Indian Monsoon

INDIAN MONSOON

"Innocent droplets of rain make almost all events quite natural"


The onset of the monsoon is finally here. You know the season has hit India when the sky above displays tumultuous dark ragged clouds, the air smells earthy and renewed and tiny water droplets glisten on leaves like pearls of a fresh oyster. For the people of India it spells relief after struggling through torrid summer days of heat and sweat. 

The Indian monsoon renews large parts of the country from virtual desert to vivid green grassland bringing relief to parched land and scorched earth. Experiencing the most dramatic monsoon in the world, India witnesses the blitz of recurrent rain for a good four months starting June-September. Sadly, adverse climatic changes and global warming are now drastically subsiding the seasonal period and hence the monsoon is deliberately turning out to be unpredictable.

The season begins with sporadic showers that convert into intense rain with booming thunder and freaky lightning. The atmosphere is elevated; the people of India are injected with vigor and relief that shows in the spirit of cloudburst enthusiasm that they so effortlessly display.

Growing up as a witness to the seasonal rains every year, my experiences with the monsoons are memorable and diverse. Heading to school during those rainy days always ensured we carry our bright colored peppy raincoats and flashy umbrellas. As children we enjoyed getting drenched. The spirit of youth is always fervent to play games or dance in the rain uncaring of any consequence. People in offices constantly love to peek out the window every odd minute to ensure the rains are holding for them to get back home before the commencement of some heavy thunder showers. Consistent rain creates havoc and will infuriatingly influence traffic and upset city life. The most familiar sight is to see people wading through muddy puddles, scrambling to find an auto rickshaw while irrational two wheeler's zip by splashing all that murky muddy water that makes you squeal back in anger. Or perhaps listening to the thundering rain anticipating for some clearance while sipping on hot chai with sizzling bhaajis, spicy chaats or maybe some garam jalebis and hot samosas at the corner stall.

For the romantic at heart, the season is the best time to fall in love. During days when the rains thunders down and life outside is practically stranded, reading a romantic novel by the window sipping on hot coffee is kind of enthralling. Occasionally, lovers are spotted on otherwise deserted roads snuggling under a mediocre umbrella, all the time fixated on each other. Water gushing down, bolts of lightning, clap of thunder in the distance and threatening rains overwhelm the landscape to embrace sceneries of superlative magnificence that truly is a spectacle to be captured. It is that time where nature comes alive in a scene of cool lush greenery.

The feelings and experiences are innumerable from man to man, but the intensity of the rainfall is consistent, ignorant to the aching troubles of the people affected. This is certainly a season of failing in love all over again that can only be experienced at home, here’s to the Indian Monsoon.

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