In the countryside, fishermen and traders would travel on bulging waterways far from home at this time of year, leaving families behind. And, of course, flooding which the rice crop requires takes a heavy human toll. Just last year millions of people in India, Nepal and Bangladesh were left homeless.Bringing relief, estrangement, prosperity, and death, the monsoon is perhaps the most dramatic season on earth. What could be its herald but a strange and powerfully fragrant flower, the kadam.