A short Monsoon Diary, Class 8 English, Chapter 8 Notes

These are a few extracts from Ruskin Bond’s diary. They show the silent miracles of nature and life’s little joys and regrets. They are about author’s experiences during the monsoon months in Mussoorie. Monsoon starts in the last week of June and continues till the end of August.

It is the first day of monsoon mist. The mist has concealed the hills. It has also silenced the birds. The author hears Bijju calling to his sister. He can feel that Bijju is running. However the mist doesn’t let him see Biju. The mist appears to change the hills in two ways. It conceals the hills from view. It also makes them silent. It is so because the birds fall silent in the mist.

The rain is warm and humid. So it is not as uncomfortable as the rain in winter. The flowers are coming up. The author describes the hill station and valley in one sentence, It is : ‘A paradise that might have been.’

The monsoon had brought leeches. A leopard has also been seen. It has been stealing dogs and other animals. Some seasonal flowers also appear. More importantly new birds appear. Among them are minivets. These are  brightly coloured (birds). They sit silently among the leaves.

It has rained all night. The sound of the rainfall on the tin roof pleases the author. One is untouched and yet in touch with the rain.

The rain stops. There is sunshine. People, animals and birds are out in the open once again. The song of a whistling thrush coming from a distance pleases the author.

It has been raining non-stop for more than a week. Everything is damp. One can go out only with an umbrella. But it is not cold. The hills are covered with flowers.

Monsoon growth is visible everywhere. The seeds of the cobra lily are turning red. This is an indication that the rains are coming to an end. All holes are full of rainwater. So snakes and rodents have taken shelter in roofs, attics and godowns.

This year monsoon rain continued much longer than usual. Now there is winter rain, A hailstorm has cleared the sky.

The author wrote a poem about winter rain. The winter rain makes the author more lonely. A friend who had been staying with him has left. Unlike the monsoon rain, there are no flowers in the winter rain.

It is the end of winter. After a hailstorm, there is a rainbow in the clear sky.

Word	Meaning
mist	fog
fall silent	stop chattering
melancholy	very sad
conceal	hide
ringing	re-echoing
deathly still	silent like a dead body
genuine	real
humid	damp
stuff	materials
rears	raises
affords	gives
privacy	aloofness
heralded	announced
arrival	coming
lifted	pick up
fled	ran away
screaming	shouting
imprecations	curses
bloodletting	losing blood
scarlet	blood red
minivets	a bird
flitting	flying swiftly
brilliant	shining
contrive	manage
unnoticed	unmarked
unnecessarily	uselessly
aggressive	ready to quarrel
chasing	running after
tree creeper	an insectivorous bird
rapidly	fast
snapping	grabbing
dearth	want
drumming	beating as on a drum
corrugated	grooved
steady	slow but constant
swish	hissing sound
springing	creating
unaccountable	for which no reason can be given
tinkle	the ringing sound
caws	gives out the crowing voice
disconsolately	unhappily
drips	falls
whistling thrush	a singing bird
emerges	is heard
ravine	valley
damp	not dry
soggy	sodden
pace	walk
bobbing	moving up and down
lush	green
balsam , dahlias , begonias	flower
signifying	indicating
upright	standing erect
display	show
slopes	inclined planes
rocky	stony
crevices	narrow opening
taken hold	rooted
attics	lofts
shrew	a  bird
blunders	commit a big mistake
admonishes	rebukes
suffused	filled
hushed	complete
surrounded	encircled
drift	fall
drenched	wet
caress	touching loving
menace	threaten