Farmers are now yearning for rain because the dry, hot weather has done so much destruction to their crops and nurseries. Many are also facing shortage of drinking water while people who are sensitive to prolonged extreme heat are longing for respite afforded by a spell of rainy weather. Rain, thus, brings zillions of possibilities when they do fall such as during the monsoon season.
In the small and confined world of my younger days, especially during the school holidays between 1962 and 1974, any rain in the evening was very much welcome for me much to the chagrin of my parents.
Mom and dad often said, “The frogs will make celebratory sounds when it is about to rain or when it starts to pour.”
They were actually comparing lazy me to the frogs which would make cheery noises prior to a downpour so that the next day there was no necessity to wake up early to tap our rubber trees.
Tapping rubber trees was not a favourite task for me although it was a main source of cash for our family. No rubber sheet to sell meant we would have no money. I knew it but any good excuse not to tap the trees, such as when they were wet after a downpour, was a top preference for me.
There were days when I thought of outsmarting my elder brother Jon (six years my senior) and to impress our parents by adding water to the collected latex to create an impression that we had more of the stuff than usual.
But unknowingly, Jon also did the same thing and many times it took more than double the usual time for the latex to coagulate, not to mention the extra quantity of formic acid used as there was too much water content.
Somehow our parents knew about it and pointed the fingers at me though I only did it not more than three times. Jon pleaded guilty to the folly when we reminisced some decades later about our rubber tapping days.
Anyway, back to the rain; it is fine when it falls in the right amount and time. Too much rain can cause great inconvenience to certain people, especially farmers, for besides not being able to tap their rubber trees, they also would be unable to carry out other farming activities that require fine weather.
On the whole, farmers are grateful for any rain as water is literally a source of life. It is vital for the healthy growth of their crops but prolonged rainy weather tends to disrupt their schedules, especially during the traditional shifting cultivation period from August through September.
Flooding is especially bad for rice plants in wet paddy fields. If a flood flows strongly and fast it could flatten a whole field, and if the water stays for a long time, the plants would just rot and die.
Stories about Iban people in ancient times have it that they did not know how to shelter themselves from the rain, which explains why they lived in caves. It took an eight-year-old boy to show them how. The boy simply used some big leaves to shield himself from the rain while on a journey back from his parents’ farm to their communal dwelling in a cave.
The leaf episode gave them the idea of collecting leaves to make roofs for their huts. That was the genesis of their longhouses, each of which typically can shelter roughly 27 or 28 traceable generations. The most basic of them were made from leaves, split/hewn timber or just plain round logs, and even tree barks for the walls. Primitive they may be but they eliminated so much rain-caused misery and anxiety.
With a few exceptions, most outdoor activities stop or get cancelled when it rains. Important stages of outdoor games such as American football, soccer and others are supposed to continue rain or shine.
In horse racing, rain is a welcomed change of luck for horses that favour “heavy going”, a term referring to a race in the rain, heavy or light. After the rain, the wet racing ground is called “soft going”.
These two conditions give advantage to starters (horses that start in a race) that favour one or the other, or both. In between “soft” and “good” is “yielding” which is favoured by certain horses.
In my experience as a punter, “heavy” or “soft” going provides a few instances of good luck as they provide opportunities for starters with a “long shot” (usually called outsiders) to triumph.
As a beginner in February 1986 I bet heavily (both for win and place) on an outsider by the name of Corbachon during an Ipoh race.
It was ridden by a young Jockey I. Azhar (Azhar Ismail), well-known for causing upsets. Run on a “heavy going” field, Corbachon led from start to finish “by a distance” (another race term indicating the horse outruns others by a long distance) over 1,600 metres and paid a handsome dividend of RM217 for a win and RM93 for place. It was my richest-ever off-course win at the Padungan Turf Club, thanks to the moderate rain in Ipoh. Sadly, for me, the club site is now occupied by MBKS complex.
In the bigger picture rains have caused havoc to many parts of the world, destroying farms, roads, homes, towns and even big cities.
in 2014 cities in the United States of America especially Jersey City and Trenton City both in the state of New Jersey as well as other cities in nearby states were badly flooded causing our orders of custom-made Elvis Presley-style spectacles to be delayed by a month. “Our” refers to members of the Elvis Presley Fan Club Sarawak.
The principal stockist in Jersey City could not send the glasses to us as all Internet transactions were stalled due to the floods.
I am sure many people in Sarawak have been affected by floods over the years because we do have heavy monsoon rain every year. In West Malaysia, floods that inundated factories, offices, shops, homes, roads and residential areas over the years have led to losses amounting to billions of ringgit.
Floods often caused people to be evacuated from their homes and placed in relief centres for days, even weeks.
Floods make rivers swell, which means that those who depend on river transportation and water supply can find it dangerous to travel or get water for personal use.
Interestingly, the rainy season is a good time for family bonding. My late grand-uncle, Ngelambai Rembuyan, would call all his young protégés to start a poker session ala longhouse style using multi-coloured rubber bands as bets.
For adults, it is a good time to indulge in indoor fun activities including modern card games as well as traditional and cultural pursuits. Others would find these moments to be “productive” in whatever creative sense one thinks is applicable.
Rain or no rain, workers in urban centres still need to report for work as long as they can travel. Shops, supermarkets, banks, betting counters, et cetera et cetera stays open even if it rains cats and dogs. Lastly, you the reader can use this newspaper to shield yourself from the rain provided you are done reading it.
