A stalled monsoon trough over central Nepal
caused continuous torrential heavy rainfall
Slopes pushed up moisture from the Bay of Bengal
The catastrophe was looming large to befall.
Sudden breach of a moraine dam
Triggered Glacial Lake outburst floods
A surge of water and debris devastates
downstream, catching communities off guard.
Landslides continued to collapse slopes,
forming temporary dams that later burst
Steep valleys amplified runoff swift and fast
Flood of fury of all time unleashed the worst.
A compound climate disaster of twin sciences
Meteorology and geology to decipher in depth
monsoon extremes, unstable glaciers, terrain hazards
Perished hundreds of lives and left many homeless.
Sparse sensors, lack of predictive models a curse
Warrant real time glacial monitoring at source
With closely spaced weather station networks
And cross border early warning systems
…….Narayan Gadagkar
Rain on the road
The bus stops beside a flooded lane. Children step around the puddles as if they are crossing small oceans.
monsoon afternoon
a paper boat survives
the passing wheels
One monsoon, lightning and thunder,
One rainless here I feel flustered.
One monsoon, you’re wet with water,
One here, I’m hot in midsummer.
One there, you’re all lush leafy green,
Here, I get autumn-like slimmer.
One there, you are a late comer,
Here, I wait as early comer.
One there, you in Alkapuri,
Here in Romadri I suffer.
____________________________
Ghazal | 12.07.2026 | autumn, love, monsoon, rain, summer
Note: The monsoon that this ghazal talks about does not quite refer to rainy season, rather to heart feeling dry without love. There is a dialogue between ‘you’ and ‘I’, one feeling wet, wet with monsoon rains, the other experiencing dry and hot season of summer. The last stanza refers to Meghdoot of Kalidas (3rd century CE), but talks about the twosome. In Alkapuri, the paradise where the love object of Yaksha resides, whilst he suffers pangs of separation at Ramadri where he is cursed to be, and from where he sends message of love through clouds, monsoon clouds playing the role of a Meghdoot. The ghazal is inspired by one of Karsandas Luhar, a Gujarati piece.
Rain, blessing away the past
Rushing beads, a gentle song
Laughing at skies, overcast
Almost a prayer, spoken
Lips who have prayed all along
Whispers to a heart, broken
Stirring the spirit, in waves
Clouds floating by, is it wrong?
Flowing over the lost graves
Winds caress the trees, blowing
Leaves swaying, so brave and strong
Night kisses streams who’re flowing
Echoes on edge of starlight
Drizzling showers who belong
Drifting on the still of night
Jewels like light, hearts who know
Heaven has healed by birdsong
Timeless notes of joy, so slow
Erasing the host of dust
Fallen on those so headstrong
This rainfall blesses the just
Silent nights beneath sprinkles
Gentle tears, faith to prolong
As souls feel high, eye twinkles
With music from the rain’s tune
Singing praise all the daylong
Not so dire as a monsoon
Naught seems so beautiful O as to see
Winter-wilted greens tender shoots to bear,
Thrushes in tune, triumph of trickery,
That see their eggs getting free foster care
Which, lets her sing through all summer till rains,
Flowers when bloom at their creative best,
The mood all around knows when no restrains,
To see the season reach climaxing crest.
But why, why all this juice and so much joy?
Harsh summer waiting is on ready wings,
Awaiting its reign this mood to destroy,
Yet, seasons’ beauty ends not just with springs,
E’en joys of rich monsoon turn unto cloy
That as ere ‘pon earth Eden’s delight brings.
___________________________________
Sonnet | 08.02.2026 | beauty, joy, monsoon, rains, spring
Tears no longer fall from my eyes—
they surge like monsoon from the heart,
flood arteries, sting veins,
a wound no balm can heal
but your touch.
You may not know:
your love cradles my hope,
then ruptures it with silence.
One absent word and I tear open—
a storm-ripped sail on a hidden reef.
My thoughts drown in trapped feeling,
yet spill one daily plea:
look past my ribs—unmask the shy pulse.
Lift this flood before it drags me under.
These tears run inward,
blind to the desert of my eyes.
Each ache begs your mouth for mercy.
One glance could split my guarded stare—
I cannot watch your love
cuddled in a stranger’s arms.
The first raindrops dampen the dry earth when,
It’s not as if what smiles is just parched soil,
Rains arouse mind, a strange power moves my pen,
Thoughts wake up to rise from a quiescent coil.
Monsoon I think does not just flood rivers,
My mind as well with dormant memories,
Vague verses rushing down from strangest spheres,
Dreamily I muse monsoon melodies.
Thou art to me not mere rainy season,
Skies wearing grey robes when touch hidden world,
Seeking some strange depths its avowed reason
To be, and songs not ere heard get unfurled.
Yet, in white robes, as rains make slow retreat,
Should ye my songs a goodbye to me greet?
_____________________________________
Sonnet |30.09.2025| goodbye, monsoon, rains,
Sky when with dense clouds abound,
Seeing which peacocks dance around
On tender-green-dress-bedecked a hill,
In such a stirring scene, love-bound,
Which wayfarer wistful would not feel?
_____________________________
Translation (Quintain) | 34.08.2025 | monsoon, Nature, passion, peacock, nostalgia
Note: Here is a verse (in Arya meter) from Bhartrihari’s Shringaara Shatakam (hundred verses on love and romance). Spring was dealt with in the preceding verse. The poet now paints a picture of monsoon: dark clouds surround; excited, peacocks dance; the earth is bedecked with a lush green dress; a traveller longing for conjugal bliss, feels homesick. Here is the transliteration of the verse in Sanskrit:
Upari ghanam ghana-patalam tiryak
girayo api nartita mayurah |
Kshitih api kandala dhavala
drashtim pathikah kva yapayatu || 47 ||
A classic wind upstaged the evening,
Vocalizing Leaves and Tremulous Aria
Branches. On accompanying fused-sand, framed
and clear, began a run of finely tuned
rivulets -- busy writing, I had not
looked, and saw, dark clouds conjugating --
nor sniffed thickening troops of air~ my
sinuses alerting, their usual swelling. Came a lantern's
flash, came a vivid slash, rumbling
likened to a heavily weighted freight-train, with frantic
mind to lighten its burdensome, brooding load.
Shall I compare thee to an elephant?
Thou art a thousand times more relevant.
'Tis not from floppy ear doth ardor rise,
Nor yet shall sinuous trunk knot love’s sweet ties;
And if thou can’t stampede across the plains,
Nor deftly roll in mud when monsoon rains,
I find my heart shall hold here little lack,
As pachyderm thou aren’t in love’s soft sack.
Cool green wind
Intertwined with trees
Keys it removes
May be in the grooves
Session is over
Blows from here to there
Shifting to balcony
Picking up pink smell
From the fewer spells
Monsoon rain here
Sharing wet clouds
Shouts the large rooster
Hey, where are you all
Calling the guitar
Stars from the strings
Rings the doorbell
Smell of lavender
Meandering long hair
Layered chatting session
Aroma in the chair
A cup of tea
_________
26 June 2025
c of monsoon melody
a
s
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r-e-s-o-n-a-t-e-s in hummingbird song
in bo
~e~c~h~o~ enters ra w in silent sky
(Sponsor : Kai Michael Newmann)
MOON ON A SPOON
If I could I would
fetch you the moon
on a spoon
Oh ? Really !
you ballyhoo coon
you make me swoon
If I could I would
fetch you the moon
on a spoon
Why not bring me
a chocolate cocoon
I will wriggle out
festooned !
If I could I would
fetch you the moon
on a spoon
We will eat it at noon
in our magical room
then to our doom !
If I could I would
fetch you the moon
on a spoon
My goon, so goop !
Where are you from ?
a souk goof ?
If I could I would
fetch you the moon
on a spoon
How ?
Lo ! I do not know !
My spoon has
sailed with a
monsoon
And the moon
has fallen into
a true blue
lagoon too
soon !
Raindrops tapping softly on the rooftops,
A symphony that echoes through the treetops.
Chilling breeze brushing the cheeks,
Swaying leaves in quiet creeks.
Earthy aroma admixed with the mist,
Envelopes the senses, tranquility coexists.
Vibrant rainbow in the horizon,
A spectrum soothing to envision.
Nature in its magical avatar,
Evoke a trance, near and far.
monsoon brings in rain
spins around with heavy shift
india dry now
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