Barkha Rani ka Daura

Our Barkha Rani comes with a bang from her native place, The Arabian Sea along with her friend, the wind every year when the sultry summer is about to leave. Not to be mistaken for Barkha Dutt, the NDTV journalist/editor. She also tours across the world. Every year I would wait to receive Barkha Rani with a hearty welcome. I get a thrill when she comes, some get shiver. I would go about humming film songs about her--Barkha Rani jara jham se barso…… I have no problem to get along with her. All of us seek her help when the summer heat melts everybody. People pray, observe fasts, offer gifts to Gods and even throw feasts for dogs and perform wedding ceremony of frogs for her arrival every year. She plays pranks with Met department. She informs me earlier because I like her.

Barkha Rani used to visit the God’s own country, Kerala first because she prefers green lands. She will not stay longer in barren lands. Why is it called God’s own country? Do Gods only own that state of India? Is it because the state is beautiful with greenery? Being a Nature lover the greenery attracts me too. But I cannot stand green-eyed people. This year she is a little confused on where to go and how to spend her holidays. She made a short visit to Kerala and gone northward and a surprise visit to northeast. Her friend, the wind had not in a good mood and put up a fight with her and went berserk in West Bengal and Orissa before amaavasya, still not on good terms. She used to stay one week in Kerala before coming to Mumbai. Like a nomad she wanders from place to place and takes shelter for a few days in one place. She travels from Maharashtra to Gujrat, from Gujrat to Rajastan thus covers almost all the sates in 3-4 months. Once she comes she has her ways; will not go without making a little mischief. Sometimes she pours water non-stop and submerge everything. When she becomes a menace people start cursing her and they have to call out God again.

Fed up of ill-treatment she ends her tour in India by September. She decides to go abroad thinking that the grass is greener there; manages to get a ticket, passport and visa by hooks or crooks, and packs up and leaves for US. After a few days when she becomes a victim to racism she realizes the grass is better in India and comes back and consoles herself, I can get only abuses and curses in India but it is better than tolerate racist slurs, however, it is my native place. She yearns for a little affection. She is being used and taken for granted. Mumbaikars curses and abuses are unbearable to her. They need more drinking water, not Barkha Rani. She asks us in protest, “What do you really want? Do you think you can get water without my presence? Do you think such a miracle could happen? When I pour water the Mother Earth’s head becomes cool. Otherwise her head will burst.” It is a dhara treatment for Dhartimata. She visited Mumbai once on 20th May. Thereafter she doesn’t feel like coming to Mumbai again.

When the city gets flooded what one has to do is sit at home and watch the rain through the window and have garam garam chai and crisp bhajjias and pakoras.Nothing would happen if two days go by without work. BMC has to take blame every year when low-lying areas get flooded. Stubborn slum-dwellers are not ready move. When water gushing into their shanties it is easy to blame and curse the authorities. Mumbaikars cannot forget 26/7 deluge. Once bitten twice shy. Monsoon becomes a problem because the city is densely populated. Furthermore, Mumbai city is an island. Rain water will not go into the sea, especially during high tide.

When Barkha Rani’s daura ends all ministers daura starts one after another to the places that are devastated by her mischief. People feel their visit is useless, get irked and react strongly. Such is their demand that ministers should have power even to control Nature. If only they had such miraculous powers as Lord Krishna had. They fail to understand that ministers are mere human beings. After all who needs mere sympathy and sermons where money and life are important?

Doctors blame Barkha Rani for bringing vector-borne diseases. They make a list of diseases with funny medical terms, chikungunya, leptospirosis, malaria, viral fever and so on. I wonder if they diagnose it properly. If people wade through rain water, especially Mumbai’s drain and garbage mixed dirty water purposely and bring trouble and diseases, she is not responsible. Catching fever is certain if remain drenched in the rain for a long time. Once my son had fever playing football in the rain daily our family physician told us that it was malaria and had given a handful of tablets without name right from the clinic like to eat peanuts. How can he say it is malaria before diagnosing? Again when I had fever a few years ago he told me it might be malaria and had given anti-malarial drugs. When mosquitoes come for blood at nights I escape in the net. Then there is no question of having malaria. When I struggle with heart-ailment he would say it is psychological, nothing else and prescribed anti-depressants. Anti-depressants are the only remedy for unknown ailments. I often felt like asking him whether he had got a brain. Beyond medical science there is a science as Nature’s science.

Met department and other department which study climate change have predicted that the city will get 3o% more rain this year. According to my observation the rains will be less this year. Instead, rain related problems such as cyclone, flood in some parts of the country, cloud burst and fire from short circuits are possible. Farmers will suffer because of drought. There may be moderate rain form September but only in those places that usually receive rainfall in the autumn months. 26/7/2005 deluge will not repeat every year. But it may occur in every 30 years. In fact, the 2005/06 like deluge will be in 2034/35. Heavy rain occurs only in certain years. Next heavy rain is likely to be in 2012/13. But don’t blame me if my prediction goes wrong. Nature is not in my control. Nature can turn my prediction upside down. Whose prediction will come true, Met department’s or mine? Wait and watch.