When it rains..

First rain of the season.. a lot has been written about this event.. lots of poems, love songs written about rains, the cliched bheeni mitti ki khushboo.. the peacocks..

I'm kinda fussy person. When I think of rains and monsoon, the first things that strike me are the ugly insects, waterlogged roads, flooded streets, traffic jams, chaos. (power failure is not a common phenomena here, as compared to cities like Delhi and Bangalore :p we in Ahmedabad are happier htat way :P) And more often than not, the pain of these things far exceed the awesomeness of rains.

For last 4 years, June to September was quite a dreadful time for me.. because we would invariably be auditing one of the companies in the far off part of the city.. the industrial area which gets flooded badly.. and the constant fear of being stuck in middle of nowhere was scary. (I'm not exaggerating, these parts just got proper roads, we once had ankle deep water inside the cab we were going in during monsoon - that scared the shit out of me cos the water was in a strange colour, and had things floating in it, and I was too afraid to find out what those floating objects were :|) So after 4 good years, for the first time, I smelt the intoxicating smell of mitti instead of random chemicals and diesel fumes from the generators.

And I realised how awesome a feeling it is when the first drops of rain fall on your face. The pattern on the walls when rain falls on them.. filling it up.. in matter of moments.. the trees and the branches moving in a rhythm, thanks to the wind.. almost in a trance.. swaying gracefully while leaves made fluttering sound. The overgrown grass.. I have doubts that some strange beings have made it their habitat.. the grass outside the office is almost knee high! I wont be be surprised if a snake comes crawling on my desk one of these days.

For the time it rained... we sat their, felt the drops on our face, had our hair flying in all directions because of the crazy winds.. the feeling of sand and other dust particles on your face (as a result of the pre-shower aandhi) being washed away by the water.. it was just awesome. Yes, a cup of ginger and pudina tea would have been perfect at that moment, but I'm not complaining.

I was drenched by the time we left.. (yea, had to ask another colleague to unplug the laptop - water good conductor of electricity, no?) and in an ideal scenario, I should've changed my clothes and got into dry clothes. But I guess I do like torturing myself. I've still not changed clothes, and after about 4 hours, they're almost dry. Either that, or my body has become numb and I'm not able to feel anything.

And as I type this blogpost, I feel strangely happy. The rain, the smell associated with it.. the greenery.. it all feels right. As if the universe is giving me a sign.. a sign that it's all going to be all right.

And yes, with that, Rains are "Things that make me smile" :-)