Monsoon

Today is summer solstice. The longest day of the year. The day when us Northern-Hemisphere-wallas get the maximum amount of sunlight.

It should be the hottest day of the year - but it isn't. At least for us in the Indian Sub-continent. We have the monsoon to thank for that! Without the monsoon we would be like the Sahara desert. Literally. India lies at the same latitude as much of North Africa. Without the great seasonal wet - we would be so very hot and arid - that nothing would grow.

A colossal amount of rain is dumped over India thanks to steady winds that bring moisture off the Indian Ocean. These winds also distributes the huge masses of moisture as steady rains all over the subcontinent. Being on the west coast - Mumbai (and Thane of course) get huge precipitation as the clouds hit the shore. Since Mumbai is a long peninsula - basically reclaimed from 7 original islands - and since most of the city is virtually at sea level - each year the place floods - often at what seems to be the slightest down-pour. The reason is simple - when the sea is in high tide - whatever storm water is getting flushed down the sewers (even when they work) - meets the sea - and comes up on the streets!

Nothing new. Growing up in Mumbai we used pray for rain - so that we would get a school holiday declared. I remember waking up on some mornings hopeful that my prayers were answered - seeing a pool of water forming outside our house in Nana Chowk - only to be told by my parents that we were going to school anyway. Raincoats came on and out we went into the wet.

To my parents horror - we used to actually love 'swimming' in the floods when they really covered the compound with knee deep water. Looking back now I see my exuberance with horribly adult eyes.

But the constant streams of water did actually change the compound to a small wonder world. A few areas had tiny pools of water where we could see tadpoles grow. We explored small rivulets and made dams.

Coming to Thane just under a decade ago we met a dear old man in our house church - Uncle Dhanawade - always prayed for rains. Each year I remember him praying for rains. Uncle has been promoted to glory - so these days as the monsoonal rains start falling (and especially when they stop for a few days in between) - I remember Uncle Dhanawade's prayers.

Last year was almost a major drought year. The signs were ominous - especially early in the monsoon as most of north India was not getting enough. We prayed. Things changed.

I am praying again this year. For all the flooding misery that Mumbaikers will have to go through in a normal monsoon - our dear country does need rain. And more, not less.

The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. Deut. 28.12