Monsoon melodies

 Already delayed from its scheduled arrival around the "Raja" festival it has finally arrived in Odisha after dilly dallying for more than a week. The locals are now breathing a shy of relief after a long, hot scorching Indian summer with the monsoon finally arriving, with the rains bringing some much needed respite from heat and setting the dust.

Monsoon season is very unique to the South-East Asia in general and India in particular. The Himalayas in North gives shape to it as the the clouds originate over Indian Ocean, churn their way in and get disbursed over the entire landmass of India. It is accompanied by reversal of wind direction, quenching the thirst of a parched earth after a long, torturous summer of heat and humidity. Every one eagerly waits for its arrival - from the farmers to poets, from villagers to city dwellers, from kids to seniors. Farmers to start their KHARIF (summer) Crop, the city dwellers for a reprieve from heat and poets to add one more ode to myriads of poems dedicated to the monsoon.

Unlike West where winters are wet, cloudy depicting morbid gloom, the sunshine is celebrated when it's followed by summers bringing salubrious warmth and solace, in India the dark clouds with thunderclap followed by torrential rain is a welcome phenomenon. Birds start singing, Bards sing legendary songs in the praise of the arrival of monsoon, Peacocks spread their colorful train to dance. Dark clouds are welcomed in India over sunshine with silver linings. It brings joy and respite from the never ending Indian summer. 

Monsoon invariably arrives with a bang. Long look at the sky and the prayer for rains is answered as dark clouds roll in, dust filled winds give way to heavy droplets of water plattering the ground with a rhythmic music. Then wafts in the enchanting, earthy smell of fresh rains over the parched earth which can beat the best of French perfumes. The rains ground the dust in air,  swiping off dust from the foliage like wiper blades of a car. The buildings start looking brighter. 

People looks at the sky to savor this rare occasion of the first monsoon rains marking arrival of rainy season. Poets are motivated to let their pen capture the moment. Many love songs are written over the advent of monsoon - from the romance of Radha and Krishna, to songs of Bollywood depicting drenched actors and actresses eager to shower in the first shower of the season. Legendary poet and dramatist Kalidasa wrote an eulogy to cloud in his MEGHADOOTA (Cloud Messenger) to carry the message from the lover to the beloved several centuries ago.

The celebration is not just limited to the reel world. In real world folks come out to play on swings propelled by cool, gusty winds, singing songs of delight to welcome the arrival of Monsoon. Swings play an important part in Odia festival of RAJA exactly timed around monsoon. 

Many love to get drenched, as they believe that getting soaked in the first rains of the season cures skin infections. 

Monsoon is rarely an equalizer, far from being uniform. It could be deficit at one place but at the same time causing waterlogging in the cities and floods elsewhere. Vagaries of monsoon is neither new, nor unheard of. Its inherent tendency is to be bountiful one year, scanty the next. 

We see intermittent dry spells during the monsoon, shorter or longer in duration. A year of flood is followed by a year of draught, with repetitive precision. Even within the same year and same nation, one part of India suffers from draught while another part beg for flood relief.

My grandfather told me about the NA ANKA DUBHIKHYA (The Great Drought of 19th Century), which was told to him by his grandfather. NA ANKA in Odia refers to the years around 1885 - 1887 in the Gregorian Calendar. The monsoon rains, restricted to the summer months of June - September, failed spectacularly for a prolonged duration of at least three  consecutive years.

There is no reason to believe that it was caused due to deforestation or Green House effect. It was simply the Dust Bowl years of Odisha. Hundreds of thousands died in that time span due to hunger and malnutrition caused by their dependency on the rain fed crop, which failed to crop up due to bad monsoon.

The High and Mighty Himalayas, with its Mt. Everest standing tall at its highest point of 29,000 feet, run East to the West, acting as a natural barrier to India from the bitter cold winds coming from Siberia and Pamir plateau. The tallest mountain range in the world gives India a unique geographical identity, keeping it warmer compared the other places in the world along similar latitude and shaping the contours of the monsoon, restricting it to the Indian Subcontinent. India is left at the mercy of Monsoon for most of its freshwater supply. That makes it imperative for rainwater harvesting when the rain in plentiful during the monsoon months. Sadly, we only realize when water is neck deep. 

Invariably every year, the monsoon arrives in June - July and takes leave in September - October, with a highly inequitable distribution of rainfall. This Odia proverb aptly depicts  the vagaries of monsoon :

JALA BAHULE SRUSTI NAASA,
JALA BIHUNE SRUSTI NAASA, meaning

"Lack of water causes catastrophe,
 Excess of water causes catastrophe."