A young boy showcasing art made by his family- Raghurajpur- The Artist Village, Puri, Orissa

When we started our Eastern and North Eastern India trip, we experienced two extreme behaviors and totally different mind sets almost everywhere we went. Generally speaking, what do you expect from any place you travel to? My answer to this question would be, “An authentic, original, honest and unadulterated experience”. But sometimes originality is conveniently adulterated and honesty itself is corrupted. And many a times you experience both these extremes at the same place.

One of our first destinations was Puri, the holy city popularly known as one of the old “Char Dham” pilgrimages in India. Puri, Konark and Bhubaneshwar, known as “Golden Triangle” of Orissa state, are located at the east coast of India.

Lightning striking the CN Tower!

On Friday, September 5th, 2014, I witnessed the longest – lasting several hours – and most severe thunderstorms I’ve ever seen in my life. I was outdoors for quite some time and to be honest it scared the living daylights out of me and made me feel quite vulnerable.

It was especially scary because when the storm started I was in a large and exposed parking lot in the suburbs where the probability of getting struck by lightning were substantially higher. I took shelter in a nearby shop, which subsequently lost power, and witnessed Nature’s Fury for the next 45 minutes. Later, as I was driving back to Downtown Toronto, I saw lightning beautifully strike the CN Tower as if it was God lighting His birthday candle.

Over the next few hours, I lost count of how many times I saw lightning strike the CN Tower from the comfort of my home! Perhaps it was God reminding us of His existence. Or perhaps it was Mother Nature getting angry at us for not caring for Her. Whatever it was, it served as a reminder to us that we are not God.

Here is a video that I shot from my balcony, which shows lightning striking the CN Tower 4 times!