BARSAT Ke Din Aaye..

I have been waiting for this part of year for quite some time. Especially after the scorching heat ripped my soul, rains were very much awaited. It’s a lazy Sunday morning with heavy showers outside. Standing in the balcony, sipping a cup of tea and enjoying the feel of droplets touching your hands, it’s simply amazing. Am sure rest of the mumbaikars will be feeing the same as am I.

Rains have a special significance in India. Our economy, primarily being agricultural, depends on it. If there’s a bad monsoon year, GDP would tumble. But this is a quite macroeconomic view. What barish really means to a farmer is of more importance. He spends his entire summer staring at the sky for first sight of rain clouds.  I could not but thought of movie “Lagaan”. The song “Ghanan Ghanan ghan gir aaye badra”--- I can feel the joy of poor farmer (Aamir Khan) at the first sight of rain clouds. The farmer is the one who has most awaited it.

It’s said that Tansen had the voice to make lord Indra shower his blessings. In this era, I believe, the poor farmers have such divine powers.

Rains are manifested as the season of romance. Our bollywood has taken much use of it. The oldest depiction I can remember is --Raj Kapoor and Nargis, under one chata, in “Pyar huya ikrar huya” and the latest I can remember is –Akshay kumar and Katrina Kaif in “Gale lag ja”. Rains make their chemistry more going. My personal favorite is the scene form movie kuch kuch hota hai. Link embedded. BTW, I am die hard fan of SRK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEM8bwu4fSE

This lazy Sunday gave me some extra time to back in my mind. I wanted to relive my past of the times when rains means a break from school, when rains meant wading through the streets of badabazar, when rains meant running to the terrace and taking first showers, when rains meant making the paper boats, when rains meant so much fun. Times have changed, forms have changed, but the happiness rains brings to my heart is still the same. I still cannot stop myself from getting drenched when it pours. The smell of damp earth is heavenly.

People, here in Mumbai, dread rains, especially after 27^th July incident. Thundershowers and high tide swept away every thing that came in its way. It was bad. It was terrible. But what we could have done to avoid it? We are small creatures against the Nature’s extreme power. I pray to God that such a natural disaster may never strike ever again.

Apart from major havocs, rains create many traffic hassles. Pace of movement of traffic on Western Expressway Highway is like that of a snail. Even after honking for an hour, one is almost at the same place from where it started.

But every good thing has some dark side and these traffic hassles, these hardships are nothing compared to the happiness that rain bring with it.

I know I can go on writing and there’s not end to it. Rains are such a thing. The sound of falling droplets, the sounds of birds chirping, the sight of greenery everywhere, the sight of little waterfalls, the sound of cricket, the sight of rainbow and  the sight of a couple cuddling each other under single umbrella-- makes me feel the heaven is still on this earth.