Monsoons Have Arrived

In India, there are six seasons of which I have experienced two, Grishma which I believe is Hindu for "Welcome to hell on Earth" and the newest arrival, Varsha, or Monsoon. When you grow up in a western, temperate climate, you have images of a monsoon - high winds, endless, driving rains, flooding and mudslides, but you would be wrong - the winds are not really that high.  The rest, though, is pretty spot on.

So on Sunday, the monsoons arrived.  The rain was so hard on Sunday morning, it actually woke me up.  It beat against the glass for several hours until it finally let up around noon.  By that time, the unbelievable dry land (remember it has been 110 degrees for two months with no rain) completely rejected the water and instead created huge lakes throughout the city.  For a city that gets hit with this every year, you would think they would have install some drains.  It would be like Minneapolis not buying snowplows and then each winter wondering when the road were impassable.  Ridicules! This also makes the already challenging traffic even more so, because it closes down entire lanes with flooding chocking the over-taxed thoroughfares even further.  A good monsoon can turn a 20 minute commute into a 3 hour affair.

I am learning that everything in India is a compromise and the monsoons are no different. The rains bring three great benefits to the city.  The first is they wash all the dirt and grim of the previous two months away.  All the dust and pollution that has lingered in the air is gone and, although I would not say that there is a rain-fresh scent in the air, the sky does seem a little more clear.

The second is the the rain has electrified the city's foliage back to life.  Delhi actually has a great deal of green space thanks to the British. Most streets are treelined and the city has an overabundance of parks.  About a week ago, I was wondering if they were going to make it.  They looked droopy and dirty.  The trees along the streets were lifeless and desperate.  The grass in the parks were brown and the flower beds were bare.  In two days of rain, the city's greenery has recovered and the city looks almost flush.

The last benefit is that the rains lower the temperature significantly.  Today barely broke 90.  That is a twenty degree difference from a week ago.  This is also where the compromise comes in.  While 109 degrees is hot, it was a dry hot (like your oven).  Humidity levels hovered around 20% - Arizona style.  With the rain comes the humidity.  After the deluge, the sun likes to pop itself out for a few hours and bake the groundwater into a wonderful, steamy funk.  Although we are grateful for the cooler temperatures, 90 degrees is still freak'n hot!  And so, India plays another cruel game and rather than simply cooking us, she is now going to steam us to death!

I gleefully await the onset of Sharat, the next season, in September!