Summer rains bring some respite to Chennaites

Rain, the water from the sky is accorded a special status in Thirukural too.  The great sage Thiruvalluvar says

‘the continued existence of the World is owed to the rain ~ and hence it is equivalent to nectar for those of us in earth’

Chennaites were pleasantly surprised this morning ~ the rains in the morning were a great respite from the increasing temperature, a good protection from the increasing heat of summer. Those who were going to offices were affected [!] or did they rather enjoy the little inconvenience ~ suddenly one could see water flowing down the street, two-wheeler riders huddled in street corners and in places of protection…….. it lasted for a few minutes….. while this was the scene nearer Mount Road, back home at Thiruvallikkeni, it appeared there were no droplets even…….

In the past few days, mercury has been going up and it has been hot as people suffered the hot waves. It sweats a lot thereby draining one’s strength.  In some places – during summer there is onset of monsoon ~ no not in our parts…..  but when summer peaks, it does rain occasionally – such rain would either bring down the temperature and provide a pleasant climate and in sometimes do harm by increasing the sweltering heat, paving way for diseases.  

It was indeed a welcome rain, this morning at Chennai.

A casual browse threw up news of at least 13 persons having  died in rain-related incidents in the second bout of unseasonal heavy rain and thunderstorm that lashed several parts of Andhra Pradesh in the past couple of days. The report further puts that the rains also damaged standing crops in thousands of acres spread across the state, particularly in the agriculturally-rich coastal Andhra belt.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

24^th April 2013