Monsoon!
It took a little longer than usual to get into work today. It was monsooning (that's probably not a word, but I like it) pretty hard this afternoon, and by the time I was picked up from the hotel, there were huge puddles everywhere. Hyderabad is pretty hilly, and any dips in the road had become huge lakes. It slowed traffic considerably, because about 1/2 of the vehicles on the roads are autorickshaws and two-wheelers. By the way, "two-wheeler" here means motorcycle or scooter (Vespa-style). Any time we neared one of the flooded sections of road, everyone would go very slowly to make sure they got across. Rickshaws are pretty low to the ground, and there was danger of the water flooding the floor. I guess I'm lucky to be chauffeured around in an SUV (a Toyota Qualis).

I'm reminded of a hired hand we used to have on our farm when I was young. He was a super hick, hi11bi11y through and through. One day there were threatening clouds in the sky. It was obviously going to rain like a mofo. The hired hand said, in his hick Arkansas accent, "It's gonna come a turd-floater."

I suppose we've been having "turd-floaters" here. I glanced at the papers this morning, and apparently there was a huge downpour and flood somewhere in India, and 40 sleeping laborers were swept away during the night. Monsoons are pretty deadly round these here parts.