Monsoon Season Is Here

Much to everyone's relief, the monsoon has arrived! After many months of drought and water shortages, and only the occasional shower or two, we've had rain every day this week. But no one is complaining (well except maybe the cricket fans who had some important game rained out!). Chennai gets half of its annual rainfall during the monsoon season, which runs from now until December. The last couple of years the monsoon has been a no-show for this area. Another year without rain would have meant severe hardship for many people.

Although definitely welcome, the rains wreak havoc with the traffic and roads. Walking through the city, precarious under the best of circumstances, is even more of a challenge now. Even without the rain, most of the sidewalks (like the one on the right) are not fit for walking, so people walk on one side of the road rather than the sidewalk. Now, with the sides of the roads flooded, pedestrians have to walk in the same lanes as traffic.

Several days of rain turned the street where our office is (at left) into a mud walk. When the rains come during peak traffic hours, getting a taxi can be impossible, as some people who normally rely on bicycles or motorcycles turn to taxis. One evening this week it took me a half hour just to get through to the taxi dispatcher.

During the night, it sometimes rains and thunders most of the night. But during the day, it's been mostly a few hours of steady rain interspersed with periods of sunshine. So up until today, it hasn't really felt like what I thought a monsoon would be. Today, for the first time, I got a taste of the torrential downpour that I associated with monsoons. Walking along the beach this evening, thunderclouds started to roll in, a fierce wind picked up, and the rain slammed the coast, hitting me sideways. If it hadn't been 90 degrees out, with the way it was pounding my umbrella, I would have thought it was hailing. Never having been much of a sun-worshipper, I'm definitely enjoying this refreshing change in the weather!

Comments

[shannon clubb]

My life is back in sinc now- I am reblogged! I missed it!

[Basia]

Glad you were able to get back in, Shannon! I missed your little comment face...:o)

[Clare]

Wow! Look at that mud and rain -- Be careful, Basia. Remember what that one cab driver told us, "Chennai cars don't stop very good in the rain."

[Sharon from CT]

At first I thought you meant because of the drought, over many months, you (personally) only had a couple of showers....and no one was complaining!! sharon