Rains in Chennai

To an NRK (Non Resident Keralite), the monsoons in Kerala are a blithe longed for. The greenery plus the chill and wet climate give a coziness like nowhere else. Gallons of water flowing by you in the canals and sometimes even on the roads and footpaths is big time exciting even though some people might turn cynical about this. Of course it hinders travel and outing, and that rainy season brings with it a handful of communicable diseases is a scientifically proven fact. But rains are the lifeline as well, as the whole goodness and greenery that makes the God's own country a better place to live in owe a lot to the monsoons. Now we have every chance of experiencing higher torrents of rain, but fortunately or unfortunately we are not in the North East. It's a bit extreme over there because rather than enjoying the rain, people would prefer escaping the floods and havoc.    

And what happens in the other not-so-rainy parts of the country? Here in Chennai where I live now, rains come as an effect of the North-East monsoons mostly in September, October and November. It does not rain everday, thank god! The enjoyable climate that the rains bring is spoilt very soon by the waterlogs that accompanies every formidable rain. And Chennai does not get help from geographical contours either, the whole town is so perfectly flat that there is no place water can run off even though the sea is a couple of blocks away! Whereas in my hometown, Malappuram, which like what its meaning in malayalam suggests, is made of small hillocks - ups and downs everywhere that you cannot see a road that runs flat for more than a hundred ir two metres. Drainage, however bad it is designed, runs out of eyesight and out of town! Civil engineers, you are welcome to Chennai, and I dont know what drainage planning happens here. Every small street gets flooded, and the drains overflow, bringing out every rubbish in them. 

Rains have started a couple of weeks back, and my house in Chennai is so strategically located that every road to every eat-out nearby gets blocked due to waterlogs! Either I buy a boat or I start cooking. The former is too whimsical and the latter is impossible! Hard times ahead I guess.