💬 When the wind turns around, rain is coming

Most evenings I sit on the terrace with chai. The wind blows from one side all day. Then around 5 it swings to the opposite side and gets a little cooler. When that happens I go and pull the clothes off the line. Every single time, no matter what the sky looks like. Within 90 minutes there's either rain or a very dark sky and a lot of thunder. My father showed me without really teaching. He'd stand at the window, sniff, and say, take the cycle in. I thought he was just fussy about the cycle. Nobody checked a phone back then. Now I do the same sniff and my daughter rolls her eyes. I told her it works better than the app, which said 0 percent rain last Tuesday. Last month I told a colleague to take his umbrella at 4pm. Clear sky, hot sun. He laughed in front of the whole room. At 5:30 the wind turned and I looked at him. It poured at 6:10. He was soaked by the time he reached the parking lot, bag over his head. Next morning he brought me a cup of chai and said nothing. That's the best apology. It doesn't work every time. Twice this year the wind turned and nothing happened. I told everyone it was rain later, and then quietly forgot about it and changed the subject. My neighbour keeps a count of my hits and misses on his phone, I've heard. Last I heard it was 14 for 17. I'm told that's a pass.

My grandmother did the same with the smell of wet soil before rain, long before phones. I tested it last monsoon for a month and I'd say she was right about 3 times out of 4. The trouble is I can't smell anything from a 6th floor flat, so I just check the app and sulk. Maybe you should charge your colleague a chai every time you're right. That's a fair rate.

My grandfather watched crows on the electric wire. When they all faced one way, he'd say rain. I never checked until your post, then I tried the flags on our building in Kondapur. 3 evenings, 2 correct. My cousin thinks I've lost it, standing on the balcony with my face to the sky. Did you ever get one badly wrong, like on someone's wedding day?