Like most people from Kerala, Rain is an integral part of my life.
The rainy school days, the upside down umbrellas, splashing in the muddy waters, rubbery wrinkled toes, paper boats and much more all are part of our lives .
I can't express how much I used to miss the heavy downpour when I was living in Japan. To make up for that loss, we have enough rain in Singapore. Though the showers here aren't decent enough to get organized into a monsoon season, it scatters throughout the year. The rains don't last longer also.
There have been only two instances where I got troubled by the rain. Come to think of it, both were during bike rides.
Once in India, when I went for a movie with Dad & Anup, I had conveniently forgotten that I had my passport in my handbag. While we were riding back home, I had the handbag slung over my shoulders. I didn't realize the consequences until the passport officer got quite angry when I filed a reapplication &, to my utmost regret, told him the true reason. He made me read out the declaration by the President of India, in front of the whole office and waiting crowd! He made me promise that I would never neglect my responsibility towards the passport & the President! To this day, I keep my passport very safe. Am not bothered much about the President part after APJ's term ended.
Second is a more recent bike accident. As always, I was talking to Manu oblivious of what was happening on the roads. When the bike started moving horizontal on the road rather than the usual perpendicular stand, and I was thrown to the middle of the road, I imagined a big trailer at full speed had knocked us out and is coming to run over my head. Why else would the bike fall? Can you give me one good reason? In reality, it was just a tiny skid on the wet roads that started the slide. Results were patchwork on my knees and losing my precious linen trousers. The momentum finally stopped and when I finally sat up on the road, I saw that the bike was lying there in one piece, Manu was up and about & I still had my full head.
To Manu's intense horror, I was laughing when I saw my knees bleeding badly. It did hurt when the doctor cleaned up the bits of tar from my wound & I couldn't bend my knees for a week. But, my joyous mood of escaping from the (imaginary) trailer was more than enough to distract me from the pain.
// If you are curious, send me emails and I will share with you the pictures of Red Africa on my knees. Manu found it too irresistible to take a photograph of it.
Anyways, back to the good stuff about the rain. I still love the rain and can't resist playing in the rain. If am headed home from work or anywhere and it starts raining, I never use the umbrella.
Last Friday evening, when we were riding home, it started raining. After the accident, I get a bit freaked out when it starts raining while we are on this bike. But then, this was Friday evening (only very few things can make my Friday evenings dull) and the rain wasn't that strong. The best part is, it steadily increased through the night, and continued raining. We left the windows open and slept to the music of the rain. When I wake up in the midst of the night I could still hear the rain. And the most beautiful way to wake up on a Saturday morning(when you have no specific plans) is to the sound of the rain. It beautifully rained throughout the day. Later, around six, when the rain was lighter, we went out for a walk. We scouted around a reservoir and the rainy muddy tiny forest alongside it. The following cloudy Sunday kept up the feeling of the monsoon season.
I haven't had such a beautiful perfect rainy weekend for such a long time.
I can see the nostalgic faces of my Malayali friends while reading this, coz that’s what I feel now while writing this.
Honestly, it did not feel like we were in Singapore. The weekend was as refreshing as a short trip to Kerala. In a way, this rain saved Manu a lot of money on air-fares ;) Now, he can spend that on the earrings which I wanted!
