I’m not really sure that the monsoon has arrived. We certainly haven’t had a typical arrival. You know, the one which comes after weeks of broiling dry heat, and which begins with a torrential downpour which lasts for longer than we would like, and leads to flooding in low-lying areas.
And you’d be surprised at what a lot of areas in Lahore are low-lying. It also means that the electricity goes off, which is something to do with how the electricity grid stations are saved from collapsing.
One reason they don’t make monsoons like they used to is global warming. I would have thought they would have become worse, but apparently they will come to an end. Or else they will shift, and the Arabian desert will become wetter, and thus fertile, while our soil will be desertified. Of course, that will take its time happening, certainly not within our lifetimes.
One sign that the monsoon has started is that the air has become muggy. That, and the shower that seems to come every morning, It’s surprisingly brief, and really not long enough for the kids to do what the monsoon seems to demand: get out under the rain to get soaked.
At this time of the year, my thoughts turn to our colonial masters. The British refused to accept that our weather had anything to do with the summer they had in their own native land, because it seemed to fall into two parts. The first part, typically starting in April, and lasting until June was called, very simply, the hot weather. Then came the monsoon, which lasted from its arrival in the second half of June, until about end-September. Then you might have the ‘Indian summer’, which was another name for a mild autumn.
Still, that hardly seemed justification for the PCB placing the Tests against Bangladesh right in the middle of the monsoon season. There might be a time when there won’t be rain in August, but I don’t think it will be this year, Anyway, be prepared for one of those matches which are abandoned without a ball being bowled
Anyway, the Brits probably didn’t pay much attention to these problems, having to deal with another, that of an election. Labour won, and won big, as the people rejected the Indian Tory leader, Rishi Sunak, who will presumably now do the decent thing and fall on his sword. Presumably, he won’t hold himself in reserve for appointment as Foreign Secretary. I wonder if he will now be deported.
Unlike here, sitting governments can lose elections. No one is heard complaining about MI 5 or MI6 innterfering. James Band sticks to fighting international criminals. Over here, he would probably be busy fixing elections. Rishi Sunak was ousted through an election. Admittedly, both his predecessors were ousted through intraparty rebellions, but they were not replaced by the Leader of Opposition, nor did caretakers supervise the elections.
Iran also had elections, with a new President. The new President, Masoud Pezeshkian, is, among other things, a cardiac surgeon. His father was an Iranian Azerbaijani, his mother an Iranian Kurd. His predecessor, President Raisi, died in a chopper craash while overflying Iranian Azerbaijan, but Dr Pezeshkian is not supposed ti have anything to do with it.. I’m sure Turkey is bothered by his win, though. But anyway, Iranians voted for him, even though he is a ‘foreigner’.
Another problem with a President that a country has is the USA with Joe Biden.
As if the presidential debate wasn’t bad enough, he has been making gaffe after gaffe otherwise, as if to show the USA that Donald Trump, old and deceitful as he is, convicted of bribing a hooker as he is, will probably be better as President. At least he can be trusted to rember that World War II has ended. Which puts a new light on Imran Khan’s placing of Germany and Japan together: maybe it was his age speaking.
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