The eternal wait for the monsoon rains

Keeping a look out for the weather

The monsoon usually reaches the capital by the beginning of July. This year, however, it's at least two weeks late.

Growing up in Europe, where rain is often seen as annoying, I never fully appreciated just how important it was. I did always like when it rained heavily and I was tucked indoors. The sound of raindrops on the roof has something particularly soothing. But that was about it.

In Asia, however, rain takes on a whole different meaning. First of all, it pretty much does not rain AT ALL, like not a single drop, outside of the monsoon. At least, this is what I've observed over the years living in Delhi. It just doesn't rain from October until June included.

The heat builds up gradually starting in April, until it reaches an unbearable climax in June. In May, it is very hot but very dry so still tolerable. The real challenge, for me at least, is when the humidity builds up in the air. You know the rain is coming, you can feel it (you're drenched in sweat, it doesn't take a sixth sense to figure that out) but sometimes it just doesn't arrive.

Several years ago I experienced a 'failed' monsoon. At that time, we didn't have the horses. We both lived a very urban life in an apartment in town (we still live in an apartment in town by the way, but we go out to the farm in the day) and went to our respective offices. But even then, when we were quite disconnected from the land, we ran to the terrace when we saw a black cloud, hoping that it would burst into a storm and relieve us, if only for a few minutes, from this heat and humidity. But it didn't. The clouds would come, linger around and go away leaving bitter disappointment in our hearts and yet another drenched T-shirt. And if this is how town people felt, we could only imagine what the poor farmers were going through.

Is it there, yet?

This year, the monsoon rains have so far been weak in the southern part of the country, almost 50% deficient. The forecast is for the precipitation to pick up in July and August and I certainly hope this will be the case. I keep on looking at my weather app (I traded the Instagram obsession for the weather app) and as of today, June 28th, no rain is forecast for at least another two weeks.

With each passing day I hope that the forecast is wrong and that the dark clouds will soon be coming our way. In the meanwhile, time is going by very, very slowly.