The rains are here!

It has been raining for the past three days. Not the full force of the monsoon, but a much lighter rain, sort of like someone giving a heads up -- are you ready, yet? We've been working frantically to prepare ourselves for the monsoon, but have quickly realised that there will be surprises galore -- yesterday, on the second day of the continuous rains, we had a two-feet long monitor lizard (a surprisingly lithe and quick fellow) make it's way up to the roof of the out-house and snuggle under the tiles of it's new monsoon home. Later, I saw him peeking out under the tiles and scoping out the terrain of the new place, as indeed, are we. Here are some views of our new place on Chorao island, Goa.

View from kitchen, dining room:

The patio, as seen from the master bedroom. This looks out to the east, so you can see the sunrise from here. The trees around the patio have been attracting hundreds of fireflies for the past few nights. It is quite special.

This is from a small reading room that Monika monopolizes. You can see the house next door. I can't say 'our neighbour's house' because no one lives there. Some stories of a Briton who was deported, and a body found hanging from the rafters a few generations ago.

The view from a small bedroom near the kitchen. It looks out to the patio and of course, you can see the green-topped wall that runs around the whole house. Sometimes I sit and read at this window. It's quite peaceful.

The balcao (at the front of the house), where we sit and have tea and read the morning papers. Nice place to chat with friends and look at passers-by:



The out-house, where the monitor lizard has taken shelter. We have a fair bit of land beside it (yum-yum) for which we have some Permacultural plans, but after the rains. Right now, I've planted some corn, amaranth, pumpkin, cucumber, chillies and beans. The trees that have been planted are bamboo, banana, pomegranate, chiku, custard apple, lemon and sweet lime:

There's also a well in there somewhere.

This will be our first monsoon in this house, and our first full monsoon in Goa. The house is comfortable and has only three leaks as of now. I am sure that as the rains get heavier we'll discover new ones, but, right now, I'm enjoying looking out at the rain and the landscape as it gradually turns green, all to the accompaniment of bird song.

I wrote:

watching the rains
hard monsoon
i am not 'busy'