By Fátima da Silva Gracias

I love the rains in Goa, my home state in the West Coast of India. They are beautiful — for me, the best season of the year, even though sometimes the heavy downpours and flooding interrupt daily routines and create chaos all around. It is a time for reflection — a season to pause and complete the things left pending during the rest of the rushed year. While some people remain indoors, for many, it is a time to reconnect with the earth itself, to witness growth, quite literally sprouting from the soil.