From Delhi to Mumbai: Postcards from monsoon's first showers

You don't have to be a poet to understand poetry of monsoon rains. Well it helps, but the refreshing chill is something everyone can feel. It soothes, heals, rejuvenates the senses and makes you go out to meet life, no matter your age.

Monsoon is here! Southern India is already experiencing the blissful drizzle and the showers have made their presence felt in northern parts of the country as well. 

The onset of Monsoon in Mumbai is always sudden and perceptible. You will sweat on just the previous day and strong winds and clouds will bring the much-needed respite on the next. What starts is a mayhem that lasts for four months. A Mumbaikar can never hate the rains.

Monsoon knocks on India's door in the south. 'God's own country' Kerala is first to get the blissful showers. Southern cities like Coimbatore were pleasant shades of blue and black.

 

Green is also a colour that comes to represent the monsoon rains. After months of scorching heat, nature gets the rejuvenation it needs as the rains arrive.

 

What fills the air is pure sense of peaceful joy. Something stirs within you and makes you welcome life again. Seen here is a street vendor silhouetted against the cloudy sky in Hyderabad.

 

Rains pour on the parched being, even lashes them at times. But everyone welcomes them as they bring down the bounty of life. A gift from heavens. Image above is from Mangaluru.

 

With the rain gods benevolent, a frenzy starts to welcome them. With this, there's also an earnest effort to shield oneself from them, should they rain their fury on earth. Seen here are fishermen in Kochi moving their boats to safety.

 

Nature doesn't discriminate. It's bounty as well as its fury is for all.

 

Raindrops here can also mean pristine snow there. Seen in the image below is snowfall in Kullu (Himachal Pradesh)

 

Before the monsoons rain down earnestly, clouds are often the happy heralds. Monsoons are yet to cover the entire country, but changes in weather can be felt in northern India. New Delhi and surrounding areas have received spells of rains in the last few days.