Monsoons that came a week too soon.

The Cause (scroll down for the effect)

Well the day finally dawned. I have been dreading this from the day I shifted to Kurla, the monsoons are here. The weather predictions have been sent for a toss. All the “preparations” were proved inadequate in a single day of continuous downpour. People were reminded of July 26^th.

Train services were disrupted. Reached CST at 9:15pm and had to let a Karjat, a Kasara, a Titwala and a Thane local, which were already bursting at their seams leave, before I got the 10:15 Kurla local, and for the first time I saw people fighting to get into a Kurla train at Sion. Scary days ahead *shiver*

The plus points are:

1. I bought an umbrella, no wait that’s a negative; I have been warned not to get into a local in a jacket lest the crowd decide to throw me out. And seeing the levels of frustration yesterday I decided not to take the risk. Need to get some confirmation on this, I have been told this by 2 guys in the office.
2. I can get wet! No, wait that’s another negative, wearing wet undergarments for an entire day is not pleasant. Strike that off.
3. Jumping in to the puddles. That’s a definite YIPPIE!
4. Jaundice anyone? How is that a positive? Well the last time I had it exactly 2 years ago, and exactly a month after I set foot in Mumbai, I spent a month in Pune “recuperating” on an official paid holiday. ;)

My commiserations to all those who travelled on the western line yesterday, *sucked* 3 hours to travel to Borivali from Churchgate! That’s ridiculous. I left the office at 9 and reached home earlier than guys who left at 7!!

I scored 96 percentile and 350^th out of 10000 in a mock. That’s an improvement of 3 percentile over my 2005 CAT scores. I need to work a bit more now. Want to get to the IIMs and the weather is not helping, makes me want to go, “Mommy I do not want go to work today, I want to stay at home and bake cookies with you!” in a pseudo Daffy Duck voice.

The following quote plagiarised from here expresses my feeling for umbrellas better than I can.

I love the rain (I don't get people who like it to be sunny and warm all the time), but there's something that happens in the rain that I absolutely hate: people using umbrellas. Now, umbrellas are a great idea in concept (liquid falls from sky and you need something to keep you dry), but I don't think I've ever met one person who uses an umbrella correctly. An umbrella is a device that you hold in your hand. It puts a protective cover over your head, its roof expanding about a foot or so all around your body (at least - the other day I saw an umbrella that I swear was bigger than the Cinzano umbrellas at outdoor cafes), and all around the umbrella are pointy, sharp, metal or plastic tentacles. It's amazing how many people don't understand that these things are dangerous. They just rush through their commute, not paying any attention to the people they're hitting in the head or the shoulder, coming dangerously close to their eyes. I actually have to duck as I'm walking around the city, like I'm on some obstacle course, and if you win you get to keep your eyes and vision.

If you use an umbrella, picture this scenario: there's no such thing as rain. It doesn't exist. Now imagine getting some device that goes over your head (you don't need it because there's no such thing as rain, but you just like carrying it), and it has pointy tentacles that flare out on all sides. Wouldn't you be careful not to hit anyone? Of course you would. So why is it any different, just because this thing called "rain" exists?

In other words, just because something needs to be used, doesn't mean it can be used any fucking way that you like.

Same here aint it? Replace school with office and you have me.

I forgot my keys, my phone and any of a number of unforgettables.

The Effect.

Happy monsoons all, be safe. ;)

If possible stay home, get mom to fry you a plate of hot pakoras, and brew a nice cup of steaming ginger tea and pick up the City Of Djinns and read it all day long.