The cyclone was really blowing up a storm last night and from around midnight to 3 AM the wind was screaming and bending trees to breaking point. We were worried that the mango tree outside the bedroom would come crashing in through the large windows into the room.

Went out this morning and found several large hoardings and structures blocking the roads -

  
Hoarding across the road. A mangled gas-station.

 
Checking for remains, at a road-side stall. Looks like the bananas made it through the storm!
The little girl in the orange sweatshirt in the next photo is selling tea and cookies. Her stall was crushed under the weight of the structure that toppled on top. I asked her if all was OK? She said «You want tea? pay up and drink some tea! unnecessary talk is a waste of my time» - wow! powerful words from a little kid!

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The wind from Cyclone SIDR gusts outside and the rain comes down in sudden bursts - instructions to card games being checked .... nice and cozy!

And Mannat does some tricks to keep us amused

Today the weather turned «nasty». We have had lovely brilliant blue-sky days for the past couple of weeks and today it is gusty stormy driving rain that's coming in at a steep angle.Chittagong Port remains closed at storm warning #9, and according to a news update just received :«Signal No-9 at Chittagong port. All the vessels were at berth had to vacate the berth last night per port instruction for safety reason. It is anticipated that cyclone SIDR might cross Bangladesh sometime today afternoon and the maximum speed of the formed cyclone in the Bay Bengal is anticipated approx 190km per hour which seems to be as strong as Hurricane Katrina.»  

the storm can be tracked at The Navy/NRL Tropical Cyclone Page .

        

A image from my office window  taken on a cell-phone camera -

Could not capture the almost horizontal rain though!

Anyway, this post is not a news article about a storm-warning, about the effects of «global warming», nor anything remotely
similar. 
The storm reminds me of my Simla-days, we were a bunch of friends who would ride Royal Enfield Bullet or Jawa motorcycles - stormy weather made it a better ride! It did not matter if it was raining, snowing
or what. We'd stop at the little «dhabas» to have hot sugary tea and samosas and watch the storm. We were not passing-time
'waiting' for the storm to end. It was an experience in itself.

11/17/07 EDIT:
See this page for details of the aftermath.