The monsoon rains in Mumbai have started, but in Delhi they are still a random occasion.
Last year, the monsoon was dreadfully late in Delhi, and only lasted a short two weeks. This year, it seemed to have started on time, but is intermittent, at best. Often the rains come only for a few minutes, just long enough to turn the air into a sticky, oppressive humidity.
There have been afternoons though when the drops have resembled more of a situation where buckets of rain are falling from the sky.
Even on the days when I remember to take my "big" camera in the car with me, it proves useless for snapping photos of anything rain related, as the car windows fog up horribly. I roll down the window, but immediately get doused with the wave of water splashed up from the car next to us.
These are all iPhone photos, not the best, but you'll still get an idea.
Your first thought may be that these boys should NOT be playing in the middle of the street, but they are so joyful, so playful and so excited to have the rain. Vehicles sharing the road with them are cautious and mind the space around where they are dashing through the water.
Although the monsoon rains bring a fun playground for the little ones, it wreaks havoc across the city. Traffic comes to a standstill, deaths occur from electrocutions or shoddy walls collapsing. The drainage system in Delhi seems to have gone by the wayside as new construction continues to invade the city.
Flooding is a common occurrence, as is frequent power outages.
Consider that our home town in Ohio gets an average of 3 inches per month (rainfall there is spread evenly across the year). Mumbai gets an average of 13.5 inches in July and just a bit less in August. Delhi gets an average of 7.24 inches in July and a bit less in August.
It is truly a feast or famine kind of situation. Without these rains, the farmers suffer tremendously. The rural communities depend on these rains. The suburban residents though, maybe don't rejoice in it so much.
The kids love the rain though, and from a completely superficial way of looking at monsoon, besides the tv going out, nothing is better than splashing around in the water ... safe of course, in our driveway (as opposed to the street!)
Flooding is a common occurrence, as is frequent power outages.
Consider that our home town in Ohio gets an average of 3 inches per month (rainfall there is spread evenly across the year). Mumbai gets an average of 13.5 inches in July and just a bit less in August. Delhi gets an average of 7.24 inches in July and a bit less in August.
It is truly a feast or famine kind of situation. Without these rains, the farmers suffer tremendously. The rural communities depend on these rains. The suburban residents though, maybe don't rejoice in it so much.
The kids love the rain though, and from a completely superficial way of looking at monsoon, besides the tv going out, nothing is better than splashing around in the water ... safe of course, in our driveway (as opposed to the street!)
