Global climatic anomalies allied with local weather conditions produced the most freakish hailstorms in central and north India in February and March. Tennis ball-size hailstones put an end to farmers dream of a good harvest. Preliminary estimates show loss of about 5.5 million hectares of crop. Was it the doing of climate change? Does India have a contingency plan to tackle such events? Aparna Pallavi, Kundan Pandey and Jitendra bring ground reports from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab as Soma Basu investigates the causes of the untimely hailstorms