Rain, lightning and thunderclaps greet Kolkatans on Rabindra Jayanti

Dhakuria: Kolkata woke up to a bright and sunny morning on Monday but just before 9, ominous dark clouds filled up the sky. A special bulletin issued by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said at 8.45am that Asani, the severe cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal, was packing gale force winds up to 120km per hour, was moving towards coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha at a speed of 25km per hour on Monday, but expected to weaken gradually over the next two days.

Jodhpur Park: Within seconds, big raindrops came lashing and pedestrians caught unawares could be seen covering their heads and scurrying for shelter.

Southern Avenue: The decorators made a dash to cover up the stage, erected to host a cultural programme of a south Kolkata school on the occasion of Rabindra Jayanti, with polythene sheets in a jiffy.

Southern Avenue: The attendees at the Rabindra Jayanti celebrations had only one prayer to weather gods on their lips — to show some mercy. Lockdowns and other restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic had prevented Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary celebrations in 2020 and 2021.

Anandapur, EM Bypass: The rain, seen as a precursor to Cyclone Asani, was blinding in most parts of the city.

Beliaghata: Plants, which till 10 days back were withering in the heatwave-like conditions, got a cool respite after almost a week.

Salt Lake Sector V: The winds felt strong in open spaces and over large water bodies.

Rashbehari: Large branches of trees hanging perilously and old buildings gave the creeps to pedestrians.

Apollo Hospitals, EM Bypass: An empty sugarcane juice-grinding machine and a yellow taxi both wait for customers in the rain.

Ballygunge Place: People could be seen huddling together under shared umbrellas even as lanes and bylanes quickly got inundated with rainwater.

Panchanantala: The unending streams of rain flowing down the windows of cars painted a picture reminiscent of a water colour art.