Rain

It is the dry season at present in southern India. The big rains ended back in November, and the land was lush and green through December and January. The Northern winter, or at least the early part of it, is the best time of the year here in the south: sunny days, but not hot, cool evenings, and everything green and pleasant. That is why this is the time when all the overseas Indians return home for visits and weddings.

There are weddings every night during the wedding season. The wedding halls are always booked; as you around town, you often see the banana trees lashed to gates (signifying a wedding in progress).

In February summer begins. It becomes hot both day and night, and very, very dry. the landscape becomes dusty and parched. The kites circling overhead seem more ominous, carrion eaters that they are.

Yesterday Lakshmi was convinced it was going to rain. She made me bring an umbrella with me to work, despite a fairly sunny sky. A patch of ominous clouds had passed by earlier in the morning. So I brogue the umbrella with me to work, and back home again, all the while sweating in the parching heat.

Today it was humid and cloudy in the morning. I have an exciting day of data entry ahead of me--analyzing two years worth of birth records to see if the initiative we instituted in 2006 to decrease the episiotomy rate has had any effect--so I had settled into my usual spot, near an outlet and a window, and turned on fan # 1.

As I began to work, I realized it had gotten quite dark. I went to turn on the tube light, and suddenly the heavens opened and the rain poured down. Beautiful, glorious rain, in sheets and buckets, not a mere sprinkle but a downpour. It became suddenly quiet in Vellore. The sidewalks emptied, and the traffic disappeared. Here in the hospital everyone went out to the balconies and walkways to watch the rain, and to luxuriate in t he cool breezes.

And then it was over. The noise returned, as buses roared and autos blasted their horns, as bells jingled on the horns of the bullocks, and the town quickly repopulated. And I now understand why the Indians so love the rainy season, and revel in the monsoons.