During our first meeting in Kolkata, our fair trade supplier told us that the monsoon would arrive any day.  We know that the monsoon is the rainy season, but I didn’t realize that it actually “arrives.”  In fact, it does arrive.  You can watch it on the local news here in India.  They track the band of rain as it creeps its way north stretching itself across India.

The next morning I woke up and opened the window to find a slight drizzle.  “Look Meggan, Monsoon!” I exclaimed (a bit sarcastically).  Confident we could handle this weather phenomenon, we strolled a few blocks down to a diner for breakfast.  By the time we ordered our food, the rain picked up a bit.  By the time we paid our bill, there was a full-on river flowing past the doorway.  Meggan and I ended up wading back to the hotel in knee-deep water and driving sheets of rain.  The monsoon is no joke.

Kolkata tends to get hit especially hard during monsoon season and we quickly learned why production timelines and pretty much any other time sensitive function to business goes out the window during the monsoon.  It’s incredibly hard to get around when the streets are like this.  This is money making season for the foot rickshaw guys because they have the biggest wheels.  Although it seems like a disaster when the streets, shops and ground level homes are flooded, it’s is a totally normal thing here.  No one here seems too concerned.  If this happened back in the US, it would justify it’s own logo and a slogan on the news. “Monsoon Stikes 2011.  We were there first.”

We posted a quick video of the streets on our World Effect Fan Page on Facebook, become a fan and check it out!  I will have some nicer non-iphone photos of Kolkata in the next post, stay tuned.