Wet, Wet, Wet

It's been the longest spell of wetness I have seen in Hyderabad. Each day we wake up to dark, grey skies that appear to be pregnant with tonnes of water to drench us any moment. And everyday the heavens do open up for a short while, pouring their hearts out, flooding roads, causing jams. The air is cold, everything is wet and green, the garden is out of control with all this extra attention and nutrition it is getting and the mood is just not cut out to work. Home seems to be the best place in the circumstances, and an even better place, under the covers.

All this rain has done certain things externally of course. Hyderabad figures with the lowest temperatures (even Srinagar was higher yesterday). The roads have developed craters, I mean these are really craters about 6 feet dia and some almost a foot deep, rumblers i.e. a series of potholes that shake the bones out of their sockets and some man made routes for water to flow. These developments make driving extremely unpleasurable especially since my three year old takes a severe view of any unwarranted jerks and turns an angry eye at me.

The post is invariably wet. The maid is late (which is not good) or early (which is not good either). Little worms, insects and stuff like that which I have not noticed before appears in some warm corners of the house. A permanent dampness occupies clothes, books, shelves and things tend to stick to one another.

Most people I know are snifling, coughing or are bleary eyed. Few venture out to eat ice creams which was kind of fashionable last winter. In fact I think I have already had an overdose of coffee and tea as well. 
I think I have had enough of these rains for the time being. Some sunshine might help.

When I was in Mumbai and was contemplating a return to Hyderabad, I scheduled my return so i would not have to endure another monsoon there. It was so wet from June to September that we hardly saw the sun. The skies would open up suddenly and intensely giving you no scope of hiding, so everyone carried an umbrella and a pair of rainy  shoes for exclusive use in this season. Everything would be wet, wet and wet for days on end. I mean the rain would barely stop for those few months.

And another peculiar monsoon I saw was that in Calcutta where the rains would be so sudden and so fast that everything would be drenched and filled up to the waist. Another place where the umbrella is a must. But its the fast and furious approach of these rains that is so different. It happens so quickly and you get so much water in that time that everything is flooded.

Hyderabad, that way, lets you plan. The rain starts slowly, gently and gives enough warning to run to safety. Normally the rain does not last for longer than 10-15 minutes at a stretch. Only rarely longer. So one can do without an umbrella or rainy shoes here. This monsoon has been an exception of course.

I never liked monsoon so much. It reminded me of school reopening, wet classrooms and unpleasant stuff like that. for all the talk of chai and bhajjis and stuff I'd prefer the summer or the winter anyday.