Counting our blessings..

Earlier this week, we had our first really serious rain in daylight hours this wet season. We have had dark grey skies which have looked powerfully ominous but only resulted in a pathetic little drizzle - total anti-climax. But the other night we got real heavy, soaking, splashing, steaming rain, complete with grumbling thunder and illuminating lightening. The works!!

It's beautiful. The temperature drops and there's a real sense of excitement in the air. Its a bit like the UK in reverse - the same feeling you get in the Mother-country when the sun comes out!! The kids re-appear having got soaked and sodden in the few minutes it takes them to scurry home. People are coming and going with all sorts of protective headgear - palm leaves, and plastic bags are the solution for the brolly-less.

Time to rescue the washing, sadly forgotten, adandoned to the elements and now wetter than it was when it finished its spin cycle.

We sit down to dinner, safe and dry with only a couple of buckets to catch the odd invasive drops, listening to the rumbles of distant thunder and sweet pounding of the dropping rain on glass and tarmac.

Poor Shankar will be on his bike, heading homeward, facing the Bangalore traffic, even more unpredictable in the dark and wet than usual. After the long dry season the sudden onslaught of water can't find anywhere to drain quick enough and the roads are soon muddy, slippery and a maize of puddles. Here, where we are so close to the slums, currently becoming mud ridden and flooded, and sadly aware of those with no shelter at all, we are not going to get too excited about the odd leak, grumpy about a play date cut short by rain, or miserable about a longer than a normal dreary, dark and wet, commute home from work......we are going to sit and count our blessings!!!