As I'm sitting here at about 3:15 on Saturday afternoon, the skies are overcast, the peepul and palm trees are swaying, and the rain is taking a short coffee break before coming back to work.

The monsoons have arrived in Mumbai, and it has now rained every day since last Saturday, when the showers finally broke. There have been occasional breaks in the weather, and the sun, though masked behind some cloud-like milkiness, even came out for about half an hour yesterday. But, then, the rains will just start again, like someone turning on the faucet: heavy, windy, and capable of flooding highways and homes.

To be sure, I haven't seen first-hand any of the destruction that the rains have wrought. But buildings have collapsed, homes have flooded, trains have been delayed, and people have died since the onslaught. I see the photos in the papers and online, and it's hard to believe that I'm experiencing the same storms that others are. There has hardly been any thunder or lightning. But to think this happens every year!

Aesthetically and temperature-wise, I'm enjoying the rain so far. Sleeping in is great and there's less pressure to get out of the house. Now I feel more inclined to stay in, read a book, write, and watch the skies change from white, to gray, to charcoal and back again.

I'm still in a honeymoon phase with the monsoon. But I think there may be something to it. How great is it that the weather gets all of the rain out of its system in one three-month go, then allows the sun to come out for the rest of the year?