Monsoon Has Arrived

Well, the first rain happened yesterday. There was a small drizzle earlier in the week, but apparently that one didn't really count. Yesterday it rained for the first time. And when it did everyone poured outside. All the children came out to play in the rain, even adults came out to get wet, and Deepal insisted I join him on the rooftop. I wasn't very enthusiastic about getting my freshly cleaned and dry clothes wet, but apparently this event was far more significant than some clothes. Deepal had missed the monsoon season for the last seven years because he was traveling abroad, so his joy at being home in the first rain was immense. ..and contagious. :) The birds seemed as excited as the people that it was raining. From the rooftop we could see everywhere the crows and other birds sitting at the very tops of the trees ruffling and shaking their feathers. Many of them looked like they'd grown mohawks.  And on an adjacent rooftop was a mother who had brought her small son up to the roof to dance with him in the rain. She had him on her hip and was twirling with him in circles, laughing.
It only rained for about 15-20 minutes and then it stopped. Seems like the monsoons are similar to the rainy season of Bali for those of you who have been there. By that I mean, the rain comes and goes. This morning it rained pretty hard for about half an hour. No thunderstorms or really heavy rains yet. Ma says now is when it will get really hot because the hard rains will release more heat from the earth and everything will be very muggy. I guess we'll see. The weather forecast for next week looks abysmal with temperatures in the 100s. For now though, the rain has helped cool things off.