So Far So Not Monsoon
People talked so much hype on this monsoon. People made it sound like life was basically over once the monsoon started. Boats would have to be taken to work. Nights would have to be spent in the office. Travel would be out of the question. All there is to do on a monsoon weekend is stay in with a book – this is, if you’ve even made it home from the office.
I know there was catastrophic flooding in 2005. I know that floods happen are not uncommon during the monsoon. But so far, it hasn’t rained very much. Maybe this is because the hurricane that hit Oman has just disrupted the weather that much. Maybe this is because it never rains any other time of the year, so when it starts raining daily, this is a shock.
It didn’t rain today, but it did rain last night. I can hear thunder in the South, which is from where the monsoon comes. There was a short shower yesterday, but so far the only time it rained all day was on Sunday. Even Sunday had hours of dryness. Maybe things just take a while to get going. My best guess: it doesn’t rain all day, but it rains every day, and sometimes this rain comes in a downpour, and Mumbai’s inadequate infrastructure can’t get this water out to sea fast enough to halt flash flooding. The inadequacy of Mumbai’s inadequate storm draining infrastructure has been in the newspaper nearly every day since I’ve been here. To be fair, the inadequacy of every other genre of Mumbai’s infrastructure has also been in the news. (one sign Mumbai has more money now than before is that there is much road construction going on – much building construction too – with cranes and skeletons of office and apartment towers sticking out from the horizon)
The best part of the monsoon is that the temperature has fallen by more than 5deg F. I don’t get sweaty on my way to work. Crap, I don’t even get sweaty very often in my apartment. I’ve even been sleeping covered with a sheet – whereas before I would sprawl out naked trying to expose as much surface area as possible to the air blowing from the fan. After the heat and humidity of the first half of my Mumbai stay, the weather has become relatively nice. It was hotter in St. Louis last summer than it is here now.
I know there was catastrophic flooding in 2005. I know that floods happen are not uncommon during the monsoon. But so far, it hasn’t rained very much. Maybe this is because the hurricane that hit Oman has just disrupted the weather that much. Maybe this is because it never rains any other time of the year, so when it starts raining daily, this is a shock.
It didn’t rain today, but it did rain last night. I can hear thunder in the South, which is from where the monsoon comes. There was a short shower yesterday, but so far the only time it rained all day was on Sunday. Even Sunday had hours of dryness. Maybe things just take a while to get going. My best guess: it doesn’t rain all day, but it rains every day, and sometimes this rain comes in a downpour, and Mumbai’s inadequate infrastructure can’t get this water out to sea fast enough to halt flash flooding. The inadequacy of Mumbai’s inadequate storm draining infrastructure has been in the newspaper nearly every day since I’ve been here. To be fair, the inadequacy of every other genre of Mumbai’s infrastructure has also been in the news. (one sign Mumbai has more money now than before is that there is much road construction going on – much building construction too – with cranes and skeletons of office and apartment towers sticking out from the horizon)
The best part of the monsoon is that the temperature has fallen by more than 5deg F. I don’t get sweaty on my way to work. Crap, I don’t even get sweaty very often in my apartment. I’ve even been sleeping covered with a sheet – whereas before I would sprawl out naked trying to expose as much surface area as possible to the air blowing from the fan. After the heat and humidity of the first half of my Mumbai stay, the weather has become relatively nice. It was hotter in St. Louis last summer than it is here now.
Comments