It's June!

Come June and a spirit of expectation fills the air! While it's true that in the first days of June the summer heat reaches its peak, the humidity becomes sadistically oppressive and the sultry weather drives you to desperation, yet, suddenly a new optimism begins to filter into this depressing scene. It’s June and the monsoons will be here any day!

And this realization that the rains will soon be arriving, throws everyone into a flurry of activities. While we in the cities begin to shop for umbrellas and raincoats and rain-shoes, in the villages the farmers shake the bulls out of their summer slumber and coax them into the fields which have to be ploughed and readied for the sowing.

It’s an exciting time too. Kids look up to the skies eagerly; the rains will usher in a whole new season of fun – splashing around in the gurgling puddles, setting little paper boats a sail in the tiny rivulets that rush along with cheerful determination, or just getting drenched in the downpour!

And in the villages the farmers too look up to the skies eagerly. A good monsoon signals a good year. Crops in the fields, grain in the godown, cash in the pocket. If the rains are plentiful, plenty of plans can be made for the rest of the year. House repairs, new clothes, weddings, feasts... all this and even more can confidently be contemplated.

It’s June and millions of eyes are now turned upward, scanning the skies, searching for those fluffy grey clouds that are not just heralds of rain, but harbingers of happiness!