Bas baarish ka intezar hain
Come late-March and early-April, India starts to sulk in the heat & dust that the summer has to offer. Late-April and the whole of May is no exception either. The highest temperature recorded and the number of heat-related deaths are only of academic interest to most of us. But then, the bottom line is, no one is spared from the intense heat and the dry spell.
May is the time when the MET office starts to work overtime to prepare itself for the largest weather phenomenon in the world – the Monsoon. Although, it has a lot of contributing factors to its credit like the El Nino et al., it is undoubtedly that one single weather pattern that has the most impact on humanity (directly affecting close to 1/3rd of the world’s population – factoring the population of Pakistan and Bangladesh too).
It’s duing this period that the MET office starts to roll out the huge INSAT maps (who can forget those black-and-white maps from the weather report of Doordarshan news) and starts explaining to the whole of the country about it’s interpretation of what the monsoon holds in store to the Indian sub-continent. The forecast is interesting to say the least. I have always been amazed at the level of perfection these reports bear, considering the fact that there are a lot of issues to factor in – Bay of Bengal branch, Arabian Sea branch, the arrival date at Andaman & Nicobar islands, the western disturbances in North India,etc. The list is never ending.
Come June 1, Kerala is drenched in the first drops of monsoon. For anyone who has missed out on Kerala, I would highly recommend that place – that too during the monsoons. You get to understand a whole new meaning for phrases like – ‘raining cats and dogs’, ‘torrential rains’, ‘moisture-laden winds’, etc. It almost feels like a magical experience.
From then on, it takes one full month (that’s right – full 30 days) to reach Delhi. Needless to say, the whole of North & West India would have been baked by then as the temperatures soar to 45+ Celsius. And by the time, it reaches the Kashmir valley and the northern Pakistan, Bangladesh would have already started flood-relief work. Strange but true. It’s no less captivating than a screenplay of a hit Bollywood movie.
Sadly this year, the monsoons have arrived late by 5 days to Kerala. But even more depressing is the fact that the monsoon winds have stopped in their tracks just after reaching shore. India is still baking hot. For people interested in statistics, Titlagarh in Orissa holds the record for the highest temperature recorded this summer at 46 Celsius.
One can only hope that the monsoon winds find the lost momentum and whistle past the remainder of India bringing with itself enough rain to soak the baked earth and enough water to quench the thirst of the billions of men across the Indian sub-continent. Not a drop less, not a drop more.
Until then, it’s a game of wait and watch – aptly quoted by a news channel:
Yeh dharti, yeh pahaadiyan, yeh vaadiyan – sab taiyaar hain
Barsaat ki paani maapne ka gauge taiyaar hain
Hum taiyaar hain
Bas baarish ka intezaar hain
May is the time when the MET office starts to work overtime to prepare itself for the largest weather phenomenon in the world – the Monsoon. Although, it has a lot of contributing factors to its credit like the El Nino et al., it is undoubtedly that one single weather pattern that has the most impact on humanity (directly affecting close to 1/3rd of the world’s population – factoring the population of Pakistan and Bangladesh too).
It’s duing this period that the MET office starts to roll out the huge INSAT maps (who can forget those black-and-white maps from the weather report of Doordarshan news) and starts explaining to the whole of the country about it’s interpretation of what the monsoon holds in store to the Indian sub-continent. The forecast is interesting to say the least. I have always been amazed at the level of perfection these reports bear, considering the fact that there are a lot of issues to factor in – Bay of Bengal branch, Arabian Sea branch, the arrival date at Andaman & Nicobar islands, the western disturbances in North India,etc. The list is never ending.
Come June 1, Kerala is drenched in the first drops of monsoon. For anyone who has missed out on Kerala, I would highly recommend that place – that too during the monsoons. You get to understand a whole new meaning for phrases like – ‘raining cats and dogs’, ‘torrential rains’, ‘moisture-laden winds’, etc. It almost feels like a magical experience.
From then on, it takes one full month (that’s right – full 30 days) to reach Delhi. Needless to say, the whole of North & West India would have been baked by then as the temperatures soar to 45+ Celsius. And by the time, it reaches the Kashmir valley and the northern Pakistan, Bangladesh would have already started flood-relief work. Strange but true. It’s no less captivating than a screenplay of a hit Bollywood movie.
Sadly this year, the monsoons have arrived late by 5 days to Kerala. But even more depressing is the fact that the monsoon winds have stopped in their tracks just after reaching shore. India is still baking hot. For people interested in statistics, Titlagarh in Orissa holds the record for the highest temperature recorded this summer at 46 Celsius.
One can only hope that the monsoon winds find the lost momentum and whistle past the remainder of India bringing with itself enough rain to soak the baked earth and enough water to quench the thirst of the billions of men across the Indian sub-continent. Not a drop less, not a drop more.
Until then, it’s a game of wait and watch – aptly quoted by a news channel:
Yeh dharti, yeh pahaadiyan, yeh vaadiyan – sab taiyaar hain
Barsaat ki paani maapne ka gauge taiyaar hain
Hum taiyaar hain
Bas baarish ka intezaar hain
posted by Kishor Narayan @ 6/16/2005 09:06:00 AM
1 comments
