Monsoon in Kerala My First Blog

The southern tip of India, is split into two by the Vindhya Mountain Ranges.
To the East lie Tamil Nadu – arid - yet a vast and fertile expanse.
Its people dark, friendly, proud!

On the west of the divide, like a long emerald ribbon lies my home state- Kerala.
Keralam is the real name, in our tongue  മലയാളം  ‘Malayalam’ { try reading the name backwards}
There are only two seasons here : 6 months of rain with sun ; 6 months of sun with rain.
She is always green, - greener during rains.



Temperature do not vary much - Minimum 19 C, Maximum 36 C
People here extol this range of "17-degree-celsius-maximum-variation" as a unique phenomenon and consider this to be idle and moderate, of course by our own standards.

We live in the tropics. The Equator passes 8 degree south of my town

Our long and narrow state has 3 geographical divisions – a coastal strip adjoining the Arabian Sea ; midlands where small hills pop out from the paddy plains here and there and the rain forest covered mountains called the western ghats, that separate us from Tamil Nadu.

This farmer lives in the foot hills of these western ranges, and hence the name of this blog. Contend with what life has provided: its ups and downs taken in the stride !!

Here he begins his blog !!! Taking the plunge after ten years of watch-read-and-wait.
On what more auspicious occasion could he begin, than when the life-giving monsoon is just a day ahead?

Monsoon- Edavappathy for us - never fails, we know from the lore of generations gone before us that she arrives dot to the day she is supposed to appear. It’s amazing.With clock-like precision, on the appointed day the wide swathe of menacing clouds manifest first - filling the skies from horizon to horizon, in darkest shade of grey and slowly roll in from the East shutting off the blazing rays of the merciless sun. Suddenly to the accompaniment of earth-shaking thunderbolts and tree toppling gales, the first monsoon rains come hissing down - water bullets, each drop as big as a coffee bean.
From the parched earth waft പുതു മണ്ണ് , an indescribable and transient odor of the fine upper layer of the dry-soil whipped up by the force of the drops. Wow! Monsoon is truly here. The long and ardent wait is over. It is time to till and sow ….and wait again till it is ripe to reap. Cycle of life  once more comes full circle!

As I key these words I can hear the distant rumble of the first thunderbolts. Today is May 30 but in less than quarter of an hour it will be May 31 - normally the final day of the sweltering summer vacation. Sounds of the thunder means monsoon this year is early by a day. She is expected only on the first day of June, when the schools reopen after summer holidays. Every child reach school wet.

Thunderbolts also means it is time for me to shut down the PC or else lightning could fry the mother board. Last year lightning devoured my Linksys Wireless G Router, bought with such burning desire - even before I finished taking my eyes off it. ( sob.. sob...)
Let me haste to post my first blog before anything like it happens.

Thanks for your time.
Expect me here.

Your part time Foot Hill Farmer.