RAINS ELUDE B’NGIR: MUSINGS OVER UNUSED RAINCOAT Monday, 17 August 2015 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

RAINS ELUDE B’NGIR: MUSINGS OVER UNUSED RAINCOAT

Monday, 17 August 2015 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR | in Bhubaneswar

As I entered a room in my house a polythene carry bag which looked more like a bundle of something caught my attention. For a moment, I could not recall what it was inside and out of curiosity I went near it and opened it. I had forgotten that I had kept a raincoat folded properly since the end of last years’ monsoon season.

I recalled that with the onset of monsoon by second week of July, I had brought out it from an old almirah to be used in the rainy season.The discovery of the unused rain coat would have been a simple matter if it was not for a question striking my mind why the coat was still lying unused even as it was middle of August and normally the monsoon starts in June.

The fact of the matter is rains have played truant this year with the draught prone Balangir.The rainy season consists of four months namely June, July, August, and September. In past, most people in rural and urban areas had no such rainy coats. People were using umbrellas. The rainy season would start by the second week of June with regular rain and kharif paddy cultivation process would commence by that time. Besides regular rainfall, there would be torrential rains (Jhadi Barasa) accompanied with strong wind for days together bringing the normal life to a grinding halt. Schools would be closed due to leaking roofs or wet surface and young boys/girls and students would play in rain water flowing on road.

The most troublesome month of the season is August. Due to continuous rain, all rivers, streams, ponds and wells are filled with water and the heavy rain would invariably cause floods and at times it would be impossible to go out of house. Where ever you look there would be water, with cloudy sky; the earth filled in with sounds of frog croaking from the paddy fields or road side water bodies.

With the advent of small, stylish and foldable umbrellas, people are no more taking the old, bigger-in-size and cumbersome umbrellas. However, rain coats have replaced robbed umbrellas of their craze which are these days used in large numbers, be it a pedestrian or two-wheeler rider. As these are made up of light polythene, a person finds it very comfortable to wear. But Balangir has not witnessed dark clouds and heavy rains till date.

Rains were there no doubt, but largely erratic and often they came in nights. The scanty and erratic rainfall has threatened the paddy crop and consequently, a drought scare is looming large in the district.The farmers without rainfall have been a worried a lot. They have been waiting for heavy downpour desperately. The raincoat could not be used even once showing that the intensity of rain and number of rainy days have declined drastically.