12.1 Before You Read
Before You Read Imagine your whole year’s food and income depended on a single thing — the rain. Now imagine the rain simply does not come. This is the daily worry of millions of farmers, and the heart of this story. As you read, watch how worry slowly turns into understanding.
Farming and the monsoon
Much of India’s farming is rain-fed, which means it depends on the seasonal monsoon rains rather than on canals or wells. When the rains come on time, the fields turn green and the harvest is good; when they fail, the result is drought — dry, cracked land, failed crops, and great hardship. Understanding this dependence helps you feel Velu’s anxiety.
What is drought?
A drought is a long period with too little rain, so that the soil dries up and crops cannot grow. For a farmer, a drought can mean an entire year of work and hope lost. The story’s title, Waiting for the Rain, captures exactly this painful, anxious waiting.
About the form: a short story
This is a short story centred on one farmer, Velu, and his journey from despair to understanding. As you read, notice how the story moves from Velu’s restless searching to a quiet conversation that brings him peace — and how the setting (the dry land, the hot sky) reflects his troubled mind.
The main characters
- Velu: a hardworking, honest farmer, worried and restless because of the drought.
- The old woman: a wise stranger Velu meets under a tree, whose simple words change his view.
Key Idea Velu learns that nature has its own wisdom: just as people grow tired and need rest, the land too needs to rest after years of constant farming. Patience and trust in natural processes, the story suggests, matter as much as hard work.
Think and discuss
- How would life change in your area if the rains failed for a whole year?
- Why might land that is farmed continuously become less fertile over time?
- When you face a problem you cannot solve, does worrying help — or does understanding it better help more?