Getting wet with Alexander Frater chasing Indian Monsoon- a book review.
Alexander Frater's Chasing the Monsoon is one of those travelogues that stays with you long after you've closed the book. It follows the author as he chases the onset of the Indian monsoon up the length of the country — Trivandrum, Goa, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Delhi, Shillong and finally Cherrapunji — trying to outrun, or perhaps just keep pace with, the rains. Through his descriptions and candid asides, the book becomes as much about the cultural, historical and spiritual weight the monsoon carries for Indians as it is about weather itself. The story behind the story is worth telling too. In 1986 Frater had been travelling along the newly built Karakoram Highway when he picked up a virus in China and was sent back to London for treatment. It was during that convalescence, not yet fully recovered, that he first properly learned about the Indian monsoon and began planning what would become this book — "monsoon chasing." There's something fitting about a journey bui...
