Yesterday, as part of a shoot, we visited a small beautiful house located at Kozhikka Kadav. The road to the house was a narrow path from Chengamanad, near the airport, leading to this charming little house with an opening toward a tree-covered mud slope descending to the waters of Periyar Lake.

The weather was moody; it was drizzling, but nature was at its finest. Within a few minutes of our arrival, it started to downpour heavily. The rain delayed our shoot for two hours, but standing in the front yard, sipping kattan chaya made by the chechi from the house, and watching the raindrops fall on the river through the leaves was such a beautiful sight.

The family’s source of income comes from the daily wages of their work and from catching fish in the river, which they catch with canoes and sell at the nearby market. Coming from the city side, we all had the excitement of watching and feeling the presence of rain after a long time in such a beautiful place, and how lucky the family was to experience this throughout the season.

But I could sense a fear of rain in their eyes as we talked with them. For them, rain is not a gentle blessing but a sign of disaster.

The house seen in the picture was totally flooded by river water in the floods of 2018 caused by the relentless rain, which was unexpected. Life became miserable and turned upside down for them all of a sudden.

Over the past years, they managed to survive the best they could. But since 2018, every monsoon, they live with the fear of evacuation, loss of property, and even loss of life.

For many, rain is not a romantic notion anymore but a harsh reality that threatens life and survival.