Tuesday, June 11, 2013

A WALK IN THE RAIN

A WALK IN THE RAIN

Yesterday I was caught in the rain while on my evening walk and I loved it. I knew it would rain for it had become cloudy when I left home but I went anyway despite warnings from my wife (don’t get me wrong on this, she only said I should avoid going out, for it may rain). You see I love to look at the sea at such times, the sound of the waves and the cool breeze blowing across my face. By the time I reached the beach, the clouds had grown ominously grey and while I was at the end of my first round I felt the first drop of rain on my head (I could, you see I have no protection up there), then on the tip of my nose. A slow drizzle started and I initially sought shelter underneath the lone abandoned bus stop. This was a relic,  for no bus has ever plied on that road and for that matter the road along the beach is not a thoroughfare and ended at the fishermen’s colony, may be after all it is only a sit out with a shelter. I usually walk while listening to music from my ipod and today I was listening to Mohammad Rafi. I have a collection of nearly 200 songs of Rafi and around 150 of Kishore Kumar in the ipod, apart from my other favourites. As I stood beneath the shelter I decided to walk in the rain and get wet. I wanted to relive that moment of exhilaration when as a child of five I was out dancing in the rain. Of course I got scolded by my mother for having got myself wet, after all that was parental concern that I may catch a cold and possibly end up with fever. Today I knew that this would come from my wife, of course again out of concern. But my mind was set, for not only did I want to relive the exhilaration of childhood but also the romance of youth.

I stood under the shelter for a few minutes to finish my conversation with a friend on the phone and then selected one of my favourite songs of Rafi from my ipod and stepped out into the rain and resumed my walk. As the rain hit me, Rafi was singing in my ears –
Zindagi bhar nahin bhulegi vo barasaat ki raat
ek anjaan haseena se mulaakaat ki raat

There has been no anjaan haseena or a mulaakaat on a barasaat ki raat, but I lived that moment in my fantasy world. The feel of the rain on my face and the music in my ears was sheer bliss. I stopped once or twice below some trees on the roadside on my way back home to wipe the water of my spectacles.  The rain did not last long and had stopped by the time I reached home. When my wife opened the door and before she could say anything I said “It was great”. She did not say anything except that I should dry myself quickly. She knew that I was a hopeless romantic.

It is not that I have not got wet in the rain before. In fact I remember the 26th July 2005 when Mumbai recorded the highest ever rainfall and nearly all parts of the city were flooded. I was there and had waded through waist deep water to reach home the next day. There have been similar such moments but they were not out of choice. Your only concern was not to get wet and reach home as soon as possible. This was different, I chose to get wet and I chose the moment.



I have always loved to see the rain fall, at such time I would sit by the window watching the droplets dancing on the ground and listen to its patter. As a child I remember making small paper boats and watch them move along with the stream of water. Who does not savour moments like this especially with a hot cup of coffee or tea accompanied by hot pakoras or bhajjias. I know you will say yes. 

7 comments:

Dasarathi said...

Re-living the childhood days and its simple pleasures is an experience that keeps us young. That was a lovely break from the monotony of reality.

Varsha Uke Nagpal said...

I am so glad to have finally met the real Subbu. We all live in a world of our own making, where we live by rules, beliefs, constraints and project an image of our self.
Your being with yourself free to enjoy the downpour without a care, listening to an appropriate song has to be a moment of abundant joy. This moment of enjoying the joys of nature all remain with you bhajia, coffee or none to accompany it.
I too love the rain, the lightening, thunder, dark clouds and the drops. I love to watch it, to get wet, drenched. I have done this many times when I walk out without an umbrella and take no shelter.I do hate the roads and puddles after it, but when it is raining I love to walk in the rain. Thanks for sharing this experience with us. Reminded me too of my own love for rain.

Sublimation said...

Prabha Ravi: Read an interesting book called Teaching children joy when my daughter was 3. One of the things that left an impression on me was " when your child jumps into a puddle on the road, our first reaction is oh no!!! Instead try jumping into the puddle with her. And see the reaction on her face . The fear of seemingly big consequences / inconveniences very often curtail the adult to enjoy small things in life be it walking in the rain......

Sublimation said...

Pratap Singh Rathaur: I enjoyed your concert with rain.Water,an element of nature,is the main constituent of human beings and most of other denizens of earth.Majority of beings including the plants welcome rains,thrive on account of it and enjoy being in it.It is a well established fact that all life forms began in water and we also grow surrounded by water in mother's womb.After roasting alive in the scorching heat for last several weeks,rains came with a bonus of pleasantly cool and soothing weather during last two days transporting us from hell to heaven.Yesterday my grandchildren got wet while walking from school bus to residence and they were sparkling with joy on account of getting soaked in rain.I recalled my own childhood when I used to hugely enjoy getting drenched in the rain returning from the school in July with the chorus of croaking bright yellow Rana tigrina frogs in the roadside pools of water in which we would float paper boats.I fully empathise with you and wish you repeated such experiences.

Ram said...

YES!!! Hot, hot Methi Gotas for the pure Amdavadi!!! Rim Zim ghire Saawan, sulag, sulag jaaye Mann, Dhiren aaj is mausam mein, lagi kaise ye agan!!! Njoy!!!

P P Pandey said...

You experience no less than what Sahir Ludhianvi might have felt when he had penned this song. The characters were different but the feeling of reliving the childhood despite odds was too good, as we experience after reading it. We too feel drenched while we go through your this experience.

VG. KANNAN said...

Subbu Saar
I look forward to your blog and really like it . Keep it going .

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