Your hot girl guide to rain, romance, and dodging red flags

Congratulations, you’ve survived cuffing season and the sweaty chaos of summer, only to find yourself stuck in a monsoon-induced situationship slump. Because the only thing more dramatic than the Bombay rains is the red flag flashing in your DMs. And even without the humidity, your interest in chasing potential partners—or fulfilling the side quest of finding love—is now firmly floating in knee-deep, murky water.

Where does that leave you? Wading through the wet chaos of the Bombay monsoon, where everything is drenched: your clothes, your balcony, and yes, his emotional maturity.

Enter: your Hot Girl guide to rain, romance, and dodging red flags. Because Hot Girl Monsoon is evolving. She’s now in her unbothered Folklore and hot tea era—highly allergic to “just vibes” and men who use 5-in-1 shampoo.

 

From cuffing season to monsoon hangover

Now here’s the thing: cuffing season is long gone, and yet, the ghost of your winter mistake still lingers—despite the group chat-led emotional exorcism your girlies swore would do the trick. After all, Mr “Let’s go with the flow” had the emotional availability of Dr House (House)—minus the genius. And as Ms Swift so wisely said, “Let the flood carry away all my pictures of you.” Honestly, it’s less painful than what he put you through. We’re not chasing situationships with the structural integrity of a half-baked soufflé. We’re chasing warm blankets, a thermos full of chai, and low-stakes girls’ nights with Chinese takeout and maybe some ramen.

And now, round up the council of the ladies because we have an important debate. Does he actually look like a Hemsworth cousin, or are you down five cups of chai and forgetting your specs? (Hint: you're on your sixth.) So here’s your low-pressure dating checklist:

Stage 1: He’s so pretty I want to cry—aka, you’re on chai #3 and he looks like he bartered with the universe to exist.
Stage 2: He ‘forgot’ his wallet but walked you to your Uber in the rain—girl, please.
Stage 3: He called me ‘his girl’—he also said that to six other women today, and you’ve now consumed enough chai to cause a minor power outage.

If you're already on stage three, don’t panic because we’ve got a full recovery plan ready.

Hot girl hacks for not texting your ex-situationship

Let’s be real—do you really want to spiral into an emotionally sweaty fling just to recreate that Aashiqui 2 moment where everything’s soaked, dramatic, and doomed from the start? Picture this: you're drenched in the rain, mascara running, holding onto a man who hasn’t replied to your “are we exclusive?” text in three days. Not cute.

Now picture this instead: a cosy night in with your girls, sheet masks on, watching The Devil Wears Prada for the 15th time, with Taylor Swift’s 'Folklore' playing in the background. You're group-texting about that one friend’s walking red flag of a situationship, sipping your go-to warm drink (bonus points if it’s in a cute mug), and ignoring every “wyd” text after 10 pm.

And if you need some more hot girl moves, then rewatch Fleabag and remind yourself how messy things get when we romanticise chaos. Or you could bake something unnecessarily elaborate just to feel accomplished (and avoid doom-scrolling). An added step could be putting your phone on Do Not Disturb and making a vision board—one with dream vacations and career goals, not emotionally unavailable men. Or better yet, download a new language app—because Duolingo over delusion, always.

You’re the main character, act like it

A Hot Girl Monsoon doesn’t need emotional chaos for one stolen moment under the umbrella with him—or a situationship messy enough to deserve its own Tortured Poets Department track. You deserve people who show up—umbrella in one hand, emotional intelligence in the other.

Whether you’re getting drenched on the local train, sipping filter coffee in a leaky café, or dancing in the rain (ABBA on full volume, obviously)—remember: monsoon doesn’t mean mayhem. It means clarity. If he’s not bringing comfort, consistency, and an umbrella big enough to shield both your blow-dry and your boundaries, he’s not worth it. 

Lead image credit: IMDb

Also read: The truth about dating red flags you’re secretly ignoring

Also read: Why is dating fatigue hitting harder than ever?