About our Monsoon Special

“Boss, you must check out these guys, the Kolkata Cloud Chasers!" my friend exclaimed. “Who’re they?" I asked. “Just search on Facebook, they take such lovely photos," was her reply. Intrigued, I did as she had advised, and, yes, the photographs were quite spectacular. There were images of storms and lightning, gorgeous sunsets and a dizzyingly diverse array of clouds, all framed against Kolkata’s cityscape or the wide open spaces of the Bengal hinterland. But that wasn’t all. This group was serious enough about cloud chasing to post regular rain and storm updates, complete with radar images and detailed explanations of storm phenomena.

And so the cover story was born (you can see some of the group’s photographs in the story).

While working on the issue, a whole different world opened up; one where the rains didn’t mean retreating to your sofa, but going out to meet the showers. Spending an active monsoon, as it were. And that’s where the central idea of the Lounge Monsoon Special emerged: Go out and explore the rainy season.

As a result, in this issue, we make a case for the monsoon as a great time to be out and about, whether on “unseasonal" treks to the Himalayas, or to the Western Ghats. You could brave the mud and slush and watch magical forests come to life, savour a wide variety of seasonal culinary delights , or venture out in stylish rainwear.

As we built on this idea, other aspects of the season emerged: important questions on why one person loves it while another doesn’t; how urban attitudes to the season differ from rural ones, where the monsoon is far more serious business.

Suffice to say, we had a lot of fun putting the issue together. We hope you have as much fun reading the stories!

—Bibek Bhattacharya, Issue editor