The Coochikoo

If your family makes a living in the textile mills in Coimbatore—whether you spin yarn, your spouse handles export orders, or your parents retired after working in the industry for decades—you have probably noticed that something is not quite right this season. There were delays in production, worries about quality, and worried dinner table chats about "moisture problems." This is La Niña's not-so-pleasant effect on Kolkata, South India. Figuring out La Niña's two-pronged attack The situation is that meteorologists say there is a 71% chance that La Niña will happen between October and December 2025. This is not just bad weather for Coimbatore's textile business. It works for over 1.25 million people in the area, which also includes Tiruppur and Karur. Production plans, quality standards, and, in the end, family budgets are all at risk. La Niña causes two big problems for textile manufacturing: too much humidity from more rain than usual and cloudy weather that tex...

If you live in Kolkata and have a child, you may have noticed that they cough or use their inhaler more often than normal this fall. It is not your mind; Kolkata's air quality went from "good" to "bad" in the middle of October 2025. And experts are saying that this winter could be 30% worse than last year because of La Niña, which makes pollution stay in the city longer. The Scary Truth About the Air in Kolkata First, I will give you a number that should scare all parents: Half of the children in Kolkata have some kind of breathing problem because of dirty air. That is one kid out of every two! A decade ago, doctors would see two to three kids every day with breathing problems caused by pollution. Today? That number has gone up to 10 to 15 kids every day, some of whom are babies. It has gotten so bad that, based on population, Kolkata was named the second-dirtiest city in the world in 2019. The air quality in our city stayed dangerous all winter during Diwali 20...

You are a mom in Bhopal trying to get your kids to school on a normal Tuesday morning. All of a sudden, the road outside your house looks more like a lake than a street. Welcome to summer life in the City of Lakes, where the lakes that make Bhopal unique are now causing major flooding problems. And now that La Niña is back, things could get even more difficult. What is in store for us thanks to La Niña If you want to know what La Niña has to do with your Upper Lake weekend plans or your morning drive, read on. There is a 71% chance that La Niña will happen between October and December 2025, according to meteorologists. This weather event usually causes more rain than usual in central India, which includes Madhya Pradesh. Do you remember how Upper Lake flooded in September 2025 and the gates to Bhadbhada Dam had to be opened? That was only a taste! After heavy rain, the lake rose overnight from 1666.50 feet to its full tank level (FTL) of 1666.80 feet. Because La Niña could make...

If you're raising kids in Bangalore, you've probably had "the water talk" more times than you'd like this year. Between explaining why we can't fill up the kiddie pool and rationing bathroom time, water management has become a daily parenting challenge that previous generations never had to face. And with La Niña years making our situation even more unpredictable, Bangalore families need to get real about what's coming. The Numbers That Keep Parents Up at Night Let me paint the picture: Bangalore needs 2,600 million liters of water daily to function. We're getting only about 2,100 million liters—that's a 500 million liter daily shortfall! For perspective, that's like trying to fill your child's school water bottle but only getting it half full every single day. Here's the scariest part for parents: Of Bangalore's 13,900 borewells, nearly 7,000 have completely dried up. If you live in areas like Whitefield, Mahadevapura, HSR Layout, ...

If you live in Indore and have kids, this rainy season is not just about muddy shoes and wet umbrellas; it is also a major public health issue for our kids! Since La Niña is causing it to rain more than usual, parents in Indore are dealing with a scary rise in diseases spread by mosquitoes that put our kids at risk. What every parent in Indore should worry about are these numbers. Allow me to shock you with some truths about our city. There were a crazy 550 dengue cases in Indore in 2024—that is not a mistake! Thirteen of them were children, and there were sad deaths of two teens from dengue effects. One was only 13 years old, and the other was only 16. These are not numbers from far away; these are kids from Bhanwarkuan, Geeta Bhawan, Vijay Nagar, Musakhedi, and Azad Nagar, among other places. Worse still, there were 90 cases of dengue in just one month during the peak rainy season in July 2024, with 8 new cases recorded in just one day! And malaria, even though it was less common, ad...