The Monsoons Are Here!

No matter what the meteorological department says, the monsoons are here! I mean in Bangalore (where they were to arrive two days later). And it is amazing how soon they make their presence felt. From one hour to the next, a great coolness has descended (along with sheets of water that have made their way through the windows and splattered a rainbow of dots on the computer screen).

The signs were all there – and I don't mean the satellite maps. For the past two weeks, we have witnessed clouds of butterflies migrating in a wave – moving from the west coast to the east to avoid the rain front. The swarms of flying ants appearing from nowhere, the dragonflies hovering at the tips of the dried out lily stems. A toad looking a little sheepishly at me as it hops onto the bird bath and dips one leg into the water in the evenings. Not to mention the compelling call of the koel which is so romanticized here that we all delight in it, but which has been driving several Japanese that I met round the bend (as they are waking up at four each morning due to the insistent cry).

And all this while, we have been moving round in a withered state that the summer rains just could not change. For the summer rains bring a momentary sigh of relief, but lack the immensely quenching effect that comes only with the monsoon rains. Now, I get the urge to bake something hot and fragrant, and so I must say goodbye!