It was 20th Nov 2009, an absolute heck of one of the coldest mornings Karthik had ever encountered throughout his life. He was at his house in Edmonton, returned previous night from work at Fort Mcmurray. He had never experienced real heavy snow fall before this day. It was 8:34 am when he just opened his eyes and it was still dark outside the window. The view was not very clear as he wasn’t awake completely. Normally the sunrises by 7:30 am, but that morning there was heavy snowfall. In fact the snowfall started sometime at midnight. Lying on his bed Karthik checked the time in his cell phone which he had kept next to his pillow using as alarm clock. He was puzzled at the same time wanted to know why it was dark out. He got down from his bed and came closer to window of his bedroom. As he was reaching the edge of the window, at every second the view outside the window was broadening. The view brought several emotions in him at the same time. He was astounded, concerned and pleased. Astounded as he had never seen this before and it came all of a sudden to him, concerned as he hated cold and he had to deal with this and pleased as one of his wishes had come true. He wished to be in this white desert one day just to enjoy it once in his life. It was a complete white out, each and every lane, walk way, trees, roof tops of houses, cars, etc were covered with snow. The balcony next to kitchen was covered with snow of 5-6 inches of snow. On that one night there were more than 7-8 inches of snowfall everywhere in the city and it wasn’t over. The snow was still falling.
He was staying approximately 35 Km away from the downtown in Edmonton. The worries were that he had to drive all the way to downtown at Apollo Motors to get the driver’s side mirrors fixed for his car. Driving in snow needs really good driving experience, right snow tires and be extremely careful while accelerating and braking. Karthik was the man who came from Mumbai and had never seen snow and never ever had a chance to drive in snow. Here comes his day, he had to do it. He waited till 11:30 am before moving out to let the snowfall stop. It’s all in vain, as god just made sure to fulfill his wish of going out in that chilling desert. The temperature in Edmonton that day was -29*C and -38*C wind chill, the wind was blowing at 70 Km/hr.
He started the car moved out of garage there he goes into a big heap of snow, both right tires are stuck. Hunnn…. Welcome to white desert, that was what he felt was god saying. After clearing the snow beside the tires he was able to move on. It was just 3-4 minutes out in that cold and he was frozen, his finger tips through the gloves, ears, nose and cheeks had gone numb. It took about 10-12 minutes for him to get back to normal. As I said he had to travel about 35 kilometers and the road wasn’t straight forward. Also he was driving at 35 Km/hr whereas the acceptable speed limit was 60 Km/hr in the city. He had to go up the hill just few kilometers before the downtown. He had reached the bridge of the frozen Athabasca River and there he lines behind the long traffic. Two cars had skidded on the uphill road. The problem in these messy and snowy uphill roads is that back tire keeps rotating at its place and the car doesn’t move ahead, instead it skids sideways from behind. That’s dangerous when there is oncoming traffic in left lane and a valley on the right side. It was 40 minutes in same position 1:30 pm and he was feeling hungry. He was fortunate enough as he had a pack of Parle-G biscuit. Few minutes later the traffic started moving, man he was comforted. No sooner he reaches the same spot and the car in front of him skidded there. The drama continues, as I said before its back tire skidded and made the car take almost 90* turn on the same spot. Again the halt, five minutes later three officers helped that car push and move up the hill. Being new to these conditions Karthik drove brilliantly. He managed not to skid or crash with other cars on his way to the Apollo Motors to change the driver’s side mirror of his car.
After coming back from Apollo Motors Karthik was pleased to know that he is back home safely and reached his destination. But, but, but… That was not the end; it was just the beginning of the winters in Canada. He just managed to stay warm that weekend by staying in the house, but he can’t do it for long. Next Monday morning he had a flight at 7:05 am by Air Canada to Fort Mcmurray, back to work. While he was in flight before landing the flight person announced the weather of Fort Mcmurray. As soon as the flight person said it is -42*C and -53*C wild chill at Fort Mcmurray, Karthik started quivering on his seat. The plane landed at 8:05 am and Karthik was out with his bags, his colleague Janos was waiting for him at the waiting room. Janos is from Hungary and now working with Karthik at Suncore site which is approximately 170 Km from Fort Mcmurray airport. These two chaps have to drive again all the way to the site. They have a van which is in open parking exposed to this severe atmosphere for three complete days.
They reach the parking and their van is covered with snow. Karthik was just wondering why the hell did he take up this assignment and come all the way from place like Mumbai. They quickly got into the van and Janos in driving seat put the key in to start it. The tragedy comes again. Van doesn’t start. The engine too is frozen, they try for ten minutes. Thinking of going back to the airport to get some help, they see the bus coming intended to take people from parking to airport to protect them from freezing. The bus driver has the booster cables. By connecting batteries of both the vehicles by the booster cables the van should start. But they were in queue. There were two more cars to be started before them, so they got into the bus since it was warmer in there. Twenty minutes later the batteries were connected with booster cable and it took another ten minutes for their van to start. By that time both Karthik’s and Janos’s hands and legs became numb. Karthik was feeling deep trouble for himself. Though the van started in ten minutes the heater to blow hot air takes time, especially when the engine is frozen for three days. They could not wait there too, so that had to start and move. Karthik’s feet had already become numb, but that wasn’t it. The finger tip of hands and legs as well started paining rigorously. It pained as if someone was nailing pins on every finger tip of his. He was sitting there as a lifeless body, couldn’t help but wait till it gets better. Now Karthik was wishing that the heater blows warm air quickly, but it takes time. Janos while driving was worried what happened to him.
They have to wait on the way at Mc Donald’s to take breakfast and lunch parcel. They stopped at Mc Donald’s. Karthik was immovable. He thought might be inside Mc Donald’s he’ll feel better. He went in, while walking barely could he feel his feet. After buying the food he waited there but it never helped. Karthik came back to van hoping that at least then there will be some warm air coming from heater. Unfortunately that is not the case. Janos drives the van to Tim Horton’s which is another restaurant where he wanted to buy food. It takes fifteen minutes to reach there, by that time the van’s heater starts giving warm air. Janos moves out and Karthik stays back to warm up. By that time Karthik had the worst one hour of his lifetime ever. His finger tips were still paining. He removed shoes and socks to keep his feet in front of the fans blowing warm air. After twenty odd minutes his hands and legs were going back to normal and he was feeling better then. By the time Janos came he was feeling exhausted and drowsy. They started moving to site for work with good temperature inside the van. Karthik ate up his lunch as well.
On the way he kept wandering, this is a wish or a nightmare which has come true...
