Char and I were on a short holiday in the town of Pondicherry when the Monsoon hit with a vengeance. The skies opened up and it poured down rain for days. We had reservations outside of town at a retreat, so we donned our rain gear, climbed on our motorcycle and headed out in the driving rain through flooded streets. At times the water came up to our footpegs and engine. I was having visions of being stranded in this storm if the engine died on us. But our trusty 100cc Hero Honda plowed right through it all. When we reached the retreat, we were told they couldn't take us in due to the grounds being under water and the septic system was saturated. So we accepted a hot cup of tea, put our rain jackets back on and headed the 80 km back to Chennai. Fortunately the major highways are well maintained and built up enough that flooding is not as much of a problem as it is in the cities.
The Monsoon season lasts for several months, with squalls and thunderstorms blowing in off the Bay of Bengal. At times the downpours come driving down in sheets, flooding the city streets.
But the Monsoons are a happy time. They bring much needed water to the parched land, and the long hot season is broken. It is a sight for us "people from the cold country" to see people bundled up with wool caps, scarves and jackets when the temperature drops to a comfortable 78F.
Life goes on during the Monsoon, the street vendors are still out selling their trinkets, the rickshaw drivers are still cruising for a fare, and the traffic is as bad as ever, though you have to be very careful when driving through the flooded streets that you don't fall into a foot deep pothole, or worse, a collapsed sewer cover, both of which are numerous.
Much of the flat, low laying land that Chennai is built on was not long ago planted in rice paddies, which explains why this office of the chief engineer for state ground and surface water resources sits in the middle of a swamp during the rainy season.
Char and I were on a short holiday in the town of Pondicherry when the Monsoon hit with a vengeance. The skies opened up and it poured down rain for days. We had reservations outside of town at a retreat, so we donned our rain gear, climbed on our motorcycle and headed out in the driving rain through flooded streets. At times the water came up to our footpegs and engine. I was having visions of being stranded in this storm if the engine died on us. But our trusty 100cc Hero Honda plowed right through it all. When we reached the retreat, we were told they couldn't take us in due to the grounds being under water and the septic system was saturated. So we accepted a hot cup of tea, put our rain jackets back on and headed the 80 km back to Chennai. Fortunately the major highways are well maintained and built up enough that flooding is not as much of a problem as it is in the cities. 
The Monsoon season lasts for several months, with squalls and thunderstorms blowing in off the Bay of Bengal. At times the downpours come driving down in sheets, flooding the city streets. 
But the Monsoons are a happy time. They bring much needed water to the parched land, and the long hot season is broken. It is a sight for us "people from the cold country" to see people bundled up with wool caps, scarves and jackets when the temperature drops to a comfortable 78F.
Life goes on during the Monsoon, the street vendors are still out selling their trinkets, the rickshaw drivers are still cruising for a fare, and the traffic is as bad as ever, though you have to be very careful when driving through the flooded streets that you don't fall into a foot deep pothole, or worse, a collapsed sewer cover, both of which are numerous.
Much of the flat, low laying land that Chennai is built on was not long ago planted in rice paddies, which explains why this office of the chief engineer for state ground and surface water resources sits in the middle of a swamp during the rainy season. 
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