Village landscapes

The Monsoons always bring with them the memory of my early encounters with the rains, back home in the village. The first showers brought sh...

The Monsoons always bring with them the memory of my early encounters with the rains, back home in the village. The first showers brought sharp relief from the simmering heat of the plains. Trees and plants had their dust accumulated over the summer washed off and the earth emitted the most pleasant of fragrances 8212; it was only that first rain which bore this aroma.

Suddenly the haze of dust that hung on the horizon lifts and crystal clear vistas present themselves as far as the eye can see. All the colours of the earth suddenly seemed to show them up in their true hues. A treat for the eyes and the mind.

The evenings of storm and thunder invariably resulted in a windfall 8212; of mangoes. You could suddenly treat yourself to a great variety of this fruit at amazingly low prices. Even the last melons and watermelons of the season were suddenly available for a song 8212; farmers making what is now termed as a 8220;distress sale8221;.

In the cities, litchis make their appearance with the first rains. But we, in the village, weren8217;t even aware about this hill fruit. But another bounty of nature was available: jamuns. Village kids always believed that rain-kissed jamuns tasted the sweetest.

With the rain and accumulated mud, water would enter the holes of the burrowed and hibernating snakes and they would be forced out. This made venturing in the dark a dreadful experience because you never knew when you would trample upon a wriggling snake and invite trouble for yourself!

The first rains of the season always made the villagers do some stock taking. The granary had to be equipped for the proverbial rainy day. House repairs in the form of strengthening the mud layers was also undertaken around this time and makeshift shelters for the milch animals put up.

Of course, there was never any unanimity about the perfect measure of rain, since farmers needed different quantities for their irrigation needs, depending on the crops and the location of the fields. But, generally, a good rainfall made everyone happy and hopeful of a good harvest.

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Yes, rains back home in the village was an entirely different phenomenon from rains in the city. Today, as I sit in my balcony, the wife calls out a trifle hysterically, 8220;Have the taps been turned off? For heaven8217;s sake see that they are. This rainfall is clearly not enough and tomorrow the sun will be back!8221; She has a point there.