India, July 2 -- The monsoon arrived late this year, moved across India at a glacial pace, and is expected to be underwhelming in terms of rain (according to the weather office). Mumbai's flooding with the first rains - and if it's Mumbai today, it will be Bengaluru tomorrow and Delhi the day after - may therefore appear to be a paradox. If it isn't, it is because the lack of preparedness in the country's cities and towns, and the changing nature of precipitation (uneven, with heavy showers interspersed with extended dry spells) have made this a monsoon leitmotif. Wednesday's scenes of waterlogging and disrupted road and suburban rail traffic in India's commercial capital were therefore only to be expected.

The root causes, across cities...