Where has our Monsoon gone?

A question I get asked frequently is “How are you managing the heat of Kerala after returning from the cold climate in UK?”. I reply that I`m doing just fine, after all, I have spent more time in Kerala than my total years in UK. However, I have to admit, this has been one of the most uncomfortable years weather-wise with temperatures rising into the mid and late 30s and humidity levels exceeding 85%.

While people all over have been discussing the heat, another factor high up and never too far away from peoples minds is the grand spectacle of a weather system called the Monsoon. The Monsoons are meant to bring in the much needed rains to cool of the parched Kerala landscape before the heat drives people up the wall.

When my father’s generation talks about the monsoon, they refer to it as a dependable force that hits the Kerala coast with precision. It had traditionally been setting in on the day that the schools re-open after the summer vacations - June 1st of every year. They talk about the excitement of going to school with a new umbrella, the massive downpour, thunder and lightning, localised flooding, swarming of fishes from the rivers to paddy fields and the sigh of relief that the farming community in Kerala heave in anticipation of their thirsty crops being well irrigated by this annual water supply.

These days however, nothing is predictable any more. The precise date of June first has become more of a myth. In the last five years the monsoon has never set in on that date.

Year	Actual Onset Date	Forecast Onset Date
2005	7th June	10th June
2006	26th May	30th May
2007	28th May	24th May
2008	31st May	29th May
2009	23rd May	26th May

Moreover, the rains themselves have been irregular and unpredictable. It takes a lot of factors to gel in for the monsoons to set in. The chief predictors used are (don't ask me what half of these mean!) i) Minimum Temperature over North-west India, ii)  Pre-monsoon rainfall peak over south Peninsula, iii) Outgoing Long wave Radiation (OLR) over south China Sea, (iv) Lower tropospheric zonal wind over southeast Indian ocean, (v) upper tropospheric zonal wind over the east equatorial Indian Ocean, and (vi) Outgoing Long wave (OLR) over south-west Pacific region.

There are 14 weather stations used in Monsoon onset monitoring ( viz. Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kasargode and   Mangalore). If after 10th   May, 60% of the available 14 stations enlisted, report rainfall of 2.5 mm or more for two consecutive days, the onset over Kerala is declared on the 2nd  day.

This year was meant to be different and I had been looking forward to receiving the monsoon on June 1st. Having satisfied all of the above conditions, the monsoon had been officially declared to have hit the Kerala coast on May 31st and I was eagerly waiting for it to work its way up to Thodupuzha, but wait as I might, the rains did not arrive.

It was later that I got to know that the monsoon had been hijacked as it worked its way upwards. A cyclone system, called cyclone Phet formed near the Gujarat – Pakistan coast (its currently developing as a severe- category 2 cyclone), sucking the monsoonal moisture away from Kerala towards the north. Our monsoon was literally robbed of its water and halted in its tracks!

And so here I sit waiting for the rains. I`m sure many of you are just as eager to see the monsoon. As we wait for the evasive visitor to arrive, here are some links that the monsoonally inclined would find interesting:

The Indian Meteorological Department website with loads of interesting weather related information, including frequent monsoon updates.

Indian Weatherman – an interesting blog with frequent updates on everything related to weather in India. Here is his twitter feed if you prefer that.

Chasing the Monsoon – the perfect book to read while you await the monsoon. Written by Alexander Frater as he followed the monsoon in an epic adventure up the Kerala coast and into the north of India, climaxing in Cherrapunji.

Follow the monsoon online with NDTV’s Monsoon express (no affiliation) with lots of monsoon related, articles, picture and videos.

Joseph Vattakaven Featured on National Geographic with George Schaller

Not many among us have heard of the name George Schaller, yet he remains among the world’s pre-eminent field biologists and wildlife conservationists. He has spent his lifetime fighting to save the world’s most critically endangered wildlife and has pioneered the methodology used in today’s studies.

Above: George Schaller.

In recognition of his contribution, National Geographic conferred  it’s Lifetime Achievement Award upon him in 2007. In conjunction with this, National Geographic produced a documentary titled - Nature’s Greatest Defender, which covered the story of his career as a conservationist. Schaller retraces his career path by returning to some of his most iconic field sites across the world to see the current status of the animals there, interact with the people he has influenced and the scientists who have inherited his mantle.

As a part of this documentary Schaller visited Kanha National Park and spent a while interacting with my brother, Joseph Vattakaven.

Above: George Schaller and Ullas Karanth meet Joseph Vattakaven arriving on elephant back

Watching this documentary, it struck me how much George Schaller and Joseph Vattakaven had in common. I felt that as much as the documentary was about the achievements of Schaller, it also seemed to project the promise that Joseph holds towards the field of wildlife research and conservation.

Above: George Schaller and Joseph Vattakaven in animated discussion on an elephant back while looking for tigers.

Embedded below is an abridged version of the documentary (10 Mins) featuring the relevant portions where my brother appears. A more complete version covering other areas of Schaller’s work can be accessed on the National Geographic site. The documentary was telecast on the second week of December on the National Geographic channel.

Meanwhile Joseph has moved on and is currently joining WWF India, as the program coordinator for tiger conservation. I`m sure all of you will join me in wishing him all the best as he embarks on a new role in tiger conservation.

Profile of a Professional Coconut Tree Climber

Kerala has always had an abundance of coconut trees. Every part of the coconut tree finds some kind of use in the traditional Malayalee`s way of life. The coconut is an indispensible item in his food and coconut oil is his main cooking oil. The husk of the coconut is used for producing coir and coir based products. The shell of the coconut is used as an high energy fuel in cooking and also finds use in handicrafts. The wood of the Coconut tree is used as firewood along with the dried fronds. Broomsticks for brooms are also obtained from the fronds. Besides this, the fronds are also employed in a variety of other ways such as for roofing for mud huts and for shielding young trees from the intense Indian sunlight.

When the coconut or the fronds are to be harvested, the services of a coconut tree climber are employed. Traditionally, the members of the parava community did this job and were paid by the number of trees they climbed per day. 

The climber would ascend the coconut tree and cut down the ripe coconuts as well as the mature fronds. Besides these he would also inspect the tree for disease and clear the top off accumulated organic matter to dissuade insects and other pests.

This morning as I stepped out , I was greeted by the whooshing sounds of the palm fronds crashing to the ground. on looking up I saw the once familiar scrawny figure of our coconut tree climber clambering down a coconut palm.

For those that haven't seen this, it is an amazing sight indeed and I just had to capture the act on camera to share here.

Our coconut tree climber’s name is Karumban (literally translating as “the black one”). Karumban’s climbing technique is the same as has been for decades. He uses a a pair of looped  and knotted coir ropes to encircle the coconut tree trunk. In one of these he places his feet while he uses the second to grip with his hands.

The rope, which, as I mentioned earlier, is made from the husk of the coconut itself, is rough and grips the rough tree trunk firmly, allowing Karumban to drag his feet upward or downward while ascending or descending.

As you can see above, other than the ropes, he also carries with him a rather large hooked knife called the “Vaakathi” with which he does his cutting and chopping.

Ascending and descending trees is not as easy as it looks and requires a great deal of stamina. Surprisingly Karumban hardly looks like someone with whom anyone would attribute the word ‘stamina’.

Once he reaches the top, karumban maintains his grip and stance with the ropes on his feet while he releases the rope on his hands. Now he holds on to the tree with just one hand while he retrieves his vaakathi and does the necessary chopping .

The fronds and coconut fall to the ground and is retrieved by a waiting collector who remains clear off the vicinity until the earthbound fronds and nuts have ceased  falling.

Karumaban then descends in a similar way before acsending the next tree all over again.

In this manner he may cover hundreds of trees in a day until entire estates are completed.

When he finally took a break, I caught up with him to have a chat.I asked Karumban about his age and was astounded to hear that he was 75 years old!

On further query, he revealed he was suffering from breathlessness and had to pause mid-ascent and recover his breath! He mentioned that it was not so much for the money that he did his work, but that it was a way of life for him. He revealed that in a developing state, there were no youngsters to take up tree climbing and as a result he was one of the few remaining members of his trade.

Karumban was not always a tree climber. He spent most of his life as a goat herder. His father was a barber by trade but died unexpectedly when karumban was still young. While Karumban would have traditionally followed his father’s trade, his death left Karumban untrained in the trade. However one thing he did know how to do without the need for training was to climb trees. It was thus he started the trade and has remained a climber ever since.

tree climbing is a hazardous profession, made all the worse by a tendency of the parava community to indulge in their liking for toddy (a fermented alcoholic drink obtained from the coconut tree), while on the job. I have known several tree climbers who have fallen off the tree under a variety of circumstances. Karumban however continues to defy the odds and age.

With the rapidly reducing numbers of coconut trees, and even fewer numbers of people taking up tree climbing, this sight seems set to disappear into the books. I wonder about the fate of the coconut tree, the people who have based their livelihood around it and a state which wouldn’t be the same without it.