In a positive coming out of the snow storm which completely riddled life in parts of the country, a family managed to spend two days together at a stretch for the first time in 10 yrs after being unable to leave home. This has proved to be a great bonding experience for the whole family which has vowed to do the same, the next time a natural calamity strikes. We spoke to the father of the family for more details, “Well, as usual, I was all set to go play tennis with the boys back at the club after clocking 12 hrs at work and my wife was going out to work with her environmental guys. My children were also planning their usual night out so our duplex would, as usual, be inhabited only by our dog. But then the storm broke and for the first time in eons we four were spending the evening together. After some nervous smiles and polite small talk, as you would do with some distant acquaintance we sat in the living room and my wife rushed into the kitchen to make a year old frozen pizza, the only food we had in the house.

Then the awkwardness started to set in, and finally pure hostility took over. The two of my kids tried to take a shovel and clear the 15-foot snow in order to get away, I tried to order a snowmobile but we finally had to accept our fate. Then after starting to talk we were surprised how much we had in common, and felt like a family. My kids shared their school experience, we narrated about a trip we had taken to Mexico and were soon engaged in a great conversation. So just as the storm cleared we embraced heartily and vowed to continue this every evening by putting aside our smartphones.”

In unrelated news, some families have started to build escape tunnels as an emergency response if such situation arises.