Posts Tagged ‘Rains’
A rainy day romance
The haze covered everything from the myopic vision right under my nose till the farthest extent that filled my sights. At a little distance the warm yellow of the sodium vapour lights hanging on the lamp post highlighted the rich density of the rain drops falling per square unit of the tarred road below it.
As always, umbrellas are redundant when rains lashes hard in Mumbai and suburbs. All that can be saved from getting wet are few strands of hair right under the umbrella skeleton; that too if the strong breeze doesn’t turn your umbrella upside down and dismantling the frame work. This time around I was lucky enough that the wind wasn’t merciless. However, it was strong enough to allow rain drops the slanting path wetting a good 80 percent of my pant, much of my shoulders and shirt-arms with a few droplets even landing on my cheeks and nose.
It was long that I had ventured out in such a heavy Mumbai rain. I must correct myself; “it was long since I had ventured out in such a heavy Mumbai rain and that too leisurely. No rush to catch the train or attend a meet, no obligation, no timeline, no committment to fulfil. It was an idyllic stroll. And it was this moment, this stroll that reignited a long dampened flame, a desire to drench in the rain that was always subdued with the urban chores and the illusionary comfort of staying clean and dry under the roof, either office or home.
This stroll brought out the old charm of feeling the droplets, small shining droplets on the end of the strands of my hair, on my arms, on the eyebrows and the wisp of cool air making me long for something warm, much warmer than the gelaming sodium vapour overhead.
The tip-tip of the rain on my umbrella grew louder as I realised that I was no more bothered about getting drenched, even though I held the umbrella firm and tried hard to save my shoulders from getting wet. A paradox, a pleasure. I was humming on some of the favourite tunes of Kishore Kumar, Sonu Nigam and few more and it was really a pleasant surprise that I could recollect most of the lyrics of those archived memories! The tunes seem to hit the perfect chords and suddenly sigin was never seemed so wonderful – an unchained melody. My voice, the lyrics, the tip-tip decibels of rains, the whizzing sound of fast rolling tyres on the wet tarmak and intermittent honking of horns all seemed perfect.
As I strolled further with my singing hitting the higher decibels I noticed a few passer-by’s glancing on their way. I noticed the road-side bhajji wala and the chai-wala at nukkad, these were inviting. Even more conspicuous was the steam emanating from the tea kettle. I ignored both of them, with some difficulty as I continued.
A 30 minutes stroll in the rain completely cleared the settled dust. The dust settled on my mind. The dust which forced me to close my eyes. I thought rains to essential for farmers and as a nuisance to the daily commuters. However, the rain was just too strong to allow misconceptions rule my mind. Rains are equally essential for a parched urban soul as it is for a parched cultivable land. Perhaps the soul needs it more than anything else.
Aaj jaane ki jidd na karo… another humming that filled my mind as I walked on through the puddles, wet trousers, drops on my arms, face … aaj jaane ki jidd na karo…
