Copyright: Santoshwriter
Here we are again this week. Today we’re gathered in a virtual wooded area to discuss our original stories for the week. This is the Friday Fictioneers’ group. Our hostess for this gathering is the talented and gracious author and artist, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The challenge for each of us is to write a story with no more than 100 words. It’s supposed to have a beginning, middle, end, and follow the picture prompt for the week. This week’s prompt was supplied by Santoshwriter. Thanks, Santosh.
To read the other stories from group members, just click on the little blue frog in the blue box after clicking on the link. The link for the other stories is as follows:
https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2015/05/20/22-may-2015/
Genre: Nonfiction
Word Count: 100 Words
AWAITING THE MONSOON by P.S. Joshi
We in Pune, India, are patiently awaiting the monsoon to reach us. It’s now churning around in the Bay of Bengal. It’ll then move to the tip of India around the end of May.
If you get the BBC news on TV, you can watch it move on up the west coast. It’s supposed to reach us about the middle of June.
We’ve already had a hail storm and a couple pre-monsoon storms. Workers are still busy clearing city drains of trash, especially plastic waste. There’s already been flooding in some locations. Next come potholes.
We need reservoirs filled though.
Musings on Life & Experience 
I hope there is disaster preparedness plan ready for the coming monsoon. I know it is a little optimistic on my part.
Thanks for the prompt pic.
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Thanks, Yarnspinnerr. I just hope they get the drains cleaned in time. It’s so clean when you get outside the city. Farmers don’t throw trash like city people. I hope they get sufficient rain for the rice crop. Another big problem are the pot holes that occur every monsoon. Other than that, we could certainly use the water in the reservoirs. Santosh contributed the picture. 🙂 — Suzanne
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We certainly need the water. Its our inefficient local governments that need to wake up and start doing their job.
Thanks.
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The rain always seems to fall where we don’t want it while the reservoirs stay dry.
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Thanks, Ali.That can be true. Pune’s in a rain shadow so all the rain doesn’t get over the mountains to us . Some reservoirs fill quicker than others. A lot of buildings have holding tanks. The water is pumped from a tank at the bottom to ones on the top, and then is piped down. The city releases water once a day these days. It used to be twice. I buy bottled water by the carton for drinking. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Lets hope the rain falls in the right place and fill the reservoirs. I suppose it’s a small price to pay every year to ensure you can drink a cup of tea.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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Thanks, David. Let’s hope so. Actually, we used bottled water for drinking. I buy it by the carton. I even use it to brush my teeth. 🙂 — Suzanne
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How strange it must be to need something that brings with it so much damage and despair. Nicely done Suzanne.
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Thanks, Sandra. I’m so glad you liked my story. There are pluses and minuses with the monsoon. Some of the minuses are due to people. They dump trash that clog up the sewer drains in the city and wait too long to dig up roads for various reasons. Some are natural as the increase in insects and diseases. There are also minor disturbances such as disruptions in TV viewing due to heavy rain on the dishes. We also sometimes lose electricity due to storms. — Suzanne
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Lovely post …gave me the feel of India….I am missing it.
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Thanks, Shivangi. I think we often miss our home countries. I’m so glad you liked the story. 🙂 — Suzanne
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The weather – that one thing that we are unable to control (for now). I hope the water comes without wrecking havoc. Probably wishful thinking.
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Thanks, Diana. No, you’re right in that we can’t yet control the weather. The water always comes with some problems, but we’re all glad to see it since the reserviors need filling. 🙂 — Suzanne
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This scenario seems to be working its way across the world, weaving an unpredictable web.
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Hope the monsoon brings the good stuff without the bad. I’m lucky to be living here. It gets windy and cold but no floods or hurricanes.
Lily
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Thanks, Lily. We suffer from the occasional power cuts, but we’re high enough to avoid the flooded streets. We also have screens on the windows to keep mosquitoes out. We’re had an odd season with unseasonable rain. It’s been hard for the farmers. I hope there’s a good monsoon this year. 🙂 — Suzanne
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PS. Nicely done.
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Thanks, Alicia. I’m so pleased you liked the story. That leaf with the water drop meant “monsoon” to me this time of the year. 🙂 — Suzanne
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i hope you get your wish.
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Thanks, Plaridel. I think that’s the wish of a lot of people here every year–a good monsoon. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I hope you and yours are safe when it arrives. We have the opposite problem here – drought.
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Thanks, Liz. I’m so sorry to hear you’re in a drought area. When the monsoon’s late here, everyone starts to worry. I hope you see rain there soon. We’re high and dry where we live, but many suffer. — Suzanne
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We have had an usual amount of rain for May and much more is predicted for the weekend. There are flood watches posted in the area. July and August are our driest months, when the trees chase dogs in hopes of catching a few drops of moisture.
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Thanks, Russell. Wow, trees chasing dogs. Now that’s dry. 😀 — Suzanne
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I hope the monsoon when it arrives doesn’t cause too much damage. Nicely told. 🙂
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Thanks, Louise. Hopefully it won’t cause much damage. I’m so glad you liked the story. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Send the monsoon to California. Are you in India, Suzanne? I didn’t realize that a monsoon was so slow moving. I hope people are safe and the reservoirs get filled. Nicely told, Suzanne.
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Thanks, Amy. Yes, we live in Pune, India. The nearest really large city is Mumbai. We’re to the east of there up in the mountains. The monsoon seems to speed up as it moves up the coast. It churns around for a while in the Bay of Bengal. If you can find it still in print, the best book I ever read on the progress of the monsoon was CHASING THE MONSOON by Alexander Frater. It was a travel book and had humor. I really enjoyed it. I’m so glad you liked the story. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I had no idea you lived in India! Wow. Keep safe. Thanks for the book recommendation. 🙂
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Yes, we’ve lived here since 2001. Your welcome about the book. I think you’d enjoy it.:)
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I’m glad it’s begun raining for you, Suzanne. Hope you’ll get a good soaking with little damage.
We’ve had three showers since I wrote about the drought here in California. We’ll take anything we can get at this point.
Ellespeth
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Thanks, Ellespeth. I’m so glad to hear you finally got some rain. We always have these pre-monsoon rains. Sometimes they can be fierce and have high winds, lightening, and thunder. There was some hail in one location this year. It’s been odd weather here as we got some rains when they don’t usually occur. The fruit were not happy about it. I hope you get more rain where you are. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I can clearly understand the blessing where there’s rarely draught, and almost never too much either… Well penned..
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Thanks, Bjorn. There have been years when there wasn’t as much rain as expected, a weak monsoon. Everyone worries until the next monsoon when the reservoirs refill. I’m so glad you liked the story. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Sometimes out of the worst things come some good. Very well-written post.
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Thanks, Perry. The monsoon is one thing that has both good and not-so-good qualities about it. One thing is certain. India certainly needs it every year. I’m so glad you liked the story. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I could feel the thirst of the land and the people. I fear global warming will change in so many ways.
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Thanks, Phylor. It would be extremely unfortunate if anything drastic happened to the monsoon. People her depend on it. — Suzanne
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Dear Suzanne,
Thank you for sharing a slice of your life in India and giving me a different perspective. I can’t add much more to what others have said. I can add my best wishes for a good outcome and your safety. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle. I’m so pleased you liked the story. I’m more than happy to share information on the monsoon. There seemed to be interest in it from my other story, so I thought I’d write a bit more. If you want to read more about the monsoon, one of my favorite books is CHASING THE MONSOON by Alexander Frater. Hopefully it’s still available, at least in the library.:) — Suzanne
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Actually Pune is one of my favourite cities, though it is a lot more crowded now than what it used to be when I was a kid in school. I studied there both as a boarder and a day-scholar. The writer Farrukh Dhondy went to my school (long before me) and wrote this lovely book ‘Poona Company’ http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/631316.Poona_Company
It is still a foodie place because of so many different cultural mixes – Hindu/Muslim/Parsi/Christians – and still has the best bakeries 🙂
My sister stays there and I do visit once in a while, meeting old friends, eating at favourite haunts. Actually weather wise it was nice place 30 years back, cooler summers and pleasant winters. Climate change has had it’s effect 😦
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Thanks, Subroto. My husband was raised here many years ago. He’s now 84. He has relatives here and in Mumbai. We’ve lived here since 2001. One of the reasons the weather is hotter is probably because they’ve cut so many trees and built so many buildings. The traffic is terrible. Thanks for the information on the book. I’ll have my daughter check on it. I’m so glad you enjoyed the story. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Oh! And I liked the little slice of life you presented here.
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Suzanne, Stay dry and hope the plants get wet! Loved the monsoon as a child as it meant a days off from school when streets flooded. You took me back to that childhood with your little story here 🙂
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Thanks, Ansumani. I’m so glad you liked the sttory and it brought back happy memories for you. I also hope we have a good monsoon this year. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I really like how you bring out the power of the water, good and bad, in your story. I hope you will get through the monsoon without many problems.
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Thanks, Gah. I’m so glad you liked the story. I think we’ll be okay during the monsoon. Our flat is on high ground. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Enjoyed reading your post. Your writing is always so complete and full of excellence. 🙂
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Thanks, Susan. I’m so glad you liked the story. Thanks also for the encouragement. 🙂 I’ve tried to comment on your stories, which I enjoyed, but had some trouble with your spam filter. I don’t know what happened. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I had been getting spammers and splogger on my site and it took a little while to get the right plugin to manage it. I finally found Wanguard and it seems to catch the spam without blocking legitimate commenters. Thanks for replying to my comment. 🙂
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