Rain, rain come again...

IT IS that time of the year when gray clouds actually lift the spirits as the Northeast monsoons bring fresh air to Chennai. It is also the time when it doesn't just rain, it happily pours on enterprises who depend on this one season for maximum sales. Usually, their turnover graphs shoot upwards when the rain comes down. So is business as cool as the weather? Hardly. It is a rather watered down picture that is being painted.

Suresh M. Shah, Manager of the Stag brand umbrellas' Ebrahim Currimbhoy and Sons, Chennai, says this year has been, "Very bad." Particularly in Chennai, for other parts of the state have not been so dry. The rains have been very late and people usually don't purchase umbrellas when they feel its not going to rain heavily.

S.M. Saitt of the famous Yusuf Saitt and Sons at Flower Bazaar, who usually has crowds milling around choosing from the quality Duckback rainwear range or the lighter, colourful plastic options says, "It is not essential to buy raincoats if it doesn't rain, so things have slacked down compared to last year. After all, it is psychological. People rush in only when it rains." A fellow writer caught in one of those downpours you read about in the following morning's papers agrees that that is exactly how it happens. She remembers some very enterprising urchins emerging from the soggy scene outside Khadi Gramodyog to sell umbrellas for Rs. 60. They found plenty of takers - a case of some folks making hay when the rain pours.

But the rain can also be a pain which stays mainly in the plains - particularly those surrounding Thayyamma's little hutment. Here is somebody who still shivers at the thought of water, water everywhere, particularly when most of it seemed to be pouring down her leaking roof of a thousand rupees saved up for, quite literally, a rainy day.

Pushpa Srinath, a primary teacher who has to wade through a flooded subway to her waterlogged school every monsoon, admits to gripping the handkerchief over her nose more tightly than the umbrella over her head. The rains are, succinctly put, her ``Water-loo'' (considering she works outside city limits and knows the sewage is getting mingled with the slush).

Some tips

WE DON'T just buy umbrellas only when we really need them, we also lose them when we don't. Stick a small label which gives your name and number - there are some finders who really don't intend to become keepers. Always carry one bag for all your belongings and keep a dry plastic cover for a wet umbrella so it doesn't get left behind because its soggy.

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Opt for oversize raincoats for kids - they last more than two seasons and accommodate those heavy schoolbags more comfortably. Once the season is over, dry them totally in bright sunlight, powder (talcum works fine) mildly all over (to keep the rubberised ones from going brittle) and pack up with a couple of naphthalene balls or some dry neem leaves.

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Enhance the Vitamin C intake (found commonly in amla or 'nellikai', guava, pineapple, all citrus fruits, cabbage and tomatoes) to give your family better protection against the vagaries of unpredictable weather. Covered footwear is the best protection against fungal infections - keep nails short and wash in medicated water to prevent infections after a wade through the slush. Prevent the recurring dandruff with warm oil massages. Water has to be kept boiling for 20 continuous minutes before all the bacteria are destroyed. It also has to be consumed within eight hours of such boiling.

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This would be the best time to start rain-water harvesting techniques, disinfecting your water-tanks and repairing potential leaks. And once that is done, all you have to do is wait for the rain.

LALITHA SRIDHAR

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