It’s that time of the year again.

The sun, having reigned unchallenged for months together, and consequently the power of it all having gone to the head, was roasting (or is it boiling?) us all alive, has now to contend with the portentous dark clouds who came sailing in, moving silently and majestically, from the Southwest.

In short, the south-west monsoon is here, at long last, a trifle early this year compared to the previous sixteen as per news reports. I guess the dark clouds were weighed down too much and were impatient to offload all the moisture they carried. So instead of waiting for the traditional first of June to begin the show, started off more than a week earlier.

The last three days have been pretty damp with intermittent, but pouring rain. Sometimes it was raining cats and dogs, and at other times probably elephants and giraffes, as a friend remarked. There’s water everywhere, and nothing is drying well enough.

The trees though look happy and lush green having the dust on their leaves and bark washed away. The grass is greener, not just on the other side of the fence, on this side too. Thin branches and leaves are wearing delicate pearly drops of rain in which the surroundings are reflected.

The ground is slushy where not cemented, and even in covered places, the unevenness of the layout makes the water form pools. The gutters are overflowing, the potholes are too, making the vehicles rushing past spray muddy water on unsuspecting pedestrians.

As happens often enough, the very same people who were asking with despair, “When will it rain?!!!” are already grumbling about the too wet days. “Omg! When will it stop raining?!!!” they ask, forgetting that the monsoon season has only just begin. It appears, however hot the sun is, the cheerfulness of a bright sunny day cannot be discounted. Only diehard pluviophiles like me seem to welcome the rainy season with open arms.

But

I am aware that I am among the privileged to be sitting in a dry apartment, and on the rare occasions I need to get out, of being able to step into a car, and getting to my destination in an almost dry condition. Enjoying the rain from my balcony or from behind the closed windows of an air-conditioned car is not tha same as walking home through muddy roads, or running to catch a bus in the pouring rain, or fearing stepping into an open man-hole, especially when in many places the roads have turned to canals. It is especially hard on people with no proper housing.

But then, sigh….

We need rain too, the earth, the plants and trees, animals and us humans, the privileged and the underprivileged. So rain it must (not that we can stop it!), however inconvenient it may be to so many of us. Hopefully we’ll do better (WE MUST!) in solving the problems that confronts us every rainy season, ramping up the infrastructure, making sure of housing for everyone et al. Not that I have much hope in that regard, but hey, one cannot live without hope, can one?

©️ Shail Mohan 2025

Here’s a small clip of my rainy season:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Shail Mohan (@shailzen)