The southwest monsoon finally arrived two weeks back. What a beautiful sight it was to see the clouds rolling in and finally blessing us with their bounty. Was it just two weeks ago that we were getting slowly cooked in the heat and humidity of summer and decrying the tardiness of monsoon? It already seems like a distant (bad) dream.

When I saw the clouds – clouds that meant business, not the ones that came to pull wool over our eyes, as if the salt in our perspiration was not doing a good job of it already – I wanted to kneel, raise my hands and cry out in ecstasy, ‘Thank you!’ Well, I wanted to, but I wisely didn’t. Had I done so, the knees, the pair of them mind you, would have been up in arms, protesting in no uncertain terms. And where would that have left me?!

Now that the rains are officially here, some of our old friends are back. Mosquitoes slyly try to slip past us whenever one of us steps in or out. They even try to piggyback on Luci as she saunters in after her strolls. There are the millipedes with their many legs, touring the gardens, occasionally losing their way and ending up indoors. At the slightest touch of anything unusual, they curl up and play dead. The snails on the other-hand are totally zen, moving about from Point A to Point B with a nonchalance hard for us to emulate.

Already there’s moss growing almost everywhere, on cemented pathways, floors of terraces, and walls, in all shapes and sizes. Varieties of ferns have sprung up in the cracks of rocky walls. The water level in the wells have gone up. The guava tree is done with fruits and is concentrating on making itself greener. The mango tree and the neem tree in the backyard are in it as well. Who is greener, is the name of the game this season.

Monsoons have brought a change in the dog too. She, who used to gallop to the bathroom for her bath, today had to be persuaded to step in. Bath? her puzzled expression seemed to ask. Why?!!! It’s nice and cool, already! Fortunately, she humored me and let herself be bathed. Fresh as a raindrop, she sleeps at my feet, snoring in tune to the sound of falling rain.

© Shail Mohan 2019