Rains – Damn I hate monsoon rains!!!
When it rains, there are floods in our city.
If it does not flood, then there are little dirty puddles – speeding cars-drivers and bikers take a sadistic pleasure in spraying you with these puddle-waters.
When it’s not raining, the sky is clouded and the day is dull and depressing. Humidity multiplies the feeling of heat and there is always a stinking smell here and there on the roads.
There is always traffic jam and trains are always running late – even when its not really flooded. You have to wade to office whether you like it or not – with damp clothes and wet shoes – and sit in the AC in the same wet state.
Is the city becoming incapable of handling rains every year? Or is it just me?
Have I lost the ability to enjoy the rainy season anymore?
But it was not always like this. Today was Sunday. I did not have any plans with my (pestering ;) ) friends to roam out. So I had some time to contemplate and stare out at the rains and dig out some of my lost memories about the rainy season from my childhood days.
I still remember the good old days. Rainy season hasn’t been my really favourite season. But I did enjoy it in my own little ways.
I remember when I was a kid, we friends used to play in the little puddles – we used to take small wooden bric-a-bracs or fallen dried branches and make boats out of them. I used to take a small piece of a thick enough branch, break it into half longitudinally, and send it speeding over the water of the puddle with its rounded side downwards. That was fun – even the water wasn’t really as muddy as they come now a days.
It was a time when summer holidays had just ended and schools had just started a fresh new academic year. I remember wading through the rain wearing gumboots and raincoat over my uniform. I hated raincoats – especially when the mud splattered to the raincoat’s hem would keep scratching the lower legs. And there was also the question of where to keep them – wet and all – when you were inside the school.
I remember, while sitting in the class, during an especially boring period, I used to sneak glances out of the classroom window, and look out at the rains outside, wishing I was out there instead of in here. I used to look out at a stray dog getting wet in the rains. Or the little rivulets of rainwater flow over the terrace of the adjacent bungalow.
It was even more fun to spend a lazy afternoon watching the dark sky outside, and listen to the pitter-patter of the rain – punctuated in between by the rolling sounds of thunder and quick flashes of lightning. The best part was to stretch my hand out the window beyond the reach of the parapet and feel the cool drops wet my hand for a long long time. Then bring back the hand and brush it over my face to feel the freshness of rains on my face. It’s been such a long time since I last did that…
There was more fun going around, collecting and playing with little earthworms, or frogs or even snails. I remember how we used to catch a snail for each one of us and race them and see whose snail traveled farthest.
Then there was the time when I used to sneak up to the terrace of our building and climb the ladder to the top of the water-tank – the top-most part of the building, and just lie there feeling the cool wind, looking up at the uniform grey of the clouds and feel the little droplets of drizzle caress my face.
Then as I grew up we guys enjoyed a game of football in the rains. I was never good at sports and had not much interest in them. But I did enjoy getting splashed in the muddy waters collected over the ground.
Once or twice, I remember going to Marine Drive and walk along the ledge near the sea-face – and feel the cool damp wind and enjoy the spray of the waves as they hit the rocks below.
Now I have grown up and things have changed. Rains are no more than a daily nuisance and the rainy days are always so depressing.
Have the things really changed? Or have I lost the ability to enjoy the rains anymore?
May be both? I don’t know. I just know this – there were happier times during the monsoon. Those times are gone. And I can only relive them time and again in my memories.
When it rains, there are floods in our city.
If it does not flood, then there are little dirty puddles – speeding cars-drivers and bikers take a sadistic pleasure in spraying you with these puddle-waters.
When it’s not raining, the sky is clouded and the day is dull and depressing. Humidity multiplies the feeling of heat and there is always a stinking smell here and there on the roads.
There is always traffic jam and trains are always running late – even when its not really flooded. You have to wade to office whether you like it or not – with damp clothes and wet shoes – and sit in the AC in the same wet state.
Is the city becoming incapable of handling rains every year? Or is it just me?
Have I lost the ability to enjoy the rainy season anymore?
But it was not always like this. Today was Sunday. I did not have any plans with my (pestering ;) ) friends to roam out. So I had some time to contemplate and stare out at the rains and dig out some of my lost memories about the rainy season from my childhood days.
I still remember the good old days. Rainy season hasn’t been my really favourite season. But I did enjoy it in my own little ways.
I remember when I was a kid, we friends used to play in the little puddles – we used to take small wooden bric-a-bracs or fallen dried branches and make boats out of them. I used to take a small piece of a thick enough branch, break it into half longitudinally, and send it speeding over the water of the puddle with its rounded side downwards. That was fun – even the water wasn’t really as muddy as they come now a days.
It was a time when summer holidays had just ended and schools had just started a fresh new academic year. I remember wading through the rain wearing gumboots and raincoat over my uniform. I hated raincoats – especially when the mud splattered to the raincoat’s hem would keep scratching the lower legs. And there was also the question of where to keep them – wet and all – when you were inside the school.
I remember, while sitting in the class, during an especially boring period, I used to sneak glances out of the classroom window, and look out at the rains outside, wishing I was out there instead of in here. I used to look out at a stray dog getting wet in the rains. Or the little rivulets of rainwater flow over the terrace of the adjacent bungalow.
It was even more fun to spend a lazy afternoon watching the dark sky outside, and listen to the pitter-patter of the rain – punctuated in between by the rolling sounds of thunder and quick flashes of lightning. The best part was to stretch my hand out the window beyond the reach of the parapet and feel the cool drops wet my hand for a long long time. Then bring back the hand and brush it over my face to feel the freshness of rains on my face. It’s been such a long time since I last did that…
There was more fun going around, collecting and playing with little earthworms, or frogs or even snails. I remember how we used to catch a snail for each one of us and race them and see whose snail traveled farthest.
Then there was the time when I used to sneak up to the terrace of our building and climb the ladder to the top of the water-tank – the top-most part of the building, and just lie there feeling the cool wind, looking up at the uniform grey of the clouds and feel the little droplets of drizzle caress my face.
Then as I grew up we guys enjoyed a game of football in the rains. I was never good at sports and had not much interest in them. But I did enjoy getting splashed in the muddy waters collected over the ground.
Once or twice, I remember going to Marine Drive and walk along the ledge near the sea-face – and feel the cool damp wind and enjoy the spray of the waves as they hit the rocks below.
Now I have grown up and things have changed. Rains are no more than a daily nuisance and the rainy days are always so depressing.
Have the things really changed? Or have I lost the ability to enjoy the rains anymore?
May be both? I don’t know. I just know this – there were happier times during the monsoon. Those times are gone. And I can only relive them time and again in my memories.
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