Tikri border: 72-year-old Parminder Singh stood guard on the intervening night of May 18-19 even as it poured incessantly. His ears perked up every time he heard sparks from his tent or neighbour’s and he alerted every one instantly. At Pakoda Chowk, the other end of the agitation venue, young boys spent stayed awake, trying to keep their makeshift homes secure.

Farmers’ protest sites across Delhi NCR including Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur borders have had a punishing week as affects of Cyclone Tauktae reached the northern region too.  A massive storm brought strong gusts of wind and downpour that continued for more than 24 hours. The scenes replayed after a day’s relief as another rainstorm lashed Tikri on May 20 and May 21. The meteorological department had issued a red alert of heavy rain and thunderstorm as a consequence of the intense Cyclone Tauktae.

This is not the first time that lakhs of farmers protesting on the outskirts of Delhi are battling the vagaries of weather since they pitched their heels on November 26. Whether it was the brutal rains of December when they were still settling down or this week’s deluge, farmers have been braving it with their chins up. “When we left our villages, we had avowed that no matter, we will not go back till the laws are repealed. Rains are very minuscule compared to our real adversary—the government. It cannot scare us,” said the septuagenarian who hails from Moga district.

The rains left a lot of destruction in their wake: uprooted tents, water seeping in bamboo houses, waterlogged streets, dry ration, beds, blankets soaked wet among other things. Morning after was devoted to re-erecting the tents and setting up their homes. As for ration that got destroyed, SOS was sent in the night itself to neighbouring villages and other comrades enroute Delhi to bring surplus. “These are minor inconveniences. Sangharsh vich hunda aa(This is part of a revolution). Why feel dejected? We set up our tents again next day in the morning and all was back to normal,” said Balkaran Singh, a farmer from Samana.   “All of us here were prepared that weather will wreak havoc this week. It has been three days and we are still wading through knee deep water. But if the government thinks we will go back, it is highly mistaken. We are farmers, we enjoy this hide and seek of weather,” asserted Chaudhary Devinderpal Singh of Mehem