NCERT Chapter Summary: A Short Monsoon Diary

NCERT Chapter Summary: A Short Monsoon Diary

June 24: The writer describes the beauty of nature. At the same time, he also describes how the newly appeared monsoon mist makes a blanket and conceals the hills and affects all the elements of nature.

The birds fall silent, there song could no longer be heard. The mist brings with it a death like silence. The writer then hears the voice of Bijju, who is calling his sister. The writer cannot, however, see him because of the mist.

June 25: To the writer, the place appears like a paradise. He could feel the warm and humid early monsoon rain; see the cobra lily flowers emerging out of its plant leaf and so on. It appeared as if all his senses were overpowered with the beauty of the hill station. 

June 27: The writer describes the entry of some seasonal visitors with the onset of the rainy season. These visitors are leopards, scarlet minivets and a thousand leeches. The leopard distressed everyone with its naturally brutal and violent tendencies. It attacked the dog from the servant’s quarters and Bijju’s cow, but fled at the approach of Bijju’s mother.

The scarlet minivets, on the other hand, added to the beauty of nature because of their bright colours. However, these minivets were chased away by some other set of birds like the drongos. The rains also provided food to various other birds, as the insects were to be found in abundance.

August 2: The writer describes how the rains helped him to be awake all night, for he liked the sound of rain falling on the tin roofs. Also, the leaking of tin roofs made the writer feel in constant with the rain, despite the rain not touching him.

August 3: The writer describes the scene after the rain stops. The begins to show up from behind the clouds, the crow shakes off rain water from its feathers, the women resume work and so on. The song of the whistling thrush ends the silence and appears like a "dark sweet secret".

August 12: Endless rain becomes the topic of discussion of this particular day. It had been eight or nine days of continuous rain and the writer hasn’t seen the sun for these many days. The cold is much less, but there is mist everywhere. The appearance of the late monsoon flowers catches the attention of the writer.

August 31: Describing the last day of August, the writer notes the lush monsoon growth, the blossoming of flowers and orchids, beautiful butterflies and so on; as if all of these were doing a fashion show.

Snakes and rodents, on the other hand, don’t remain far behind too. ‘chuchundars’, shouts the grandmother of one of the children, bring luck and money and the writer links it up with his receiving of a cheque.

October 3: The monsoon rain gets replaced by winter rain and snow at high altitudes. The evening gets marked by a hailstorm, but later the hills suffuse with golden light.

January 26: The writer almost ends up writing poetry. He describes the silence and loneliness in the absence of his friend. The rain creates a certain rhythm, but it stops too often. He feels that just like him the trees too become grey because of loneliness. 

March 23: It is the end of winter. The writer could see the rainbow forming.