India, June 2 -- There's a sloshing sound in my shoes, and it isn't spiritual joy. It's water. Rainwater. Precious, holy, long-prayed-for, utterly annoying rainwater. And as I squish my way across the housing society where I live, I hear my neighbour yell, "Bas karo Bhagwan, bas karo!" That's Hindi for "Enough, God, enough!" And I can't help imagining a celestial weather committee upstairs staring down at us in soggy confusion.

"Didn't they just ask for rain?" booms Gabriel.

"Yes," says a harried angel flipping through celestial records. "Mumbai requested full tanks, flowing rivers, and media-worthy footage of water gushing down the Bushy dam!"

"Well, they've got that. And a little extra on the side," mutters another angelic committee ...