Rain Men

Bookies are sparing neither cash nor effort in betting on rainfall levels this coming monsoon. And who's helping them out this year? Environmental experts and astrologers! Mumbaiites are not the only ones waiting to beat the heat. Bookies in the city are preparing for the rain like never before. They are in touch with some environment experts and astrologers to get an estimate as to how much rainfall the city will receive.Additionally, about 40 to 50 bookies from all over the country have booked rooms in various hotels of Mumbai. Bookies say that these bookies will gather in Mumbai by the second week of this month, when the rates will be opened in a South Mumbai five star hotel. While some big bookies have booked eight rooms in some five star hotels in the city, the smaller ones would be lodging themselves in other small hotels from Colaba to Santa Cruz. Most of the bookies are coming from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Indore and Guwahati. They will gather in the said five star hotel, probably on May 15, to open the rates. Moreover, this time, the bookies want to be cautious while quoting the rates for rainfall in Mumbai. Bookies reveal that they are in touch with some environment experts and even astrologers to get an idea how much it will rain in Mumbai. "Till some years back, rains in Mumbai used to be good. But of late because of cutting of trees and the city being converted into a concrete jungle, rainfall has decreased," says another bookie. He points out that earlier the bookies used to open rates for a minimum rainfall of 65 inches in the entire season, which is from June to September end. The maximum rainfall quoted was 100 inches. Bookies say that this year they will most likely open rates for a minimum of 55 inches and a maximum of 80 inches of rainfall. Even as the bookies expect a lesser amount of rainfall this year, they feel the money involved will be more than the previous years. They expect the figure to touch Rs 2,500 crore this year.