Monsoon in Patna...

This year I got to experience the monsoon in several cities, and undoubtedly it has been the best monsoon experience ever for me. My friends keep asking me, how it is possible that wherever you go it starts raining out of the blue? I don’t have an answer for this question but rain has always been special for me. When I visited Mumbai in the first week of June, there was no sign of monsoon at all but out of the blue it started raining like cats and dogs. I always wanted to experience Mumbai rains and this time I was fortunate enough to actually experience it. All I wanted to do was go to marine drive, sit there and witness the beautiful sight.

This year I have experienced the monsoon of Mumbai, Chennai and now I am enjoying the same in my hometown Patna. It was a great feeling to be back in my city after two years, so many things has changed around me and it took me sometime to recognize few places which used to be my regular hangout places. The day I reached it was 48 degree Celsius and there was no news of monsoon hitting the city soon. But as they say wherever I go it rains, so it started raining out of the blue and today after three days of continuous rain finally the sun shone.

But the problem with my hometown Patna is, due to poor drainage system every road gets filled with rain water, which in turn disturbs the daily life of people. Every road is filled with water and it is causing a lot of problems related with traffic, cleanness and hygiene of the people. However I don’t complain, instead I am busy enjoying the lovely rain by playing football every evening and after that having a plate of hot samosas have become our daily routine.

While I was in Chennai from past four years, I have missed eating samosas, chats and other North-Indian snacks which you don’t get there. And even if you find it somewhere the taste is never the same. My friends in Chennai often ask me what is so special about Patna. They wanted to visit the place and they kept asking me to tell them what all places they can visit if they get a chance to come. Frankly speaking I don’t know what the specialty of Patna is, it is a small city very different from all those big cities and certainly you don’t have much hangout places to chill. But there is something about this city which I am in love with. It is a very simple city and simplicity adds a great importance to Patna. I don’t care if we don’t have big malls and amusement parks to chill out. But every evening having a plate of samosa with friends is all I do here. And it is so small that you can cover the entire city in one hour. That’s the best part. After living in big cities like Hyderabad and Chennai for 6-7 years, it feels so good that you don’t have to travel for hours to go somewhere. Everything gets covered within the radius of ten kilometers.

As I finish writing this blog, it has started raining again and I hope this weather remains for another ten days before I leave for Delhi.

Places to visit in Patna: Mauryalok complex (Shopping Complex), Buddha Park (Meditation center), Hanuman Temple (Specialty- Besan Ladoo), Planetarium (One of the biggest in India), Gandhi Maidan, Mahatma Gandhi Setu (Oldest Flyover over the Holy river Ganga), Ganga Ghat, Nalanda (Oldest University), Rajgir (Rope-way), Vaishali (Asoka Pillar).

P.S- If you get a chance to visit Patna then don’t forget to eat Lithi-Chokha, Samosa, Chat, Pani-puri, Bhel-puri etc.