-30 c

They always tell you but then who wants to listen . Minnesota - its really cold will you be able to survive the cold..think again ...but no we wouldn't listen ..after all we are on a mission to change this world by doing research , how can such small things matter ..surely they will not ..

So here we arrive , we stock ourselves with weapons for the winter a 1 kg downjacket , uncountable no of sweat shirts , gloves , thermals a nice fashionable cap ..who is afraid of the winter if you are so well stocked ..

And then comes my darling winters , it first tests your immune system with minor snow falls and winter chills , you are happy the free flu shots from boyton seem to working . Some one says that global warming has arrived and this time the winter is going to be mild . You ponder over the ill effects of global warming for a while and then realise that as long it serves to keep the winter at bay you would rather want it , than act to take GW away . With all the tensions for the winters pacified you get back to your task of changing the world .

But then winter has a way of catching you off the hold . All this while when you were being complacent about the winter , it was working its way through you immune system and just when the time is ready it strikes ...phew and then you suddenly realise its -30 C .

But then I was nicely stocked for the winter rite , the eternal optimist that I am , I think I can survive it . So here I go - Day 1 trying to make it to the univ , after all its just a 15 min , what worse can happen in 15 min . Here I am all decked ready to face the cold ..ok so now ..1,2 ,3 and I am out of the confines of my cosy apt ...First thoughts ..well its not that bad ..I can make it ...
5 mins down ..my nose starts freezing ..the cold vapours from my mouth and nose start freezing on my specs , I take them off to clean to them , realise the ice is frozen on top of it and it wouldn't go off ..so I stove them into my pocket .

Ok so now 5 inches of my face ..i.e my eyes and half of meter of legs ( covered only by a single layer of jeans ) are most prone to windchill ..but then thats very less ..what can possibly go wrng ..2 mins down ..my eyes start aching , i have a terrible headache ..and it seems some one has taken a ice pack , put needles into it and wrapped it around my leg ..Well there I am near the bus stop ,lets take a bus I decide ...I wait for 4 mins ..the next bus is still 5 mins away ..I decide I can walk rest of the distance ...there thats the biggest mistake I could have ever made ..5 mins at the bus stop has never killed anyone but 5 min walk in the cold has ..

5 more mins down the line I can hardly feel any part of my body and now to add to it all , the winter accesories that I have on me are pushing me down with their weight ..

There I can see the univ some distance away ...I wonder if i can make it till there but then I remind myself that I should survive to tell this story of mine ...

I survive ..