It’s a frigid January night, the second in a row to dip below zero degrees Fahrenheit in Chicago.

Believe it or not, but when she was growing up, your incoming RI President Stephanie Urchick wanted to become a spy! “I wanted to become a spy and work for the government,” she says with a twinkle in her eye.

My neighbour was perplexed when her 20-year-old nephew constantly complained to her that someone was following him every time he steps out of the house. He even insisted that she accompany him which she did one night, and reassured him that there was no one shadowing them. Another day he verbally abused the apartment complex security person saying that he was laughing at him when he was not. The young man was suffering from schizophrenia, a serious mental disorder. It took a while for the family to understand his state of mind and provide him psychiatric help.

Even as Chennai and its neighbouring districts were reeling from the devastation of cyclone Michuang, a second major deluge paralysed four districts — Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi ­(Tuticorin), Tenkasi and Kanyakumari — in southern Tamil Nadu, as extremely heavy rains pounded the region for a week in December. Several towns and villages were ravaged and farmlands destroyed. Every small river and tributary had turned into lethal water streams across the four districts.