Rainy Bombay

Posted by Cindy on June 30, 2009

I almost forgot about one of the best things I enjoyed about Bombay was the monsoon. After a hot summer the monsoon rains cool everything off. I always visited Bombay in the hot and humid summers. The Bombay Hotel were I always stayed had fans going and their air-conditioning never shut down until the rains arrive, and for some strange reason, I was always in Bombay for the first rain and it was always on June 8th. I accounted for the slightest drizzle that would appear on this date, just to keep the consistency going.

When it rains, it really rains. It’s almost endless. The nallas become full, the gutter overflow, the trees fall and the pothole become and hazard for any car on the road. The monsoon start coincides with the start of school. I remember, when I lived here as a child having to wear a raincoat and rain shoes trying to carrying new books in bags and keeping them dry. Some children just wore sandals instead of rain shoes, which to me seemed more in-tune with the weather. No socks to get wet and no rain-shoes to empty out. By the time I got to school and taking off my soggy socks, which I wasn’t the only one, we got to walk around barefoot in class.

Bombay monsoon is funny, when it pours, it pours like its wanting to submerge us because mother nature is fully aware that what follows is a very long dry spell. So dry it seems like it will never rain again. The heavy rains stress the local trains and bus systems. The water levels are so high that one track stops altogether and the buses are no match for the gathering water in the  underpasses. So, most travellers end up walking or taking a taxi. All the same, with all the troubles the rains bring, it also brings the people together with a commonality of being wet.