Monday, 17 June 2013.
Not really after the rains, for it appears the rains are still on, and as per the Met reports in the papers this morning will be on for the next couple of days too! The papers also mention it is the monsoon that's arrived in North India - a clear 13-days early, the earliest this has happened in more than five decades! If so, it is rather unfair that I and my neighbourhood were denied all those 'pre'monsoon rains the rest of north India and especially the surrounding neighbourhood to Gurgaon enjoyed over the last two weeks - letting us particularly suffer and stew in our own sticky sweat, making us 'enjoy' the blistering summer heat that much longer. I believe Palam next door in my immediate neighbourhood, recorded a rainfall yesterday of 117.8mm of rain. That's more that four inches of rain between 8:30am amd 5:30pm. Wow... !
Much as the rain ushered in the much needed and waited for relief from the high temperatures - there were also the usual and inevitable party poopers to contend with yesterday: the massive power outages, blocked drains and resultant water-logging and threat of flooding and seepage..... The home front was hit hard with the electrical lines going totally dead and driving away all that joy of the rains. This affected the Invertor-alternate power-supply, the functioning of the AC and fans, the microwave and television-viewing; even the internet connectivity. The power line got restored much after nightfall, acting the total party spoiler till then.
As I stepped out for my walk this morning, found a light drizzle on. Normal me would've been cautious to avoid getting wet, be it my hair, clothes and shoes. But after skipping yesterday's walk I felt I needed my walk today, so braced myself for the consequences if any and set off. I'm glad I did - but for a couple of brief spells during which I felt the moisty spray, most of my two rounds around DeviLal Park didn't trouble me at all.
In the park I was confronted with the loud and incessant cacophony of frogs croaking away - something I have not experienced for some time. The noise was stark and lod. Looking for the source, there were not many my searching eyes could detect, but the ones present had enough volumes to bring the skys down. The frogs were not large either, mostly in the 2 to 2.5 inches category, and the rare one sizing about three inches. Listening to the irritating and incessant din that tended to destroy the morning serenity inside the rain drenched park, my mind couldn't help transport itself back to the days on Magadi estate, and more particularly my childhood in Mangalore with frogs aplenty in the abounding pools ponds and streams that were part of one's surroundings. And remember when it rained, it was not a few, but veritable armies of frogs that let go their rain-calls. It was part of the environment, of nature, and never worried any one! It was expected - like Sonal expected the Peacocks on my roof top and terrace to dance in the rain yesterday!
Frogs apparently feel the rains coming and start croaking in relief and in joy. They naturally loved rain and croak away to share this announcement with everyone. Rains herald in their mating season too, so male frogs croak away to call in females to mate with - and simultaneously, they croak to mark their territory and warn other male frogs to keep away! They plan to mate, lay eggs, and get to safety before all that nice, clean water evaporates and disappears! They could be a menace too, especially at night, for people who were light sleepers. I can never forget the nightly apparition of Fr Denis Pinto, my first Boarding-House Director at St Aloysius', beside the garden pond with the cane he used to discipline us boys with, to rap the frog that was disturbing his sleep in his room immediately upstairs!
At Sukh-Sagar, Dadajji's & Nana's Mangalore house we grew up in, our compound had many water bodies/ ponds where frogs abounded. Like the tiny fish we collected in bottles from these ponds for little aquariums to adorn our study tables, tadpoles and baby frogs were no less a target for similar pastimes. But the mighty six-incher that dominated our drinking-water well and greeted us by floating up to the surface each time he sensed our little heads peeping over the well wall, is the one I remember most. It was also fascinating how he was never harmed each year during the annual ritual of cleaning the well, when he was carefully collected from the well-waters in a basket, protected from harm in the interregnum, and released into the well once again after the cleaners had finished with their well-cleaning job!
