Meera imagined a place where winter temperatures dropped to minus thirty degrees. Snow covered the mountains for most of the year. Here, the climate was . Only the hardiest shrubs, junipers, and wildflowers survived. The air was thin and dry. People wore thick gonchas (woolen robes) and relied on the short, cool summer to grow barley.
“In this climate,” Grandfather said, “you don’t wait for rain. The rain waits for you. It is a world of endless growth and decay.” “Leave the rainforest and travel to central India, to the Deccan Plateau,” he said. types of climate in india
Meera shivered, then suddenly felt sticky and hot. She imagined the climate of the Western Ghats and the northeastern states. Here, it rained almost every day for eight months. The air was heavy with humidity. Giant ferns, orchids, and towering trees formed a green roof that never let sunlight touch the ground. Elephants, hornbills, and lion-tailed macaques lived in this perpetual steam bath. Meera imagined a place where winter temperatures dropped
The old banyan tree stood at the center of the village, its roots spreading like ancient wisdom. It had seen centuries of summers, winters, and the great arrival of the rains. But this year, a young girl named Meera asked her grandfather, “Why is the weather so different when we travel? In the north, we shiver. In the west, we burn. In the east, the land is always wet.” Only the hardiest shrubs, junipers, and wildflowers survived
“That is our story,” Grandfather said. “And every year, the monsoon winds tie it all together. They leave the ocean, cross the burning deserts, climb the icy mountains, and pour life into every river and field. India is a land of extremes, Meera. But that is what makes it beautiful.”