only Bihar experienced floods this year. Other places suffered water logging. The statement on the recent deluge in large parts of the country might have been dismissed as ludicrous verbiage, had it not been that of the Indian Meteorological Department's spokesperson. Ludicrous it still is. But dismiss it, we cannot. For conventional thinking has it that floods are caused by excessive rainfall. The imd spokesperson was only going by what has become a truism for many in the country's scientific establishment.

But weather has a way of making shibboleths appear what they are. That's exactly what happened this year. Except Bihar, none of the flood-hit states experienced more than normal rainfall. So the imd is correct, in a way