In Rajasthan when the first rain falls, children scream and run around the village well. The camel shakes its head in disbelief. Grass sprouts suddenly on the sand dunes. It is one of the great contradictions of India that there is too much water in some areas while drought prevails in others.Ladakh is too high for the monsoon clouds. Snow from the glaciers melts in little streams down the valley to be collected and shared cooperatively and circulated among high and low villages in one of the most developed traditional systems of water self-management.One of my earliest childhood memories is of the rains near Cherapunji. A split bamboo pipe ran around the house to collect rain. I only knew that the water running in the kitchen and bathroom came magically, from nowhere. Scientists think Dharamsala and Darjeeling have joined Cherapunji as the world’s rain centres. In Dharamsala, people retreat indoors and contemplate the streaming drops. It’s the place to invent rain meditation.I lived in Holland for two years. The rain there is slow but cold, depressing and unpredictable. There is no song and dance to it. I got a little depressed living in artificial light. The Dutch try to make up for the grey skies by their good cheer and openness. More than any other community, they have conquered and harnessed the forces of water, rain and sea. The land is low, so the excess rain and water is circulated in the most elaborate canal system with windmills and machines that pump the water up.In England, everything appears grey; the air, umbrellas, clothes, hats, taxis. Rain interrupts sunsets and Wimbledon matches. It is amazing that a sunny game like cricket was invented in England, where it is difficult to complete a full day’s play, let alone a five day test without rain.On the train from Moscow to Beijing, as soon as we crossed the Russian-Chinese border, it started drizzling. Hordes of Chinese families got in, marking the dramatic change in weather. While the Russians sipped coffee or vodka, the Chinese guzzled flasks of green tea. Outside, there were little lakes everywhere and in the middle arose many tiny but steep hills — like in a child’s drawing — with the mist hanging on the hill tops.Back in Rajasthan, it is finally raining. The sheep, goat and cattle herding nomads and migrant workers will get news of “choko zamano”, literally good world but also meaning good rain. They will hurry back to their lands to sow seeds. Soon it will be time for the festivals with the biggest one rated as one of the most colourful in the world celebrated around the most sacred pool of water in full moon — Pushkar.
