“Mumma, how do I wear my new black shoes and socks today? Can I wear the rainy shoes again to school?”, pondered the concerned little one this morning. Of Fani, Maha, Kyar till Bulbul, we witnessed weired cyclones (with its unique names), cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides, missing people, washing away houses, cowsheds and bridges besides destroying crops and what not this monsoon. Heavy rains and its wreaked havoc have shown us all how unpredictable rains today have become. As rains arrive in Mumbai again this morning, Weathermen from the India meteorological department pointed that it was due to the remnants of cyclone Maha which formed in the Arabian sea.
India, one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers, experienced its heaviest monsoon rains in 25 years this year. While rain would normally cheer the souls, heartland, the monsoon was erratic.
Towards the beginning of June, when we were awaiting the ‘burst’ of monsoon that we had all read in geography lessons since childhood. Our parents and grandparents had their own rain stories to share of bygone era. We would walk to the school bus stop in our flashy raincoats navigating through small muddy puddles wet and shivering. Snails, millipedes, mushrooms were our regular visitors. There was a certain thrill, bliss of playing football or cricket in the rain. Mobile phones weren’t rampant and calling our loved ones on office landline from a local PCO to check his well-being was mandatory. The rainy season used to be so predictable even just 10 to 15 years ago. But nevertheless, I still feel nostalgic when I remember those rainy days. It had its moments. That cozy sleep under the blanket, the love of walking in the rain under an umbrella, the happiness of playing in the rain, the sipping of hot coffee and mom’s homemade bhajiya and evergreen bollywood songs how can I forget them playing on chitrahaar or on cassettes that had their own field season making compilation of ‘best of monsoon songs’. This and much more small anecdotes had so much fun and pleasure bringing a smile on my face even today. But, can we find a pattern in the rainfall now? What’s it waiting for this year? When will Rain actually go away?
Yes, there is a pattern but scary & mysterious. It’s scary that within a span of ten years we are seeing so much of climate change. The intensity of the rain we saw once is no more there. Either there is a shortfall, or there is a flood affecting millions of lives. What we see now is an extended dry spell followed by heavy rainfall, so heavy that when it arrives it causes floods, landslides and flash floods.
Mumbai recorded its second highest July rain in 44 years, highest in 10 years. According to IMD, the last time Mumbai recorded the exact figure was in 1974 in July at 375.2mm. Data also says that the global precipitation — whether rain, snow or ice — is received within a very short period. The main reason attributable is the man-made climate change where global warming is surging.
This year, Mumbai was hit and troubled by rains where rains came down every evening in the months of October and now November as well. This year Diwali was festival of rains instead of festival of lights as Mumbaikars celebrated Barishwali Diwali. Biggest hit were areas in Gujarat, Odhisa, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, parts of Maharshtra like Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Kokan and more where one saw wide spread flooding and loss of property.
Truth behold. No chants, no prayers, no marriage of frogs can bring back the bygone days of nostalgic rains…
