Monsoon season in India - the good and the bad (2/2) | DW Documentary

The monsoon in India is one of the most extreme weather spectacles. But what dangers and benefits does it bring? [Online until: June 13, 2018]
Part 1:
In India, it’s seen by many as the life-blood of the country, for others it brings destruction. Filmmaker Sturla Gunnarsson followed the monsoon rains from the shores of the Indian Ocean to the foothills of the Himalayas. On the way, he talks to meteorologists, farmers, fishermen, scientists, artists and ordinary people about the meaning and symbolism of the monsoon. Every year towards the end of May, the winds in India change direction, sucking moist air from over the ocean and depositing it inland as torrential rainfall. The beginning of the monsoon rains marks the end of the dry season. About 75 percent of the annual precipitation in India falls between June and September, and millions of people still get most of their fresh water from the monsoon rains. And every year as the first thunderstorms cloud the horizon, people give voice to the same fears: if the rain is too strong, it will sweep away houses and people and destroy crops; but if it rains too little, the fields won’t get enough water, crops will fail and food prices will skyrocket. The monsoon has been a source of hope or despair in India for millennia, something that unites all peoples on the subcontinent, regardless of their religious, cultural, social and geographical differences. A film that explores the social, cultural and scientific aspects of one of the world‘s most impressive natural spectacles.
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