There are way too many problems in our world. We have got poverty, homelessness, fuel shortages, economic downturns, and even the Sri Lankan university system to add to that!
To make things worse, now even the nature is hitting at us!
Well, it’s not that I’m saying the natural disasters were not here before. They were sure out there. But now the numbers have increased, IMMENSELY, sucking the life out of too many people!
May be it’s because the Mayans are right about the world coming to an end in 2012.
Or may be it’s not.
But whatever the reason, it makes a perfect sense for all of us to keep our eyes wide open and know-it-all about all sorts of possible disasters in these destructive times.
In Sri Lanka, after I was born, there has been nothing more than hurricanes, floods, mountain slides, and the tsunami which struck us in 2004. And given our geographical location, the possibility of us getting hit by any other kind of disaster is minimal.
Anyway, from the havocs we have had so far, which baffles me the most are hurricanes.
I simply don’t understand why hurricanes have names!
I can understand people’s need to name pets, planets and may be even household equipments. But why hurricanes and only hurricanes for that matter? It’s as if they are trying to come up with a whole family tree of hurricanes!
They have not put the current lineup for Indian Ocean hurricanes in the internet, yet. But the 2011 Atlantic storm list is as follows: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, and Whitney.
Do I need to say that I’m confused? Who is going to take a warning about Hurricane Sean seriously? Cos all it reminds me is Jay Sean! Same goes for Hurricane Lee. I had a classmate with that name, whom it’s difficult for me to picture destroying half the world. Perhaps I should give him a buzz and ask if he finds this association flattering!
Sure, this list is a fair play because it has got both male and female names in it. And much better than the 2009 list, which had both Rose and Grace in it, where I can’t even think of any reason why anyone would want to name a hurricane after Rose! Most probably it must have been some angry guy who got rejected by a lover named Rose or who got thrashed by the very bunch of Roses he had offered! And then Grace! How could anything as catastrophic as a hurricane have any grace in it? In this way they might as well name a hurricane – Fluffy Kitten!
So frankly this is why they should name these whirlwinds of doom after something scary, if they really want to warn people about an in-coming hurricane. (Well, my friends would surely know what is in store for them if a hurricane is named ‘Nir’!)
Or at least use names that demonstrate their calamitous nature.
Cos I’m sure even “Hurricane Enron struck us hard” or “Hurricane WorldCom is gone for good”, would do the job better!
To Make Me Look Busy 
