Summer comes in Kolkata with a lot of things...unbearable heat, a rise in the price of air conditioners, a scorching sun, perspiration, bathing twice a day, a lot of talcum powder, black umbrellas, sun screen lotions...
And a bit more. Summer in Kolkata also means relishing mangoes, ripened jack fruits...lassi and fruit juices...longer days...cooler nights...cool summer wears...cool evening breeze...and Nor' Westers, or Kalbaishakhis.
Kalbaishakhi seems to be the most desirable part of Kolkata summer...It usually starts sometime during the late afternoons. Starts with everything turning a terrible gray...with dust flying hither and tither...with polythene packets flying in the air...followed by flashing lightning and grumbling thunder...with closing windows and banging doors...with people rushing to save their already dried clothes...
...and the kalbaishakhi goes on with a cool spell of rain...with cool raindrops pattering on the streets, washing away the dusts, settling the flying packets on the mouths of the open drains and resulting in bits of water logging here and there...
The rain doesn't last long, but the wetness and coolness hangs around for long, on the lanes and by-lanes, on the street lights, on the balcony railings...the cool breeze lingers on for the whole of the night...the smell stays on...the feel lulls every Kolkatan to a deep sleep for the night...
