Rain Havoc on the Mountains

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This year is exceptional in one way most certainly. The weather observers tell that the monsoon winds blew over the Himalayan mountains, a geographical abnormality. It caused heavy rains on the mountains causing unprecedented floods in the rivers flowing down into the plain region. "Cloud burst" and in the local language "badal fatna" are used to describe the sudden pouring rainfall. I myself used to wonder what these phrases could mean. Whatever it might mean, one thing is certain there is a sudden heavy rainfall causing much damage to life and property. Two days ago an exceptionally heavy rain hit the northern districts of our state West Bengal causing a lot of damage to life, property, houses and crops. Those are the places I grew up in and my childhood memories are connected with. TV reports are showing some visuals but I can imagine how difficult it must have been for the people there. Our Chief Minister is personally supervising the relief work there. She was at Nagrakata today, a beautiful hill town. It is a favourite Christian parish of mine, built by Italian missionaries, which I Ioved to visit during my holidays. Mirik, another beautiful town near Darjeeling is told to have suffered a devastating landslide. A bridge that connects the hills with the plains is broken. The roads on which I travelled many times have fallen down at many places. The restoration will take some time. Until then the state government is providing relief. But it will need quite some time before normal life can be restored.