Rain of memories

When it rains, it surely evokes unexplainable emotions. Perhaps that is where the beauty of rain lies. I guess I realized it pretty early in life, as a five-year-old, while growing up in Arunachal Pradesh.

There when it pours, which often is the case, it pours really hard.

Last evening when it rained in Bangalore, accompanied by strong gusts of wind, after a hot sultry day, I could not stop myself. I quickly opened the door to my balcony and got soaked to the bone.

I felt a sense of relief. It was nothing short of divine empowerment. Again, hard to explain how those big droplets washed away days of weariness.

I didn’t dance like the neighbourhood kid, but quietly felt blessed, silently thanked the “unknown” forces. For, it rained when it mattered most.

But contrary to this sudden gush of emotion, there were times when I used to curse the rain, especially because of the cities where I stayed – all vulnerable to artificial flooding even after a few hours of mild downpour. That is when a curse would just slip out of my mouth.

“Oh! Don’t you realize the drains are clogged by poly bags strewn all over? Please rains, come some other time. Or else the water, few metres away from the verandah of my house will enter the sitting room,” I would cry, looking heavenwards.

Sometimes, rain (god) has been kind, but most often not, making our tough city life even tougher.

Notwithstanding the ugliness left behind, I also remember once I shrieked a curse to the sky for days of relentless rain in Arunachal Pradesh. However, flooding wasn’t my cause of worry since no rains can inundate the hills. It was the despondency that would descend upon every soul as the wet clothes refuse to dry in the unending companionship of rainfall. And most importantly mother wouldn’t let us go out to play.

After an incessant monologue of rain when the sun would peep from behind the hills illuminating the early morning sky, children used to be the happiest lot.

It’s true rain evokes several emotions, from innocent smiles to raising a disgusted eyebrow. Human emotions have many shades just like the colours of a rainbow left behind by a downpour.

Today, I am again looking upwards, not to shriek a curse to the sky but to search for traces of rain on the floating clouds of an early evening.