And Then the Winter!

When we returned to Kolkata by the third week of January 2023 we hoped we still had a chance of catching the winter that we miss most often due to our compulsory visits to Maharashtra. As per our own experience in previous years in the city of joy the month of February could still be cold or even chilly if you're lucky! We had the stock of the woollens ready to welcome us in. However, to our utter disappointment the temperatures kept on climbing making the use of all my sweaters, jackets, blazers and so on an wasted thought. The summer looked to be around very early this time. In fact, in several regions of the country there were heat waves! February heat waves, imagine! 

Early March we came to Assam as another integral part of our compulsive itinerary. The first few days were almost the same in terms of heat, except that the nights were much cooler, but still not enough to justify the use of sweaters one of which I carried in my bag as a reasonable discretion. From the 15th of that month things changed, as if to recompense our unfulfilled desires. 

Weather became cloudy. Rains, not exactly downpours, became intermittent; there were thunderstorms in various parts; and a steady cold breeze became the order of every day. All these factors made the air cool, and then really chilly. I thanked myself profusely for my discretion of carrying a sweater. I wore that continuously for at least ten days and thought remorsefully about the unutilized stock cold shouldered by the cupboards of Kolkata! 

We don't know if the conditions thus created are thanks to the unseasonal rains or the westerly winds or the ominously omnipresent climate change phenomenon. But anyhow, we had the winter that we desired so much to enjoy, even though we'd discovered it quite a bit  late. Yes, and then the winter, belated but most welcome! 

Over the 'wintry' days we got the news that these conditions were observed in most parts of the country, and that the month became the coldest March in more than seventy years. 

Now, what but to brace for the looming summer which, as the Met department has already declared, is going to be rough with above normal temperatures in almost all the states of India. But as usual, we cannot be too sure of anything. Soaring heat that then becomes intolerably humid has been the state of things in the last at least three years, with add-on of the Pandemic. Only wish the Homo Sapiens had found a solution to tackle climate change and global warming effectively. To be safe, let's not worry too much! 

A Grueling Tale of Relentlessly Humid Heat! Extremely Uneven Monsoon!

Climate change and global warming are by now household words, and more frighteningly, the impact of these terms have been cruelly discernible in the daily lives of the citizens in many parts of India and the world. The world leaders must understand the deadly reality of our only habitat getting hotter and hotter by the day, and if this is not checked immediately by whatever possible means in our command this planet is set to be uninhabitable very soon, sooner than we think. The South West Monsoon, still the mainstay of agriculture in India, has been uneven this year in the extremes—some traditionally dry regions getting excess rains to a huge extent, some regions getting their full quota delivered in a matter of days and some traditionally wet regions still not having a monsoon with its usual flow and downpours. Therefore, in all such cases the monsoon is not helping the farmers at all, and on the other hand, people in many areas with scarce rainfall are suffering from continuous heat waves and relentless humid heat even in the traditionally wet months of July and August.

 

We were in Kolkata, the state of West Bengal, during most of the first three months of June-August, and although the monsoon made an early entry it is yet to justify its normal course of behavior and downpour. The Met department has been putting the blame on the absence of low-pressure systems in the Bay of Bengal, and even though there were two or three low-pressure developments in the recent weeks the state of Odisha got the rains away from Bengal on all such occasions, leading to excess rains there. Therefore in Kolkata and several other districts, we continued to suffer from intolerable humid heat and unusually high temperatures hovering around 35 degree C.; rains have been there in fits and starts, but not with the heart in its right place.

 

Around mid-August we came to the north-eastern state of Assam on family issues and a home visit that had been pending since the outbreak of the pandemic. Assam has been a state where the rain Gods always showered mercy upon. Here, we all have been growing up with the notion that following a day of sultry heat a thundershower invariably comes in the evening or late night thus giving immediate relief. However, during the first ten days of our stay in Guwahati we’ve not seen a single drop of rain or high wind; forget about the nostalgic sound of the thunder and the sight of black rain-bearing clouds. One obvious factor is that the near-full monsoon quota was delivered just in days in the month of late May and early June, leading to unprecedented floods and rainwater logging. And now, only humid heat prevails with temperatures around 35 which are extremely unusual with no relief in weeks.

 

Then, we traveled eastward to Nagaon, a city in central Assam. The scenario gets even worse. We’ve immediately encountered a 2-degree hike in temperature than in Guwahati, that is say around 37 degree C, in these areas with the roasting humidity adding fuel to the heat-fire. And yes, no relief in terms of thundershowers or high wind or anything. The halfhearted clouds that gather almost on a daily basis make it a more insufferable experience. The farmers are put into a contrasting situation—they first had a rain deluge in their fields thus delaying the cropping season and now their fields with growing plants are cracking up due to the total absence of rain. This is not just our tale; it is the tale of a huge chunk of humanity spread across the planet. Only recently, we heard about the unprecedented heat wave in England where the temperatures crossed the 40-degree mark with scary ease.

 

Those lucky ones who can afford the ACs are having some relief sitting at home, but all those ACs humming around every corner—let it be Kolkata or Guwahati or Nagaon—are spreading more hot airs out and making the environment warmer still. In my lifetime I’ve never experienced such fury of unabated heat in my own home state of Assam. Yes, Mother Nature has never been as angry as in the last few years, including this year as perhaps the most watershed one. Nowadays She never bothers about human weather forecasts and ignores those regularly. Humankind must find ways of placating Mother Nature fast, as fast as they’re capable of. All global energy must be concentrated on this battle instead of indulging in ones against each other and endangering the global warming further by pandering to Third World War sentiments. Mind you, it’s basically the weather and the environment that shape human progress and peace. Extreme conditions lead to intolerance among humans, racism and so many other social evils as have been rampant in many nations of the world. It’s Now or Never!

And of Adopting a New Approach to Write Truncated Pieces!

That evening in end-July a Bangla family friend came to our house in Kolkata profusely sweating and drenched in it from head to foot. However he was carrying with him a packet of smoking hot beguni (Brinjal fritters) and Chops (Cutlet fritters). Before he could cool himself enough under the full-speed ceiling fan he commanded us to partake of the items before those cooled off! And yes, we had those gobbled up quick in extraordinary gourmet delight and also supported by hot steaming cups of tea! Well, in our traditional belief that ‘heat neutralizes heat’, particularly when the heat (like May) is oppressively humid (like monsoon)! This dictum is of the utmost importance now, because the supposedly wettest months of the South West Monsoon, June and July, have gone with absolutely no rains in South Bangla and Kolkata city. In fact, the month of July has proved to be the driest July in history in the Eastern and North Eastern regions of the country. And into August now, there’s hardly any sign of the monsoon in any mood to expedite its proceedings. The seemingly blackening sky along with false thunder eventually pierced though the merciless sun, countess times!

 

At a time when we’d have loved a few days of genuine rains and cooling weather we were instead forced to have a literal rain of hard cash thanks to the equally hot episode of one minister of the Bangla state government and a stalwart of the ruling regional party getting arrested along with his lady associate, supposedly. About half a billion of rupees have so far been recovered from the lady’s flats along with other properties in hiding and a few missing foreign cars. The veteran minister after being distanced and rebuffed by his own party started crying ‘conspiracy’ saying the money was not his and the lady clamoring out haplessly that she was not aware of the money being hidden in her flat. Well, her connections with ruling state party had been somewhat exposed by the media and therefore, it’s come as a huge setback for the party with its Chief Minister projecting her national ambitions since her landslide assembly election victory in 2021, making the strong ruling national party a poor second.

 

The people of Kolkata are like the people of Mumbai as far as the ‘spirit’ is concerned. While the Mumbaikars always show their indomitable spirit in terms of continuing the hard work and making more and more money come what may, the Kolkattansalways show their spirit in continuing to enjoy life in terms moderate living but high eating come what may. The mouthwatering array of chops, rolls, cutlets, samosas, fish fries, fish and meat curries and so on at cheapest-in-the-world prices anywhere, from the street side open joints to the limited posh restaurants notwithstanding, I think, the Bongs should start worrying now, because the Met office has reportedly made a forecast of less rain in August and in September too which means that Bengal’s main festival of Durga Puja, starting this time right from the start of October, is in some real danger of getting washed away. Therefore, they should give less attention to the ‘heat neutralizing heat’ experiment and should not let themselves be swayed too much by the huge corruption in the education sector, the arrested minister being the former education minister, and should focus on chanting some prayers in advance to God and Mother Nature so that Durga Puja does not come under any threat.

 

The local media is not giving enough attention either to Nature’s heat let loose on most parts of the state and in Kolkata or on the farmers staring at a Kharif crop season crisis; no wonder, the way they’ve been consumed up by the hard-cash thunder showers. They’d better started rolling back the focus fully on the ‘monsoon crisis’ so that the lip-smacking people turned their attention to some prayers as we just said so that their thakur dekha (Puja pandal hopping) did not get hampered too.

 

Finally, as to why this writer has suddenly decided to adopt this ‘truncated’ approach to combine several well-planned pieces into a single piece, enough be said that he’s no longer game for the miserable 10 or so hits to the pieces on a rich variety of subjects that he’s devoted a lot to time and energy upon to make those interesting. Often he’s accidentally or even deliberately made mistakes hoping for some discerning readers to point those out. But no! Pointless expectations! So yes! He’s not interested any more in dishing out free matter that nobody cares about, with apologies, of course, to the handful of genuine readers he still has. The writer thinks that it’s better to redirect his energy to writing more books, because even if nobody, again, reads the books, the books would always remain on record as his works. Besides, if the Indian cricket team can go on experimenting with international matches (stopping those only during the IPL for the sheer force of the money power) without bothering about winning or losing why not this humble writer! This writer does possess the power, even though it’s useless, to show his disdain for Indian cricket and stop writing anything about it in future which he’s already and actually started doing, to be honest!

The India Monsoon EMIs in Severe Default!

The South West Monsoon has always been the mainstay of Indian agriculture, being the main source of rainfall accounting for more than 75% of total rainfall in the country every year. Most often than not, the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) forecasts a normal or near-normal monsoon with about -/+ 5% margin of error, and this year (2022) too it had predicted a normal monsoon which, in fact, was supposed to arrive at least a week in advance. And, it did indeed arrive early hitting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by middle of May, and then advancing to Kerala, to Maharashtra and gradually the whole country. Unfortunately, its early arrival hasn’t benefited even Kerala and Maharashtra, patiently queuing up for the early-bird offers,  while venting its wrath in the North East, particularly in the state of Assam creating unprecedented floods in the main city of Guwahati and many other districts. In a few days the monsoon had exceeded its monthly quota of rains in Assam by more than 150% and rained more than 200% of its quota in Guwahati in a few hours. And, it’s still not relenting.

 

As per the latest data released by the IMD the monsoon has been either deficient or severely deficient in 18 states that account for around 54% of the total land mass of the country. Ironically, hoping for the benefits of its early arrival Kerala is suffering from around 55% rain-deficit of the June quota while the next-in-line Maharashtra is 33% deficient. The deficit goes to up to as high as 70% in case of Delhi, covering in its wake most of the northern states. So, where exactly the monsoon is pouring? Obviously, the most indiscriminate downpours falling in severe excess in the North-East and in parts of the Eastern region, and of course, some other scattered areas.

 

The South West Monsoon stays in action for four months, namely June-September, every year. Therefore, we can reasonably call it Equated Monthly Installments (EMI) of rains and hope for its equitable distribution during the period. However, since the last nearly two decades we’ve been witness to the most unjust EMIs; at times, the full EMI quota gets poured out in a matter of hours or in one day as we’ve mentioned earlier for some regions while in other areas the EMIs go into a severe defaulting mode. For the floods in the metros and major cities suffering people blame the municipal authorities for their failure to prevent water logging by not preparing well; but, when a full EMI get spent in a matter of hours, no authorities could possibly hope for prevention, not only in India but all over the globe.

 

Who are to blame for this then? Well, we cannot hope to find easy scapegoats except for the immensely demonstrated wrath of Mother Nature, again and again, as if punishing humankind for its sins spread over centuries. Obviously, the sins of humankind are making this Planet Earth increasingly inhabitable with the waves of heat in terms of a global warming that is going out of control as well as the unprecedented bursts of showers to follow in suit—both making life extremely painful. Are we learning any lessons yet?

 

The IMD goes on to say that the inactive phase of the monsoon in many regions could possibly be due to the non-formation of low-pressure systems over the Bay of Bengal; but then, this doesn’t explain the worrying shortfalls in some of the Northern, Western and Central states. Hopefully, they say, the active phase would begin in the first week of July 2022 that can help recover the deficits. In that too, there are causes enough for more worries. As per the defaulting EMI syndrome, the compensation could come in unprecedented downpours in one hour on in one day which would again make people suffer. Who can bring the EMIs to an equitable mode? Ever again, if at all?

 

We cannot forget the downpours in the city of Kolkata last year when the delayed monsoon vented its wrath in very concentrated heavy downpours later which resulted in severe water logging all around the city with the water threatening to enter houses in areas that never saw such events. On many occasions earlier I’d mentioned the ‘YesMonsoon, No Monsoon’ situations in the financial capital of Mumbai, and the suffering of the farmers of Maharashtra in many of its drought-prone areas. This time, I’ve seen similar situations in Kolkata, the City of Joy. The Monsoon arrived in North Bengal much in advance and heavy downpours are still continuing there. But there’s absolutely nothing to indicate that the Monsoon has also arrived in South Bengal, particularly in Kolkata. Despite regular weather forecasts for rain on a daily basis, the monsoon is defying it on a daily basis too as if enjoying the prolonged spell of humid and sweating heat in the city. The temperatures are still hell-bent on crossing the 35 degree C on a daily basis, adding more misery to the citizens with humidity of more than 80% that is triggered by the inconsistent light rains. As on June-end Kolkata is suffering a rain-deficit of more than 50%. For the next months of July and August we wait with fingers crossed, because we don’t how the ‘compensation or recovery’ would materialize.

 

Hopefully, as the IMD says, the Monsoon does really become active in the coming days, and most importantly, sticks to a strictly non-defaulting EMI mode. The farmers in many states are still waiting to sow their seeds, and the subsistence living of most of them depends on an equitable distribution of rains in the coming months. Excessive rains damage their plants as well as the lack of it, and we hope the ‘compensation’ doesn’t spill over to more months, because unseasonal rains damage their growing plants with more devastating effects.

Mumbai Monsoon: Still Unwilling To Pour & Water Cuts!

The heavy showers in Mumbai city and some adjacent area in the first week of July seemed to indicate that the monsoon finally caught the rhythm and we hoped that rains would be regular for the rest of the season. But no, the inexplicable unwillingness to pour showed up again from mid-July, particularly in areas of Thane district. The skies, as in the month of June, remained mostly gloomy with floating clouds contributing to the uncomfortable humidity. Even though the temperatures were below 33 degree Celsius the real feel with 80—90% humidity was around 38 degree! At times, the skies blackened hopefully with occasional soothing sounds of thunder, but mostly it petered out without pouring. There were, of course, a few incidents of showers, but not up to the desired intensity and consistency. And now, the obvious happened! Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced a 20% water cut from 5^thAugust, valid not only for Mumbai city but also for parts of Thane and Bhiwandi.

Very heavy showers in Mumbai city in early part of July, leading to water-logging on several occasions, ensured the overflowing of only Tulsi lake which is situated within the city limits, but the remaining six major water supplying lakes were much below the overflowing mark. Taking all the seven lakes into consideration the water level is only 34% of the overflowing capacity at this moment while it was 85% this time in 2019 and 83% in 2018. The BMC said that although Mumbai city received heavy showers in the first half of July the rains were not at all sufficient in the catchment areas around Thane and Bhiwandi. As has often been seen in the past deficient monsoon in catchment areas eventually leads to severe water shortage from October onward. The BMC assured that with the expected rainfall during August the cuts will be eased out gradually.

This month is our only hope for the monsoon to pour in these areas, because from September the South West Monsoon normally starts withdrawing from Maharashtra. There were water shortages and cuts in the past, no doubt; but in all of my years in Mumbai I have never seen such unwillingness on the part of the monsoon to pour and its adamant defiance of the weather forecasts on almost a daily basis This has been witnessed from mid-May till now. Tired of watching the skies for possible rains we often check the weather on our mobile screens, and lo! So often we behold ‘thundershowers’ in full flow on the screens with the special lightening effects. But, unfortunately, nothing of that sort happens in reality, with the sky looking as gloomy as ever and the humid heat seeping into us. Yes, Mother Nature has been angry with humankind since a long time, and has demonstrated her wrath through the unending saga of COVID-19 forcing governments take unprecedented measures and poor humans hide at home. We hope fervently Mother Nature take mercy on us forgiving our sins, and pour Her blessings on us in near future. Meanwhile, humankind must learn to be grateful, moderate and reciprocating. 

Mumbai Monsoon: And Finally The Rains…!

Finally, the South West Monsoon has decided to respect the forecasts issued by the Met department, and in line with the orange alert forecast for Mumbai and adjacent areas during 3-5 July 2020 moderate to heavy rains lashed Mumbai, its suburbs, Thane city and interior areas of Thane district. The aimless clouds hanging over the areas for nearly a month, in Palghar the rains came after a full month, finally became benevolent and converted into a rain-bearing dark mass. The sight of the dark clouds was really inspiring and the impact was immediate with the maximum temperature coming down to 28-29 from 33-34 degree Celsius and the minimum coming down to 25-26 from 27-28 in Mumbai while in Thane city those are 30-31 and 27-28 respectively. The humid heat that tormented the people for weeks evaporated and all heaved a sigh of relief—stay-home becoming more pleasant in view of more curbs being imposed in Mumbai and a total lockdown in Thane for 10 days. The rains started on the 3^rd of July in a scattered way and gained momentum on 4^th and 5^th July.

Heavy to very heavy rains lashed Mumbai and suburbs in the last two days creating water logging in vulnerable spots, but just short of creating havoc, fortunately, for the COVID-hit metro. In Thane rains were mostly moderate and intermittent with one or two spots becoming water-logged while in the interiors the rains were heavier. Around 200 mm of rainfall was recorded each in Mumbai and Thane on 4^th July. In other districts of Maharashtra too the monsoon made its presence felt once again bringing relief to the agitated farmers.

It looks at the moment that the monsoon has finally found it rhythm here, and looking up at the sky or enjoying the usual monsoon coolness one can be more or less sure that the rains would continue regularly for the rest of the season, and not create rain-water havoc with concentrated outbursts. As per the earlier forecast this year the monsoon is to be normal, and as we mentioned in an earlier piece it has already covered the whole of the country much in advance also recording an excess of June-rainfall in many parts. For Mumbai and Maharashtra we also hope that the spikes in Corona infections will be under control soon—several unprecedented things already happening: famous Dahi Handi (Janmastami) celebrations getting canceled and the historical Lord Ganesha (Ganapati)  Festival being restricted with the craze-of-the-city Lalbaug  Chya Raja organizers announcing its cancellation. The priority is to defeat the killer virus. Anyway, for the moment, get set and enjoy the rains…!