Delhi Rains

 It is a Saturday morning in Mid March, it is neither winter nor summer in Delhi.  I wake up with sounds of rustling of leaves and rain drops. . Being March it is not even monsoon time in Indian continent. And light rain continues almost for the whole day, leaving me surprised.  My next few years in Delhi, I realized that this place gets intermittent rains throughout the year.  For a person like me who is essentially from Mumbai, rains are associated with Monsoon.  Since the last few years, climate changes are  causing untimely rains occasionally. Still rain means monsoon. 

Interestingly, during monsoon, the amount of rain that we get to experience in Delhi is much less. But throughout the year there are episodes of light showers. I relocated from Mumbai to Delhi in summer. Scorching dry heat of Delhi summer was a challenge to reckon with. And  one day which was unusually hot and dry, suddenly in the evening, winds laden with dust started blowing, sky got grey and soothing rain drops made their way to cracked soil. Fragrance of the soil and the unexpected drop in temperature had soothing magic on my mind and body. 

Delhi has a long summer. Almost 6 months of the year, the weather remains hot. Initially it is hot and dry and later it is hot and humid. Hot and dry part of the summer gets episodic rain. Delhi, being part of great North Indian planes, dust blows with winds. In summers, even tree leaves seem soaked in dust. Light showers do wonders to trees. Few drops of rain and leaves seem to get a fresh green coat. When the temperature feels impossibly high, these showers bring hope. When heat is weighing you down, these little rain drops give a signal of freshness, signal of green future. These showers apparently bring flavour to mangoes here. I have a fortune of having a local mango tree within premise of house allocated to me by the Government. In the first year of mango season in Delhi, I was surprised to know that mangoes in North India arrive much later than mangoes in Western India. One summer evening when there were rains, I heard my help saying, ab aam me swaad aayega. 

When Indian sub continent especially southern India and parts of western India are lashed with rains, Delhi is still expecting arrival of monsoon. But it arrives with great fanfare here. Lightening, thunders and rain. One doesn't really get long spells of rains here.  But even light showers are good enough for water logging, traffic chaos, power failure and comments, kitni barish ho rahi hai. 

Winter rains is an interesting phenomena in Delhi. Some of us may remember  Republic Day celebrations in 2015, when erstwhile President of USA, Mr. Barack Obama was a guest for Republic Day Parade. Winter rains welcomed President Obama in Delhi for Republic Day Parade. Newspapers and media were full of photos of Mr. Obama and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chatting and seemingly enjoying rain showers.  Western disturbances get Winter Rains adding freezing quotient to already frozen Delhi. In 2023, winter rains drenched guests and participants of Beating The Retreat Ceremony at Vijay Chowk. This ceremony marks the conclusion of Republic Day Celebrations in Delhi. 

Rain spells through out the year, indeed keep one's mind and soul fresh. It is like cleaning dust once in a while and getting green, fresh and rejuvenated.