Monsoon, Monlate, Monwhat!

Our country is rich in diversity. In adversity too. Large parts of India are praying for rains, untouched by the unique weather phenomenon called Monsoon.

It has come late in some places and at other places it has decided to skip this year. Wherever it rained, it poured and so much that people are praying for a dry day.

Like Bihar and Assam, where floods have killed hundreds of people, uprooted thousands and terrorised crores of people.

One of colleagues went to his native North Bihar to get married and hasn't come back. He and his newly-wed wife are marooned on an island, because there's water everywhere.

Just south of Bihar, Jharkhand is facing a drought. So is Orissa. Andhra and Tamil Nadu. On the western side, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan are fearing the worst.

Punjab and Haryana are fighting over the little Sutlej water and Delhi is caught between them.

Monsoon is moody and that's not good for Manmohan Singh. He's just begun his life as Prime Minister of India and the weather gods have ditched him.

Almost all of India needs Central relief, some because floods swept away roads and homes, rest because drought would mean dead cattle, dead farmers, thirsty towns and craving cities.

And janta is unforgiving. It did not forgive Vajpayee.