IT'S RAINING DIVINE SIGNALS FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE

JUST how much bizarre climate change news can one handle in a week? This has been a strange week on that count. As this was being written, Bengaluru, Chennai, and huge parts of Tamil Nadu were reeling under record-breaking rains, making some apartment folk park their cars on flyovers and ride boats, Venice-like.

- MADHAVAN NARAYANAN

For someone like me, who grew up learning Tamil Nadu mostly received only the retreating northeast monsoons in October and November, there are new lessons. The southwest monsoon that covers most of India now plasters the better part of TN as well. Crops ready to be harvested in more than 6,000 acres of prized Cauvery delta area in Thanjavur district have been submerged in floods. Dams are overflowing. No one is talking of Karnataka not releasing water from the river notorious for disputes between the two states. I have childhood memories of people from TN's Ramanathapuram and Salem landing up in Delhi for work because of drought.

Now, contrast that with news from the Garhwal Himalayas up north. The Roopkund Lake, a trekker's favourite at 16,500 feet above sea level, is said to be shrinking. The 'lake of skeletons' is as well known for its beauty as for the presence of human remains that show up when the snow melts. The origins of the skeletons remain a puzzle for historians, but there appears to be little mystery in what might have caused the lake to shrink.

Southwest of the Himalayas, India's driest region in the plains, Western Rajasthan, has been receiving excess rainfall. The Met department says West Rajasthan has had excess monsoons for six years in a row. There was a flood-like situation in Jaisalmer two months ago. That's unusual for a town famous for its desert.