As usual Goans got into the holiday act the moment the month of May began. It wasn't really hot and even the old folk, who proceed for the traditional salt-bath religiously every year to Vagator, Baga and Goa's other bewitching beaches, delayed the two- or three-day picnic to the beach for a while.

Suddenly, however, the rains came gushing down while May was just half way through. People had hardly rounded up the work of retiling the roofs, cutting wood, storing salt and chillies for the monsoons. And by the time the month drew to a close the Goan landscape, normally ruddy brown at that time of the year, took on a serene, green look. The red-crested chameleons never showed up this summer and even the frogs in the well had to forego their rain song this year.

Everything got mixed up. Everyone claimed that the rains were unseasonal and were not a proper sign of the South-West monsoons but were the result of a depression in the Arabian Sea. But it kept on pouring intermittently--from light to heavy--and now the Met acknowledges the monsoons. With 328.7 mm of rain so far, the wells are overflowing in preparation for Sao Joao.

When I was small, we would be out playing marbles in the muddy puddles at such ideal occasions but times have changed. Moreover, all the kids were glued to the TV sets, shrieking "Come on India" with Wills, while the country's team at World Cup Cricket generally turned a deaf ear to all that. Of course, children with no TV to watch were out in the paddy fields collecting konge (snails), which make delicious xacuti, right in the month of May. Surprising, ain't it?

Someone said that, normally, the Goan summer ends in what is called mirg, which means the commencement of the monsoons. But the summer of '99 ended with the Goa Assembly millennium poll on June 4, preceded by all that ruckus of election promises and slogans blaring out from the loudspeakers. It was nice to watch the humble MLAs and ministers greet our doorsteps for once. The projected Congress prime minister of India--Sonia Gandhi--and so many national leaders flew down despite their busy schedule, to beg for Goan votes.

They say that the even the devil lost his temper and slapped the wily old woman, who blamed him for having tempted her. These guys at the electricity department, telephone department and the incharges of whatever that broke down this May should be slapped for blaming the monsoons for every breakdown. A mere curtain-raiser of the monsoons sent everything on a breaking spree, which is unlikely to subside until the rains are gone. But we, Goans, the docile citizens of the country's highly "collapsible" State, can take any misery in our stride...be it shortages of electricity and water, onions and tomatoes, flooding of of pot-holed city roads in monsoons, villainous politicians...everything indeed.

Yeah, we do have diversions to tide over the inevitable...Come 13th June, and it will be the feast of St Anthony, particularly in Siolim. And on 24th June, we will be out, in pouring rain, flower coronets on head, yelling "Viva Sao Joao" to the ghumot beat, jumping in every well in the vaddo. Then we will devour ghore (jackfruit), pineapple slivers and Mussarad mangoes from the dali, presented to the revellers by couples who got married or gave birth to babes since the last Sao Joao. The traditional dali also carries a bottle of feni. So we are getting set for the mavoddechem or zanvianchem fest (the son-in-laws' feast). Viva Sao Joao!

Joel D'Souza
goanow@goatelecom.com