Rain, Rain, (Don't) Go Away

Last week, the monsoon rains came to Kerala. And after drenching us in delicious coolness for two and a half days, they left as suddenly as they had arrived.

My advisor told me that the monsoon got turned around and ended up in Oman. My neighbors told me that it got held up by something in the Arabian Sea (no one knows what that something is). The weather people keep promising that it will arrive tomorrow. All I know is - I WANT THE MONSOON BACK!

One evening after the monsoon rains, I was sitting outside on the porch with some of the young girls. Leya-kutty came outside, humming a little tune to herself. She walked up to a flower bush and gave it a big, wet hug, then picked up a leafy stick nearby. She carried it over to the porch and started planting it in a pile of gravel, all the while singing a hymn to herself. She was so obviously pleased with life at that moment. We all were! We were outside, and we weren't sweating. The air was cool, the sun was low, and everyone was getting along. Life just seemed so perfectly pleasant.

And of course, there's the practicality of needing water. India, for the most part, is very dry. Kerala is lucky to get two monsoon seasons, but the state still has to be careful about its water consumption. Wells have been dry for months here. The rains don't just make life more pleasant; they are life-giving!

Yesterday, it rained a little bit. Today, it sprinkled some more. Maybe tomorrow... torrential downpour?