Born in the month of June on a day when heavens opened up like a flooded reservoir, my parents tell me my name is inspired by the dark blue of a stormy evening. Perhaps that why I have always felt a strong connection with the monsoon. On all those monsoon Sunday afternoons where my family huddled up in the living room watching the special movies telecast on DD National, I remember sneaking outside, trying hard to make sense of the deep nostalgia the rains evoked in me. A child (and an adult) with a hyperactive imagination, I weaved strange stories of a past life to explain to urge to drop everything and watch when it rained. Two decades later I was still no where close to understanding that obsession but I learned I didn't need to understand it at all. I could just revel in it instead. Since then, I've spent the next decade chasing monsoon every year in every possible corner of the country, filling up a jar full of memories tinged with stormy skies and surreal views.

#1 because sunny days may be beautiful and all that but they are no match to the spectacle of a monsoon sky! There are few sights as glorious as the ephemeral minutes between black, roiling clouds morphing into a thick curtain of rain.

#2 because rivers come to life and how!