It may sound strange sitting in the sultry heat of Muscat, but the southern tip of Oman is presently experiencing the mystic, magical weather otherwise known as the monsoons.
Derived from the Arabic ‘mausim’, monsoon in fact refers to the seasonal winds that sweep South Asia, especially the Arabian Sea, after a hot summer. The monsoon brings with it much needed rain for the crops which are waiting to be harvested, fills up the rivers, canals and wells and gives succour to animals and plants.
Humans are no less enthralled by the magic of the monsoons which is typically imagined as consisting of overcast skies, tipping rain drops and endless cups of steaming tea and snacks.
It is not a surprise that literature has covered this magical time in a variety of ways, through colourful children’s books full of the wonder and magic of rain, to adults admiring the cultural and anthropological life and rituals that the monsoons have made possible.
Alexander Frater’s ‘Chasing the Monsoon’ is a non-fiction account of the author’s journey through India and South East Asia during the period of the monsoons, reflecting on how each region prepares, experiences and celebrates this annual event in ways that showcases a region’s history and geography. The book voices a range of emotions over the monsoons, with the promise of a good harvest, the children’s joy of a good splash, and the pain of excess rain in the form of flooding and relocation.
For those familiar with Indian-English writers, Ruskin Bond’s ‘The Blue Umbrella’ uses the umbrella as a symbol to reveal a morality story of desire, greed and generosity. A film subsequently made by director Vishal Bharadwaj won the Indian National Film Award for best Children’s film.
Uma Krishnaswami, in her illustrated children’s book ‘Monsoon’, lovingly details the varied changes in Indian weather, focusing on the anticipation of the monsoon rains after a parched, dry summer, with the eagerness of a young child looking to prance in the soft puddles outside her house.
The monsoons have been known to Arab sailors and traders for millennia as they have made use of these winds to travel to places as far as China under favourable winds, settling down in adjoining port towns, only to return with the reverse monsoons later on in the year.
According to the Smithsonian Institution, much of this trade was conducted using dhows which formed an intricate part of coastal lives: “Dhow routes created intricate loops of cultural exchange – gold and cotton, migrants and merchants, and marriages that tied together people from distant lands”.
Other non-fiction books which centre the monsoon’s role in trade and culture include Blanche D’Souza’s ‘Harnessing the Trade Winds” and William Holden’s ‘Dhow of the Monsoon: From Zanzibar to Oman in the Wake of Sindbad”.
Closer to home and in a contemporary reading, there is Hadi al Hikmani and Andrew Spalton’s homage to Salalah in their book “Dhofar: Monsoon Mountains to Sand Seas”.
If the mist laden mountains are not enough in the monsoons, there is a lot of choice of reading which evokes the magic of this season.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
