Of rains, scorpions and love

She was thinking of cooking lunch in some time. There was no hurry since they had a good and late breakfast after which he had watched some T.V and slept. Easy, lazy Saturday for both. All of a sudden the sky was overcast, dark clouds gathered very quickly and it started raining heavily just like a PMSing herself would cry over a song or his inconsideration or over missing her people - big, heavy rain drops.

She always found herself excited when it rained and there were many reasons for that. Rains in her life time of 30 something years happened with animation. 

What was her first vague memory of heavy rain? Her family was in a transit home before moving into a proper one which would be made ready for them in some months. This was an asbestos sheeted living space which leaked every where when it rained, she remembered sleeping on the cot with her siblings while her parents sat with two big umbrellas to cover them. In retrospect, she felt sorry for her parents but for her the memory was of excitement of huddling together, giggling with her siblings and being up beyond her bed time. 

 

During later rains as she grew older the first thing her mother shouted when it started raining was 'hey it is raining, quick go get the clothes drying on the clotheline, quick close  the door, quick quick', this was accompanied by her and her siblings running in a mad dash to get dry, semi dry clothes from the line, becoming a bit wet, bumping into each other, tugging some clothes in impatience and tearing some one's precious garment and so on. Always what followed after the rain gave an implicit permission to throw the regular routine in the wind. Demands for pakodas or chilli bajjis were put forth and later when she was an young adult her brothers spoke of having some alcohol in the night to celebrate the rain. They all did too, she blossoming  into an efficient bar tender with a clever hand which tipped less to the tipsy and more to people who kept an eye on the pouring including herself.

There were scary memories of rain too. During her regular summer vacations in her grandparent's home with a mud terrace, she and her cousins were always woken up in the dead of the night from deep slumber to chaos of different relatives shouting different commands to different people, 'fold the bed sheet', 'do not run down the stairs', 'leave that pillow here', 'where is the lantern', 'children go with your grandpa he will take you down' and so on. The summer shower also brought scorpions out of their holes, she sat with her cousins bright eyed seeing scorpions every where in the shadows, snakes under the bed and too hyper to fall asleep forever. Nobody forced anybody to sleep, every body used to be wide awake and used to start talking and laughing again. This lulled her to sleep and not care for scorpions of  the  world. 

In one such Monsoon, her brothers met with an accident because it was rainy season. Those rains which started as an adventure while they were trekking the western ghats turned horrific as a train came un announced. Though they were lucky not to lose their lives the rain that night was the noisiest for her.

She remembered her first kiss. It happened when he was a new acquintance and there was electrifying chemistry between them. One fine night, they stood in the backyard of her friend's room, it started raining, there was no light, they were rooted in their spots not making a move towards going back in or going towards a shelter from rain. To this day both of them do not know what happened next, who approached whom, but they found themselves kissing. That rain was like a flower shower and intoxicating than any spirit she had ever tasted including Absinthe.

After that they made many trips to the pub regularly soaking wet and delirious in love. It was heady to drink chilled beer sitting in wet clothes engulfed by warm thoughts. They came to know that they will be together for ever during those nights and went there for every anniversary, birthday and family event.

Today the excitement of the rain made her bring the clothes from the clothes line, plan for making pakodas, call her mother, sister, brothers and sister in law and to kiss him awake.