Monsoons!

Yesterday, I walked out of office and smelt moistness in air. It, obviously, was raining!

I was a bit intrigued – I don´t associate rains with Hyderabad. I am used to amiable weather of Mumbai over weekends and experiencing perennial hot air of Hyderabad over weekdays.

I felt happy – monsoon is a seasons i´ve always enjoyed.  I felt ecstatic over next 80 minutes as I made my way back home half hanging out from a rickshaw wading through waterlogged roads. There was this sense of freedom all around.

Today, evening has been chilly. It´s drizzling and the guard tells me that this is the way it´s going to be for next 1/2 months.  If rains are all that I have to experience, I should be working out of Mumbai for next 2 months. I´ll atleast be able to do everything from comfort of my home, knowing well that electricity would never go off. Yeah I know about gated community concept in Hyderabad- and advantages of having a generator but Mumbai has spoilt my habits. I´m used to no power cuts.

But hold on! When I started writing this post, I didn´t intend to compare Mumbai and Hyderabad. I´m just in mood to reminisce different memories I have about monsoons.

Kalboishakhi – ever heard of term? Winds make a howling noise, Dust- storms encircle you and hurl  pebbles all around. Trunks and branches of tall trees bend down towards the ground. Rains come pelting down. Lightning thunders in sky. Soon, dustry leaves and flowers of trees start looking cleaner and fresher. Mother Earth smells fresh. Storm lasts for about an hour  and brings life to a standstill. But no  one complaints- as Kalboishakhi in Bengal (and for that matter Eastern part of country) ushers in change from one season  to other. Kalboishaki is harbinger of change – it gives reassurance to soult that next seasons is on its way.

Sometimes Kalboishakhi comes in form of a hailstorm. Ice pellets shower from sky. I remember facing a hailstorm once while returning from school. Every vehicle on GT Road (equivalent to a National Highway) stopped commuting for about an hour .Visibility was near zero and the ice pellets threatened to smash windows of bus I was in. Some of us ventured out from school bus and played hide and seek with the hailstorm – trying to protect ourselves from ice pellets but also trying to catch them.

Ice is anyways something I´ve always loved.  During school days, at end of summers I used to feel bad about not being able to have 50 paise per piece Pepsi ice candies. I used to save pocket money to ensure I could have 1 Pepsi candy everyday. Do you get those candies anymore? I don´t know!

For college, I moved to Mangalore – on Western Coast. There were only 2 seasons there– it rained or it didn´t rain! When it rained, it was cold, When it didn´t rain, it was pleasant.  Once it started raining (in June), it rained until October. Once it stopped raining in October, it didn´t rain till May.  

When it rained no umbrella could save you! Winds were strong and large rain drops pelted down. Arabian sea looked beautiful but also ushered into land strong winds and dark clouds. Initially I tried using umbrellas but to no avail. They were ravaged by winds – some broke and others tore. Then, I tried using raincoats – Duckback types you find in most parts of India!   Raingods were out to prove again that I was naïve.

One day I landed up with 2 friends in Mangalore (Hampankatta area) carrying our raincoats. It started raining heavily around afternoon. We desperately looked around for a bus to get back to college. We didn´t want to be stranded on streets of Mangalore, in case roads got flooded (in hindsight I never saw Mangalore flooded in 4 years I was there). We had to wait for more than an hour to get a bus. By then, my raincoat had been ripped apart at shoulder lining by pelting raindrops.  

Finally, I found a solution.  I bought a red sweater cum raincoat. Raincoat on outside and sweater on inside. I still have this red colour sweater raincoat with me. I´ve never had to use it post 2003. But I think I still on to this fairly bulky raincoat as i´ve some memories associated with it.

For work, I landed up in Mumbai.- city of dreams, spirits, and incessant monsoon rains. Initially, I thought ´I am back to west coast of India. There must only be 2 seasons – it rains or it doesn´t rain. And yes! It must be raining hard here but then it must be draining out fast too- the way it did in Mangalore.´ Well! First time I faced rains in Mumbai was on 26^th July 2005. I was in office and saw those around me getting worked up. Someone said ´Harbour line´s gone down!´. Soon someone soon pitched in ´Central Line´s gone down too and we hear Western line is on verge of going down.´ I was a bit bemused.  And then they announced the office closed at 4 p.m.  I was happy as I could go home earlier. But alas, I walked for 6 hours that night and I didn´t even cover 5 kms´.

Living in Mumbai, got me used to rains. Last weekend I saw onsite of monsoons in Mumbai. The sea at Bandstand was angry – waves ravaged coast and made a hissing sound; water almost broke banks. One evening my umbrella was almost blown away by the strong winds – dejavu of Mangalore days. One day I just sat at home and saw the raindrops on window panes, the trees swaying to strong winds, and incessant monsoon traffic jams on road. I felt happy and serene but as, any true Mumbaikaar, hoped that it would be sunny on Monday morning (so that my flight would take off on time).

So I landed up in Hyderabad yesterday. After a busy day´s work I walked out of office and instantaneously realized something was different. How could I miss it? Air was hot no more. There was a drizzle and air felt crisp and fresh. I was a bit surprised! Hyderabad- heat and dust is what i´ve associated with this city till now.  I felt happy – rains always do make me feel like that. Roads yesterday were waterlogged  but deft autorickshaw guys found a way through all the mess . Rickshaw ride, getting wet in the rain,  and hot milky cup of sugar overloaded tea made my day yesterday.  I hear rains last for about 2 months in Hyderabad. I would not want so much adventure on road everyday. Probably it´s time to use work from home option more frequently.

But there´s something about monsoons I miss. Smell of freshly wet earth! Sight of rows of fresh green paddy fields!

Well I think it´s time for a trip back to Bengal. Mommy and Dadddy –here I come! Let chaa, beguni, and singhada´s make again our candle light conversations beat gloom of inevitable monsoon power cuts! J

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Sourav