NATUREism...

Navigating a rainy street in Chennai. Generated by DALL-E AI Chennai was gearing up for a heavy downpour last week, and preparations were in full swing. Schools were closed, and private offices were advised to function remotely. People, as usual, were doing panic buying—because what’s a little rain without some chaos at the grocery store? My neighbour told me that the shops were practically empty. No vegetables, no fruits, no candles, no bread—basically, all the essentials were gone. And for those shops that still had stock? Well, they were selling items at five times the usual price. Because, obviously, what better time to make a quick buck than during a potential flood, right? Meanwhile, the news channels were filled with intense debates on changing weather patterns, potential floods, and the damage that might occur— all the negativity you can imagine. Panic was in the air, and I could sense it creeping into my own home. We were switching on the motor more than once a day, chargin

I woke up at 6 am, thanks to the relentless loud alarm. I turned it off, got up from my bed, stepped on the floor mat and the dampness hit me! The soggy floor drove away my sleepiness. I carefully trotted to the hallway and noticed water dripping down the electric point on the wall, flooding the surface. I was shocked. Immediately, I moved the table and started wiping and drying the floor. The damp floor Art by Anaga N I rushed to the first floor to check with my neighbour about the situation, and they were busy cleaning their house too. The water seemed to have entered all corners of their apartment and they had a tough time wiping it dry. All of this was due to the heavy rain that poured at midnight from 12 to around 5 in the morning, mid-February this year. The downpour was heavy and ferocious. It left the entire city stranded, the whole day! And it was neither monsoon nor had a low pressure developed in the Bay of Bengal. Then what could be the reason? Climate change?? It was a p