms, which was aimed at explaining to seaman `the theory and practical use of the Law of Storms,' as www.islandnet.com states on a page titled `The Origin of Cyclone.' "I suggest that we might, for all this last class of circular or highly curved winds, adopt the term `Cyclone' from the Greek kyklos (which signifies amongst other things the coil of a snake) as expressing sufficiently the tendency to circular motion in these meteors," is a snatch that the site cites. There's more about the `laws' on www.weathernotebook.org.

Does the Bard offer any solace?

"Alas, the storm is come again!" he rues in The Tempest, and in Macbeth refer to "Shipwrecking storms and direful thunders". Small showers last long, but sudden storms are short, he consoles in King Richard II. And, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, he offers a dose of philosophy through Marina, "This world to me is like a lasting storm."

Well, that line may be adapted thus, in the light of goings-on in Chepauk, near the Marina beach: "This storm to us is like a lasting match."

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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