As the clouds gather over the city and a drizzle ensues, the air changes. There is of course a trail of damage, potholes, water stagnation and traffic. But there is also something else – a certain magical and enduring bond between the people of the city and the monsoon.
The season is special. Poets and romantics are in their element. Your everyday pedestrian, now empowered with a smartphone, metamorphoses into a photographer. Residents are divided into two categories — those who dare to step out and play in the rain and those who stay inside, wishing they could.
Yuvaraj of Ovi Fine Arts, whose studio is on the OMR, notes that even the tree-less IT Corridor seems beautiful during the monsoon. “The ugliest structure seems redeemable. Even the air you breathe seems cleaner,” he adds.
Many residents flock to the last remaining green patches in the city. The lush Besant Avenue in Besant Nagar, Constable Road in Perambur, Park Road in Anna Nagar, stretches of New Avadi Road along the Chennai Corporation-maintained roadside park, Valmiki Street in T.Nagar and the Gollavar Agraharam Road in Old Washermenpet are a delight to walk through in the season.
Park Road in Anna Nagar is one of the few places in the area that has escaped the clutches of commercialisation, says S. Jayaprakash, a resident who likes to visit the park when it rains. “It is a very calm place and the park has been beautifully done up with pathways,” he says.
For Richard O’ Connor though, St. Thomas Mount has always been the place to go to during the monsoons. “It is almost as if you are in a hill station. The weather is cooler, a misty atmosphere prevails and when I walk up to the church and look down at the city below, the sight is truly impressive. During the rains, many more people come to the area too, to experience the magic of the monsoon,” he adds.
The forest-like environs of the IIT-Madras campus are a favourite haunt for those who live nearby. The campus, an oasis of peace in a crowded area, sees an explosion of greenery during this time.
V. Vineetha, who lives near the campus, is a regular. “During the rains, the entire place is transformed and is a treat to the senses. Near the lake and even at the Durga Peeliamman Temple, it is possible to pretend that you are far away from the bustle of the city,” she says.
