By TIM ROSENKRANZ, 7/02/2014. Today the rains came to Mumbai. A few showers in the night, more rain in the afternoon and a heavy downpour in the evening are signs that the meteorologist’s predictions might be right this time and the wish of over a billion people will comes true: Monsoon is coming.
The tension in Mumbai over the last few weeks was palpable: When will the rains come, will it be enough? “The city has water until mid-July. Can you imagine? But they say nobody should panic,” one of my contacts told me just a few days ago. I have never been in a situation or place, where everybody keeps looking to the sky for dark rain-clouds. The monsoon breaks the heat of summer and despite the (often deadly) flooding, which the rains bring; the monsoon is welcomed like a long-overdue friend.
The monsoon is India’s life-blood: It fertilizes the soil and waters the farms. A timely monsoon keeps the water reservoirs filled and it ensures that the prices for produce do not skyrocket in a country where even the cheapest grains are unaffordable for too many.
Let’s hope that the rains will last and bring the water India needs. I will keep looking to the skies every day in hope of the dark clouds rolling in from the sea.