The monsoon has a habit of letting down tur farmer Mariappa Irabo. Growing this dryland crop on his 4 acres of land, all that he asks for is one good shower while he sows the seeds. But what if even those few millimetres don't fall?

"I have not even bought DAP fertilisers nor the seeds. It's very difficult for us, if it rains we sow more, if it doesn't we can't," says Mariappa.

What strange games the monsoon plays even within a single State. While it lashed the west coast of Karnataka with heavy rains, it has left the country's highest tur growing region high and dry and its farmers in deep trouble.

Gulbarga receives the lowest rainfall in the state, but produces the most red gram in Karnataka  - gram that feeds neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh as well.  If even that small amount of rainfall fails to arrive, it means less tur dal for the rest of the country.

"Even in January, tur dal used to cost 40-45. Now it's 85 rupees. Why, because we are growing less 30-35 per cent every year. On the whole, pulses are growing lesser in Karnataka and all India also," says Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, President, Karnataka Pulse and Grain Merchants Association.

With the monsoon failing in north Karnataka, it's likely to be a repeat of last year. Perhaps a much worse crop of tur.

Month in 2009                    Wholesale prices of tur dal in South India (in Rs per kilo)
  January                                             Regular 43 Premium 46
    April                                                Regular 53 Premium 55
    July                                                 Regular 78, Premium 82

* Retail prices in the market higher by 8 to 10 per cent.

And its price will continue shooting up at a rate at which even gold/sensex doesn't rise.