To know India and her peoples, one has to know the monsoon. one has to know the monsoon. It is not enough to read about it in books, or see it on the cinema screen, or hear someone talk about it. It has to be a personal experience because nothing short of living through it can fully convey all it means to a people for whom it is not only the source of life, but also their most exciting impact with nature. . Khushwant Singh
About This Quote

In the summer of 1950, as the British war in India had been brought to a close, there was a long spell of unusually hot weather. In Calcutta the temperature reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In some parts of the city it went as high as 105 degrees. In Madras, where I had been posted as a collector on the staff of the Madras Port Trust, the temperature soared to a record high of 106 degrees. As a collector, my duties included supervising the loading and unloading of cargo from ships which arrived at the port.

But I also had orders to make wide-ranging inspections of all government properties and agencies located in and around Madras city. It was during these inspections that I came across an organization called the Calcutta Monsoon Committee. Made up entirely of scientists and meteorologists, this committee operated under the Director General of Meteorology in New Delhi and had been set up with two major objectives: (a) To forecast accurately monsoon rains and winds for India and Burma; and (b) To prepare forecasts for meteorological services in other Asian countries and for international bodies such as the Meteorological Office in Geneva. I learned that these two missions were carried out by teams of highly trained scientists led by qualified officers from western countries such as Britain, France, Italy, Holland, Sweden and Canada.

They worked closely with teams from India who were similarly trained and had responsibility for forecasting monsoon rains and winds for their own country. The system worked like this: When there was a need for accurate forecasts of monsoon rains or winds from India to other countries or international bodies such as Geneva, an information campaign was launched by meteorologists at New Delhi’s weather office and by similar sections in other Indian cities. This campaign enabled them to communicate with officials at their counterparts overseas or at international organizations such as Geneva’s weather office by telephone or telegraph link. The work began in May when meteorologists conducted discussions on monsoon activity with people at offices concerned with climate change across India’s vast geographical expanse. They then began to set up their own networks which enabled them to talk directly to their counterparts overseas or through them to people abroad who were interested in monsoon winds.

The work lasted until mid-November when the weather office shut down for winter (which occurred between April through September). The monsoon season actually ran from mid-October until early June but rain was only important until November when it became clear

Source: I Shall Not Hear The Nightingale

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