Rain

The smell of musty soil and the forecast of rain always made me and my sister smile. What seems like eons ago, but only about a decade earlier, I remember dancing around in the rain to no music but the rhythm in my head. My sister and I used to rush up to the terrace, with my mom yelling ‘Don’t get wet in the first rain, you’ll fall sick’. But we would go anyway- and dance. No coherent choreographed steps, just random nonsense and play stupid games. We then wrung our clothes as much as we could, sneak back into warm clothes and head downstairs to gobble up some hot fritters and steaming ginger tea. The day wasn’t exciting because of some mundane occurrence, but just the petrichor and the feeling of raindrops against skin that rejoiced me.

Every weekend it rained, it was a ritual to sleep in after watching a corny tamil movie followed by a siesta. And there were always fritters and tea. The cold and dark was such a contrast to the hot and wet Chennai, that everything seemed better in the rain.

Small floods where our garage was filled with water didn’t bother us- we let out paper boats and watched as they flowed to their inevitable sinking. Long current cuts meant looking out the door, expecting the Electric Board to arrive and fix the transformer instead of whining that the Wi-Fi was gone. (Though the first thing we did was to check the next house if there were lights there). Continuous calls to the EB that were never attended to, food that was cooked in the dim candle light and waiting in the dark was always enough to keep my mind occupied.

Through the years, rain became more of an inconvenience rather than a beautiful experience. I lost the need to dance in the rain, the resources to make fritters in hostel and the wonder I had towards watching drops fall from the sky. I wish I could return to that state of bliss- no worries or necessity to constantly think about what to do next. Be able to pause my life and enjoy the rain, to take in the beauty of it and undergo some kind of catharsis. The next time it rains, I will try and pause my life, read a book and sip on some ginger tea as I munch on some fritters- and enjoy the beauty of the rain and the beauty within. Probably sneak in a siesta too.

N.S.Ananya ©