Missing the clouds

Oh, how I miss them! Those fluffy, wispy, grey tufts in the sky that make my world look so much more beautiful for a quarter of the year. This morning we have blue skies above, the unrelenting sun bleaching everything out. I keep checking the south, which is where the rain-bearing clouds roll in from in these parts. But it's just a blue haze today, holding out very little hope for an overcast day.

Just yesterday I read my father's blog complaining about a week of rain in Delhi and realised how much living away from the city of my birth has changed me. While I was in Delhi, I too enjoyed the rain for a couple of days but began to grow restless and frustrated if it lingered for any longer than that. I loved the rain in short, sharp spells. But not when an incessant pitter-patter stretched for days.

Living in Mumbai and Thane for half a decade has changed how I feel about the monsoon. The buildup to the season of rain is absolutely spectacular. I can't quite put it in words. After months of sticky, icky weather, you can't describe the ecstasy on spotting the first bank of monsoon clouds rolling in, the first burst of cool breeze caressing your face. Everyone starts to smile. It's infectious. This buildup sometimes lasts for over a week, the anticipation growing every second. People keep peering out, extending their hands out of apartment windows to check if the heavens have finally decided to be charitable.

We've been extremely lucky in living throughout in apartments with beautiful views of hills and water bodies. We could see Powai Lake from all the rooms in our home in Mumbai. In Thane we face the hills of a wildlife sanctuary and the river Ulhas. And these views are the most breathtaking in the monsoon. On lazy weekends my husband and I at times spend hours sitting in the balcony, sipping coffee and gazing at the scenery. And we keep wondering how we'll adjust back to a life with no views to speak of when we move back to Delhi!

Of course, there's a downside to the monsoon. You wage a constant battle against mould and mildew in every nook and cranny of your home. This year I realised to my horror that textured lampshades with grooves in the fabric are mould magnets! Drying clothes is a nightmare. It can take up to three days for clothes to dry, longer for thicker fabric like denim or linen. But this monsoon has been much better for me because my husband bought me a 100% clothes drier that makes life so much simpler. So no more musty smell in clothes and no rooms taken over by drying laundry.

There are also several waves of viral and gastric infections in this season. If there are children in the house, you'll all fall ill at least two or three times each monsoon. There are also mounds of rotting refuse here and there, slush on the streets, clogged drains on days when the rain is heavier than usual. Yet I love the season.

A good monsoon here lasts about three months. You adjust to a quality of daylight that is gentle on the eyes. So when the clouds disappear, it takes quite a while to get used to the glare again. Something I am struggling to do today, which is why I am missing the clouds. The monsoon arrived late this year and it hasn't rained as much as it should in a good season. So I haven't had my fill quite yet.