I totally love thunderstorms... have always loved them...
Right from the days when they struck while I was at school, gazing longingly out of the window, at the grey sky, that prompted the school authorities to switch on the lights in the middle of the day, the flashes of lightning, the rumbling of thunder, and the huge first drops of rain, landing on the window sill. Then arose the wonderous smell of earth, wetted by the rain. As the rain got faster and heavier, it bathed my dusty world, and painted the trees, the grass in a lovely green hue. By the time school ended, rain ended too, leaving behind fresh, crisp air to breathe in, and big muddy puddles to jump in, all the way back home... The days we got extra lucky, we got to use polythene covers to stuff our books and notebooks in to save them from the rain in the pre-expensive waterproof school bags era. We then got to jump in puddles, plus get wet in the rain an ecstasy unmatched by any other in those magical days of childhood. Mid-luck levels meant I had no polythene covers to protect my books, and I had to run all the way home, the thrill of which was not subdued by the fact that the next hour would be spent spreading out the books and notebooks to dry under the fan. Ofcourse, I should not forget to mention that these were the only rare times when I got all pampered after returning from school, being urged to change into dry clothes, dry my hair, and keep from falling sick.
The evenings when it rained, I took my diary/novel, and sat on the stairs next to the airy corridor outside my seventh floor apartment.. Thanks to the high rise building, this corridor had breeze going, through the year. I know about the physics behind it today, but it was nothing short of magic to me, the school kid. The rain with gusts of wind, splattered all over the corridor, and made me feel light, happy and splendid... These times are amongst my most cherished memories from that house...
College days were fun too in the rainy season..since I could give the excuse that my latest artsie jhola was too pretty and too small to have an umbrella sticking out of it, and I could get all dry before reaching home, and not cause all the flurry and concern... but rain Gods proved to as elusive as ever... no rain whenever we wanted it , and were ready to enjoy it... one fine day, I decided, I will tempt the rain into pouring down, dressed up in bad clothes which could handle being rained on, an old pair of sandals, which had not much to lose in way of getting spoilt further, and the artsie jhola... Here I was, in the dark room, with a spectrometer, and a yellow sodium lamp, distractedly focussing and defocussing it...waiting for the sky to turn grey, the oppressing humidity to be washed away by litres of water pouring out of the sky..
Rain Gods were listening in, apparently... as soon as it started raining, about 6 or 7 of us, slunk out of the back door of the dark room, and ran into the middle of the science lawns... It was raining so heavily that we were soaked from head to toe in like a minute...Just standing there.. with hands stretched out wide, facing the sky, feeling the pattering of the raindrops on my cheeks was an experience out of this world... as if each raindrop was infusing me with energy, peace and sheer joy...
Now that the rain drenching was all done with, and one more hour of lab remained to be done, to get attendance, we decided to get off the lawns, and walk in the corridors, drip drying and creating watery patterns all over. We were assuming that this would take about half an hour and we could sneak back in, without the teachers in the front room noticing..
Well, it turns out that there is only one prayer God listens per day... these old sandals I was wearing, had no grip whatsoever, they had sleek, shiny and smooth soles...the cemented corridors in science block din't help my cause, nor the drip-drying... I slipped and fell on my back.. once, twice, thrice.. actually about 12 times in total... after about 6 falls, I was quite shaken... and my friends kinda concerned...two of them held me firmly by one arm each... when one of them loosened her grip, I fell headlong again, causing my one supporter to fall with me, and into the muddy lawns..
We soon realised that the drip-dry idea was not as quick as we thought it would be, and we realised it was almost time for attendance.. and... the back door to the lab had been closed shut from the inside, for some strange reason...we ended up entering one by one,through the front door... where the teacher's desk was located too...the teacher was old, and a big sleepyhead...and everyone managed to sneak in, without him raising even an eyelid... in came I, with my amazingly slippery sandals, which had another interesting property, they squelched and squealed when wet... the octagenarian woke up.. and called out to me... I shamefacedly went and stood by his desk, waiting for the repriamand to come... It dint.. instead, he went like " Child... you are wet through and through, you will catch a cold.. why dont you take my umbrella and go to my house, my wife will give you some dry clothes?" I was dumbstruck at his kindness, and grandfatherliness. I blinked for a few moments, and then politely declined his offer, making some inarticulate excuses. He then said, "you better leave early today, and go home, I will take care of your attendance, dont worry". I was speechless at his magnanimity in forgiving my mischief, which he obviously saw through.
Anyway, I was left off early enough to catch the last USpl that headed out towards home, so off I ran to the bus stop, slippery sandals in one hand, jhola in the other...only to realise that my bus wasn't there, only the mehrauli bus came, and since they have a common route alteast half way, the students waiting for both buses squeezed into one..which wasn't really so pleasant, given that half the ppl had played in the rain prior to boarding the bus and the dry ones din't take kindly to be jostled around with us...DTC buses don't usually have leaky roofs, but they do have broken windows... I was in front of one of these windows, and the blasts of cold air chilled me to the bone... I was glad to get home, take a hot shower and change into dry clothes.. and chronicle this wonderful day in my diary, and toss the sandals into the trash can...
These are all old, treasured memories, that light up my face by their mere remembrance. And it is raining today, just as heavily, and I hold a warm cuppa green tea in my hand, station myself by the window, listen to the sounds of the rain, and finish typing out this entry..
