Rain, rain go away

Traditionally, the rain that is counted as the first rain of the monsoon is the one that falls on the day of the Aardra Nakshatra. The nature of the rainfall during the span of the following couple of days serves as an indicator for the monsoon pattern.

Very good rains during this period = heavy monsoon.... like the one this year. Of course, such rain-spells have no regard for man-made stuff like roads/ plantations!

Well... we have not seen a clear, blue sky for more than two and a half months now.  'Pitter-patter  is the non-stop music/ cacophony that is being played. Everything is cold, wet and musty.
 In short, I'm sick and tired of rains...

Every time I begin to feel this way, I remind myself about some of the things I like during monsoon- things from my immediate surroundings that cheer me up and see me through these dull, drab days...... moments that happen only during the monsoon.

Let me share a few of them with you....

  I'll begin with something that I don't enjoy at other times!
You know, there is a jolly fire at my neighbour's, every morning - I can smell it from my office-cum-study. But, the beauty of the thick smoke from behind a curtain of falling rain! Something that I cannot explain....

 

  This landscape is part of my daily beat. It has different moods during different seasons. Though I like it at all times, I love it when the fields are young and newly planted....

 The early rains wake the lilies up. Alas! The heavy rains take them away.....Too much water is bad for the flowering plants and the flowers.

But, the heavy rains cannot do anything to these bright caladiums.. Lying underground for more than six months, the caladiums spring up from their beauty sleep at the start of the rains and linger around till the beginning of summer - adding the much required colour to our surroundings.

 The Colocasia leaf is an edible cousin of the caladium. This wild variety that grows as a parasite on trees vanishes with the rains.  Mix these leaves with a batter of rice and other ingredients and steam-cook.... the result is a dish called patrodE - a family favourite.....

        

Dahlias! Only a few flowers like the dahlias manage to look good when exposed to long, heavy showers. Come October, and they quietly go underground...

Well! I should be stopping now... or else, I'll end up hoping that the rains continue!!