Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Rain, rain go away, and an Award

"In case of emergency, cut rope" says the hoarding.
How many of the city's millions can the raft hold?
I haven't seen rains like this in the city in a very long time. Officially, the Monsoons last for a little over three months from mid-June to end-September, but in reality, the city gets a few days of heavy rain followed by a week or two of only mild showers.

The Monsoon hit the city early this year, and poured almost continuously for nearly two weeks. I was certain the rainfall meant for the entire season was used up in those few weeks, and that we would only have mild showers after that. But I, like every other self-appointed meteorologist in the city, was in for a surprise- this has been one long season of days of heavy rain alternating with days of mild rain- there have been practically no dry days in the last three months.


Auto-rickshaws don raincoats to protect
passengers from the rain and splashing puddles
"Why is the sky crying so much?", the kids keep asking me. They are fed up of being cooped up indoors, and no longer find much pleasure in splashing through puddles. I wish I knew- all I know is that it is one mega tantrum the sky has been throwing.

It wouldn't be too bad if the rains did not disrupt life in the city the way they actually do- waterlogged roads, slowing down of public transport, soaring vegetable prices because transportation trucks are affected, a sudden spurt in water-borne diseases. I guess we should be happy we don't have floods, the way other parts of the subcontinent do.

Rain, rain, go away. We have enough water in our reservoirs to last us till next year.
______

The Awards seem to keep building up, so maybe it makes sense to pass them on as they come, rather than wait to first clear the ones I am hoarding.

Alex of Alex J. Cavanaugh passed on the SuperCommenter Award. It doesn't seem to come with any strings attached and I pass in onto Margot Kinberg of Confessions of a Mystery Novelist. She is the Professor of Mystery Writing, and for the longest time, I was so much in awe of her obvious brilliance, I never even dared leave a comment. I am glad I stopped lurking, because I now know that she is as wonderful a person as she is bright.

19 comments:

Mason Canyon said...

Earlier this year we had rain for days on end. It was nothing like your Monsoons but it seemed to last forever. Now we've been dry so long we want rain. It always seems there is too much or not enough. LOL

Congratulations on the award.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Laura Eno said...

The weather seems to be too much or too little of everything. I'm still looking for that perfect place. LOL!

Congrats on the award!

Deb and Barbara said...

argh, I feel for you. I love the occasional rain shower or storm, but really don't know how I'd handle never-ending rain. One of the reasons I don't think I could live on our west coast.

I guess you're making your own sun!
B

Unknown said...

Normally, I live in a desert so when we had the hurricane (typhoon) hit earlier this year, everything went a muck. However, now we're back in a desert and I wish it would rain. Not to much but some.

Congrats on your award.

CD

Jemi Fraser said...

We've messed up our planet something fierce! There are so many bizarre and unusual weather patterns lately. We've had hotter/more humid weather than we've EVER had. Strange.

Jules said...

I'm still waiting for our rains to start. We are experiencing the opposite, it is too hot to go out and my dogs are bored with being in as well.

Take care and congrats on the award :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I love the idea of raincoats for rickshaws! We've had above average rain this year, too, but fortunately this area absorbs it fairly well.

Oh...congratulations on your award.

Tina said...

Feel free to send some of that rain my way...I'm so tired of hot, glaring sun and no relief in sight. Congrats on the award!

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

It been so dry here that by the time I get the windows closed the rain has quit and the ground is dry again. So if your kids would like to send some our way that would be great. (You do know only kids can do that kind of thing, right?)

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Thanks for including the rickshaw picture - it adds to the sense of wetness! The weather this doesn't seem to have a "happy medium" for anything. :-)

Congrats on your award.

Anonymous said...

Me, I love a rainy day. Let it rain and I can write volumes. Well, lots of oages anyway. Toss in thunder and lightning and I can write 20-30 pages in a sitting.

And Alex is an awesome commentor. I can count on him to visit and lave comments for just about every blog.

Stephen Tremp

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Well deserved award, Rayna!
Glad you're not flooding, although I'm sure constant rain can feel depressing after a while.

Southpaw said...

I love rainy days…weeks, but months of heavy rain? No thanks.

Patricia Stoltey said...

Congratulations on this colorful and cute award, Rayna. You've passed it on to a wonderful and knowledgeable blogger.

I hope you get some dry days soon. It must be hard to stay in a happy mood with all that rain.

Patricia

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You ARE a super commenter, Rayna!
It can rain like that in my home state of Oregon - just a drizzle that lasts forever.

Theres just life said...

I feel for you and your children. I like the rain, but too much really gets on your nerves. It is imposable to keep the mud out and everything starts to feel soggy.
Hope you get a break soon.

Anonymous said...

Rayna - I am so sorry that I didn't get to read your terrific post about rain until now. How very embarrassing! Thank you so much not only for the award, but for your kind, kind remarks *blush*. That means so much to me, especially for someone whose comments are as thoughtful, insightful and interesting as yours are.

And about the rain? I can understand your kids' feeling about the rain after so much of it. But here, where I live, rain is a blessing because we get so little of it. So I always consider it a treat when we have a rainy day...

Anonymous said...

Rain is a blessing - but not when it never stops.

Natasha said...

@ Mason- we always want what we don't have at that moment, don't we? But I guess that is life

@ Laura- and the perfect place may well get really boring

@ Barbara- we had a couple of minutes of sun last week! But this is depressing- guess I will never be able to live in London

@ Clarissa- the months before the rain, we were hoping it would start raining soon :-)

@ Jemi- it has got all messed up, hasn't it? We used to have one set of showers in April, which cooled the city down- not so last year, or this

@ Jules- waiting for the rains is as bad a waiting out the rains


@ Jane- our cities get waterlogged at the slightest opportunity

@ Karen- thank you, and we are having days with something like 10" a day!

@ Tina- I wish it were that easy. And you could send me a bit of snow- I have never seen any

@ Mary- let me ask my kids to try

@ Shannon- there is no happy medium ever :-(

@ Stephen- you can write a tome if you come to India during the monsoons

@ Alex- we are flooding too, but I am working for home this season, so staying dry

@ Holly- I too love days of rain, but not weeks of it

@ Patricia - Margot is great, isn't she?

@ Diane- why, thank you! Drizzles that last forever- what a lovely description for something quite deary

@ Theres just life- and the house is full of half dry clothes, and everything smells musty. Yuk

@ Margot- passing on the Award to you was my honour. You are a very knowledgeable blogger, but more important (to me at least), you are a wonderful human being.

@ Fiona - too much of anything can be too much, unless it is chocolate

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails