I am home now, in my home state of Kerala. The monsoon has just hit the state, and its raining. It has been raining sporadically ever since I reached at 7:30 am. After a sumptuous lunch of home cooked, mom-made, chicken biriyani , I am now relaxing in my balcony. They sky is not overcast, there is no thunder or lightning. Just the gentle shower from the skies above.
Growing up in central Kerala, the rains were probably the most memorable, and frustrating parts of life. I have fond memories of rain drenched days from life in the countryside. It was my habit to always pack and umbrella whenever I went out, even when the forecast said otherwise. There were times I used to walk slowly when it started raining, when all around me, people would run helter skelter to the nearest building to stay dry. They would curse the rain Gods for opening up just when they were wearing their best clothes or were outside with their entire family, and there was only one, or no umbrellas go around. I could not understand (and still don’t) how a Malayalee could hate the rains, when clearly, it the most iconic gifts the little state has ben endowed with.
My only problem with rainy days was that they caused me to fall ill. A little bit of drizzle and I would start coughing and sneezing and wheezing..enough to worry my poor mom to start praying. Basically, illness would mean lost school days. Which in turn meant decrease of attendance. And then a general decreased performance in the next exams. Leading to lower grades. But otherwise, I had not problem in getting stuck at the town in knee deep water, or being splashed water by plying vehicles while I was minding my own business walking on the wrong side of the road. Or even being denied entry to packed buses because we students used to pay only half rates, but took up double the space due to our big, wet bags.
And the drenched clothes. Specially on Wednesday , when we had white uniforms. We used to wade through knee deep water wearing our pure white uniforms, and would return in Khakis ! Mom used to be very unhappy. And who can forget the smell of wet socks ? That was the only smell during our school days, because our school did not allow us to wear sandals, stick to the school uniform, they said.
Side effect of rains in Kerala was the guaranteed power cuts, all through the day and nights. It was time to pack up candles, torches, and Gelf-made emergency lanterns. Also the mosquito coils, otherwise you could not sleep at all. In order to save on candlesticks, the whlie family used to huddle around a single candle, with the only other candle to be used in the kitchen. There were wax droppings all across the tables and the floor, sometimes even on our school books. We were encouraged to complete our home works and revisions when there still was day light or electricity in the home, so not to waste doing them during the power cuts. Of course, we spent all day making paper boats in the rain, so home works were done only at night.
They were fun days. And I miss them now more than ever. Now I don’t have time to stand and stare at the rain on the windows, or walk in the rain in gentle showers. I have to stay in office or home to keep myself dry. No one in office shares my enthu for rain. There are still powercuts , though. But then I am so tired by the day’s work, when the power goes out, I just fall into my bed and fall asleep, listening to nature’s lullaby.
