Child born during Cyclone Phailin christened after the natural disaster

Having a child is definitely one of the more memorable experiences that will happen in anyone’s life - but admittedly, if you give birth in the middle of a cyclone, it will add a certain something to an already remarkable memory. [caption id=“attachment_1177733” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] This is what happened to two women who went into labour on Saturday as cyclone Phailin set in around them in Bhubaneswar. A report in the Times of India describes how the two women even struggled to find transport to the hospital, and once they were there, they were on adjacent beds as they underwent cesarean section operations under the lights being powered by generators. And one of the children has been christened Pralay, which means disaster, in memory of  of the natural phenomenon that was occurring when he was born. “My family took me to Pipili hospital. Doctors there referred me to Capital Hospital. After multiple phone calls and a long wait, an ambulance came, but travelling from Pipili to Bhubaneswar was scary,” said Barsharani Pradhan of Darada village in Puri district to the newspaper. “When the cyclone was gaining strength, my difficulty in the labour room was mounting,” she said. “But in the end, I am happy. The cyclone made my delivery more memorable. We have named our child Pralay (disaster),” she said. The phenomenon isn’t entirely new. In May of this year, a baby boy born in a Bangladeshi storm shelter was named after an impending cyclone by villagers who hoped the gesture would protect them from the storm’s wrath, reported The Telegraph.

“Jyuotsna Begum gave birth to the boy at Boalia Union Council cyclone shelter and villagers who were in the shelter named him Mahasen,” said Mahmud Alam, the government administrator for the area to the newspaper.