In the Hindi movie Guide, circumstances forces Dev Anand, playing the tour guide Raju, to don a holy man’s garb and pray for rain in a drought-stricken village. But Pradeep John doesn’t have to do a Dev Anand because he is blessed with the skill to predict when, where and how much it will rain.
The weather forecasts of this pluviophile (lover of rain) who has a degree in computer science are so accurate that John has become a popular figure on social media. His stock rose by a few more notches after he received the ‘Pride of Tamil Nadu 2018’ award for being an inspirational achiever in social awareness from Round Table India, a global youth organisation in March.
The latest post on his Facebook page ‘Tamil Nadu Weatherman’, has more than 5.5 lakh followers cautions, “The pleasant days the city of Chennai has been enjoying so far will depart soon, as the temperatures will cross 36° Celsius for the first time this year.”
Later in the evening when we meet him, Pradeep is full of beans. I ask him why he did not become a climatologist. “You have to study a lot for that,” he counters easily and says, “My brother was the class topper and while he planned to pursue a degree in medicine, my parents wanted me to become an engineer. It was geography that I wanted to study but could not for various reasons, but one day I will,” the 35-year-old promises himself.
However, Pradeep does not needs a degree to predict the weather; it is a labour of love. “Every person has a happiness trigger, and for me it is rain. As a child, I remember choosing a seat close to the window in the classroom so that I could watch the rain. I was in class nine when the 1996 cyclone struck Chennai, as I had predicted. This brought appreciation from others, which fuelled my passion,” says Pradeep.
Since 2006, the TN weatherman has been blogging about his rainy days. “I love to upload data about places with the heaviest rainfall in India,” Pradeep explains, whose weather forecasts are printed in a newspaper every day, courtesy KEA Weather.
When he started his Facebook page in 2014, he hardly had any followers. What thrust Pradeep in the eye of a social media storm was his prediction of the 2015 Chennai floods. “On December 1, 2015, I noticed a weird pattern on the radar and advised those staying in and around the East Coast Road to avoid going to office,” says the amateur weather buff. The subsequent downpour proved him right. He became an overnight star with his FB follower count increasing from 15,000 to 75,000.
“I began hourly updates about the quantum of rainfall received in various areas. The media was totally cut off and people began to rely on my updates. Around 3.30 am, I posted that no further heavy rain was expected and it stayed that way,” he says.
Previously, Pradeep, who works with Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services as a deputy manager, used to rely on the information provided by the Indian Meteorological Department for his auguries. Now he subscribes to a weather service in the US, which costs him `20,000 a year.
“I know the topography of the lakes in Chennai, and can gauge what kind of rains will pose a threat to which dam,” says Pradeep.
With popularity has also come responsibility. “Earlier, I used to post my predictions boldly. Now, with so many followers, there is intense scrutiny.” But the rainman has no clouds on the horizon, which he can see clearly and beyond.