Weathering Mangalore Weather
Living in Mangalore during the rainy months is an exercise in the fortitude of mind and body. To be able to survive being holed up in your bedroom reeking of damp clothes, of days of boredom that can only be surpassed by the boredom in the class of a certain someone I have studied under, of doing nothing but reading novels and slumbering on them, does call for a ‘kumbakarna’ean effort . To tell the truth I am yet to agree with this place and I have been here for 5 years.
There are only two kinds of weather here in Mangalore during the monsoon. One, it rains and two, it rains harder. Imagine a leaky tap that is so ubiquitous in our bathrooms. The one that makes a steady tap-tap-tap sound of water drops dripping on the ceramic floor. Well… then imagine a million such taps fitted on the sky. It doesn’t rain hard enough to drench you, but enough for your clothes to get sticky and stinky. It is during this kind of rain that people quickly get out of their house to stock up and do the other important things that need to be done. For this is the calm before the storm.
Have you ever been under a dam when the sluice gates are opened? Well that’s close to the feeling that comes over you when it rains harder. The sluice gates of the seven heavens open up and the rain that follows can only be faithfully rendered by someone with a lot more writing skills than I currently possess. Streets are flooded, trees uprooted and power promptly cut off. Planning to go out with an umbrella? You might as well use a paper napkin. Winds blow horizontally and the rain follows suit. Days turn into night only to be momentarily brightened by lightning. Heart-stopping thunderclaps follow. The word ‘thunderstorm’ is taken to an all new level. Once you are caught in this rain, I can guarantee, you will never be caught under it again. People can be seen scurrying for cover at the first signs of the ominous black sky that characterizes this type of precipitation.
So that was the case study of the Mangalore rain.
It all ok to be here as a tourist and enjoy the rain for some time and so do we when monsoon starts.
But, to live here, day after day, week after week, watching nothing but H2O... That’s not exactly my idea of fun.
There are only two kinds of weather here in Mangalore during the monsoon. One, it rains and two, it rains harder. Imagine a leaky tap that is so ubiquitous in our bathrooms. The one that makes a steady tap-tap-tap sound of water drops dripping on the ceramic floor. Well… then imagine a million such taps fitted on the sky. It doesn’t rain hard enough to drench you, but enough for your clothes to get sticky and stinky. It is during this kind of rain that people quickly get out of their house to stock up and do the other important things that need to be done. For this is the calm before the storm.
Have you ever been under a dam when the sluice gates are opened? Well that’s close to the feeling that comes over you when it rains harder. The sluice gates of the seven heavens open up and the rain that follows can only be faithfully rendered by someone with a lot more writing skills than I currently possess. Streets are flooded, trees uprooted and power promptly cut off. Planning to go out with an umbrella? You might as well use a paper napkin. Winds blow horizontally and the rain follows suit. Days turn into night only to be momentarily brightened by lightning. Heart-stopping thunderclaps follow. The word ‘thunderstorm’ is taken to an all new level. Once you are caught in this rain, I can guarantee, you will never be caught under it again. People can be seen scurrying for cover at the first signs of the ominous black sky that characterizes this type of precipitation.
So that was the case study of the Mangalore rain.
It all ok to be here as a tourist and enjoy the rain for some time and so do we when monsoon starts.
But, to live here, day after day, week after week, watching nothing but H2O... That’s not exactly my idea of fun.
That's why I like Bangalore. The weather is NEVER predictable.
ReplyDeleteUnpredictability is not normally a good thing... But Bangalore rocks in the weather count...
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