And the rainy season begins

If you are living in Delhi or Gurgaon, my apologies….rain was never meant for you. If you live elsewhere in the country, chances are you have seen rain and understand what it is. Here is an article on the rainy season.

I don`t remember when I first saw rain. Since I don`t remember, why don`t we make up the story. The year was 1977 and I was a 2-year-old lad fed on a high dose of Farex and tea in a Mestin (see pic of the Indian Army issue of Mestin). After a heavy lunch I was relaxing my head on a pillow when there was commotion in the house. “Stupid family!” I muttered under my breath and looked up. My mother was running to pick up the clothes drying outside and my father was running towards me. He was coming too fast for me – I just closed my eyes and said my last prayers. Next minute, I was sitting on his shoulders and he was running outside. (Did you know Aftab Shivdasani was a Farex model when he was just 14 months old. Obviously, he didn’t feature in the Farex containers that I emptied. He was born 3 years after I came into this World)

The Jamshedpur air felt good….oh wait. It wasn`t the air now…it was like air but very fast….what do they call it? And then I heard my father yelling towards my mother: โ€˜Hurry up fast, the clothes will fly away in the wind!”

That`s when I figured out, it was the โ€˜wind`. Years later, I would find out that wind was the female version of air…..air but a little โ€˜pushier`. Aren`t girls are nothing but โ€˜pushier` boys?

Anyway, there sitting on my father`s shoulders I felt the first drops of rain fall on my face. It was heavenly. If only my father hadn`t held both my thighs in his vice like grip I would have enjoyed the moment better. Maybe he was scared that I would fall. After five minutes in the rain watching my mother grab all the clothes, we walked back inside.

From that day to today, I have loved rain.

Needless to say, rain is very important in our lives. At least, in the lives of those nine out of ten folks who can only start a conversation on weather. “Hot day, eh?” “I just hope it starts raining!”

The last ten years of my life – seven in Chennai and three in Gurgaon – have been bad. All I have seen is a heat wave. But I didn`t wave back. Like all of you, I also hate heat.

What adds to the torture is that none of the weathermen have managed to predict weather correctly – and I have always got caught in rains when I am least prepared, with my laptop, wallet, leather shoes….stuff you don`t want to get wet with. I guess the only correct prediction about weather was when God told Noah, “Son, it will rain for 100 days and 100 nights. Now go build a boat. If you want a scale model for reference, check out Tradus.in – they deliver fast.” (Want to know the story of Noah’s ark?)

One of the memories that my current wife Rekha and I will cherish till we die (or divorce, whichever is first) is that one day when we got soaked in the rain for two hours. It was 2003 and we weren`t married then (psst! Don`t tell her parents, they already hate me for being ‘that’ dark guy who married their somewhat fair daughter).

Rekha had recently bought a TVS Scooty, and was practicing riding her TVS Scooty just below my house. I was teaching her – just like how Veeru taught Basanti how to use the revolver in the super-duper hit movie Sholay. That`s when it started raining. Knowing that I get super romantic when it rains, Rekha hatched her master plan. She didn’t want to enter my house all soaked up….primarily because didn’t want to meet Sharmila Tagore’s fate in the Bollywood movie Aradhana. So, she said: “Hey, why don`t we ride my Scooty in the rains on the East Coast Road?”

I agreed. We had the best time of our life together – next only to the time of Rhea`s birth. We still think of those two hours and chuckle. My only complaint about that day is that, after our drive, I had to drop Rekha back at her hostel and walk two kilometers in the rain to reach home. She didn`t trust me with her new bike – like a typical girl, she said it would get dirty. Yeah right!

Not everybody is lucky to have such moments. In fact, some don`t even have the rain.

But life isn`t without rain everywhere. For instance I was in Kerala, and it was raining on all the four days I was there – 23 hours in a day. I got into a discussion with a ten year old boy when in Kerala.

“Son, tell me does it always rain like this in Kerala?”

“I don`t really know uncle, I am only ten years old.”

“Are you telling me, it has been raining for the whole of last ten years?”

“Yes, uncle. It rains cats and dogs. Foul weather.”

“Son, wouldn`t it be fowl weather, if it rained chickens and ducks and not when it rains cats and dogs?”

“Uncle, you aren`t getting the point. By the way, The weather here is crying for some privacy.”

“Why, son?”

“Because it is changing everyday. There, didn`t I get you in your own game?”

“You seem like a smart boy.” I was beginning to hate the boy. I hate anybody who is smarter than I am and can crack a joke at my expense.

“That I am. I also know to predict the rains.”

“How?” This boy was smarter than I thought.

“The moment it rains anywhere, the Kerala Electricity Board switches off the power supply everywhere. That`s the hint.”

“Wow. Not bad. So you must hate the rains?”

“No, not really. All my friends outside of Kerala get a tree in their house only for Christmas.”

“And?” I was starting to like this boy.

“But we can hope for a tree in the house anytime – whenever it rains heavily, a tree falls on our house. My parents hate it though.”

“Shucks, that must be bad. But isn`t anybody doing anything about the havoc created by heavy rains?”

“Hmm….last year, after heavy rains resulted in landslide & flood in Kerala our Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan visited and promised us that he will not rest till he found out whoever did it.”

“And then?”

“Nothing much happened.”

I didn`t say anything to the boy. For Mark Twain had once said the same thing: Everybody is talking about the weather but nobody does anything about it.

By Jamshed V Rajan

Jammy, as Jamshed V Rajan is affectionately called, is a wannabe stand up comedian. He has a funny take on most things but documents only some of them. If you are interested in chatting up with him, do drop him an email at jv.rajan@gmail.com or message him at +919650080255.

10 replies on “And the rainy season begins”

I am a new reader of your blog…..so i went through ur old posts, read almost all. I liked some posts but most are boring and doesnt make sense. Like this one, after reading whole post twice, I didnt get the point of writing this. The topic and content doesnt relate. I think you are very busy now a days with Ibibo.com, so you just write ur blog for the sake of writing. And as usual, No climax. As a experienced blogger, reader and lover, you must be knwoing the important of good climax. I attempted to start my own blog and made sure that I give good introduction and better conclusion or end part. As a reader ( and bored blogger) I think the ending is as Important as start. Most of your articles ends with no full stop (not litteraly), its like watching a movie on TV and electricity goes in between.

I know you are an experienced Blogger and ofcourse you must be thinking that I am some stupid guy who doesnt know any thing about blogging, just like every Indian I also like to criticize with no reasons. But I am a reader and I liked many articles of this blog site, so I feel bad to see the diminishing quality of humor and writing. Some of the posts are really funny, but most are tasteless like eating in college mess.

I hope you will consider my comment as constructive feedback (becoz thats what i am trying to do here) and work on the humor and climax.

To above commentor- With all due respect to your personal opinion ,blogging is also about sharing a slice of life,can be done casually to share moments of life ,words like writing ink ,should flow spontaeously….It is a medium to connect ,bond ,explore ,discover ,new facets of individual lives ,at the same time satisfy creative urge which otherwise gets stifled in routine mundane tasks.

Life itself is akin to floating ….ripples of moments….
Climax?Is there one?

To each his own.
Cheers!

Contd- On a humourous note ,one cannot make Mutton Biryani n Fish Fry everyday at home.There are times of dal chawal ,khichdi n other routine foods …tasteless,nah !Survival food yes!Similarly creatively sharing life also helps in survival of the inner soul . Keeps the spirit alive ๐Ÿ™‚

Deepa,
I agree to what you are saying. But as I said, I am newwst reader of this blog and why I started following it is because I like most of the post which were veg biryani and gulab jamun (I am impure vegetarian). So whenever I have craving of good food (read in this cae) I come here. But I got disappointed to see same dal chawl and khichdi. I have many years without this blog by reading time of India and school books. So I am not here to read for my survivial, I am here to read good humor. Creatively sharing life in a funny way is what I like and expect here, but I was not not getting that for some time.

When I climax, it means more in writing sense. If I write a report for my school or work, and I leave conclusion, no one will appreciate my effort in writing the whole report. I know this is just a blog. But the writer is huge success as blogger and everyone would expect a high quality of content and style of writing. I am glad to see the improvement is the latest post. It is imaginative, creative, funny and yaay!! have a closing line.
Also I am born and bought up in India(a free country) and now in US (free country again). I have right to show my disappointment and give feedback. I did same and Jammy took it positively.

Thanks Jammy for noticing my comments. I wish you best in your life.

Dear Vineet,

Nice to see your reply ๐Ÿ™‚
I am new here too,in fact just became friends with Jamshed and I am also a pure vegetarian:)It was just an example ๐Ÿ˜‰

I was born n brought up in free country( amchi Mumbai n amche Pune,India ), travelled out of India for work to ‘not so free ‘countries like Ghana (Africa) n U.A.E (Dubai).I went through the creative stifling of a ban on social networking sites,no youtube, no Gtalk in office ,sometime no Fb too,ibibo,orkut blocking etc for years. I really started appreciating blogging,ibiboblogs was an only escapade for me to connect (somehow this was not blocked n I blogged as sugar there,mostly stupid stuff ๐Ÿ˜‰ ).

Back in India for almost a year now n moving out to South East Asia is on the horizon….wonder what internet laws holds for me there.

Hope you do understand my point of view to the whole experience of blogging ,I do get your point .
Enjoy your Veg Biryani with Gulabjamun ๐Ÿ™‚

On that Veglite bite, cheers !
Deepa

Hey Deepa,

Good to hear back from you. Ofcourse you have more expereince of life and you have seen the world (not saying u r old ๐Ÿ™‚ ). Also I am not impure vegetarian (means i eat chicken sometimes). I am from Mumbai too, my parents still live in Goregaon. I am impressed by your expereince of working in so many different countries. Can I ask what do you do? I know the restrictions in some countries and which is so sad. But we have freedom of speach and we should use it for good. Even if PM of India would be writing a blog, I would have commented on it LOL..I have my own blog and but being busy from last few days (14 months). So now just read, not writing.

I understood you point and I am glad you did mine. Anyways biryani and gulab zamun are not for health and taste, if you eat everyday lol.

Cheers,
Vineet

Hey Vineet,

It is every Indian’s birthright to use his freedom of speech,we just proved it @Jamshed’s space n how !:)
Anyways women don’t even need this right,they are born to do the 4 letter word that ends with letter k…..TALK ๐Ÿ˜‰
Please don’t trouble Manmohana,let him sleep,poor old man,you can satisfy your critic urges here at this young man’s space;)

I am a microbiologist turned management fool ,fooling around with life ,what about you?Nice to know you are a BB (Blogger from Bombay)and not so nice to know you have a 14 month gap in activity:( for a woman this could hint at reproduction activity ,not for a man;)

My profile name used to be Sugar n my blog was Sinfully Cheenilicious ,so can’t help sweet mentions like jamuns;)

So my Hindi -Cheeni bhai -bhai,
bye -bye n tako caro:)
d

Cool!! thats an interesting journy from microbiologist to management fool. I am purusing Masters in Information Management from NY, US. And thats the reason for my 14 month inactivity. Grad school keeps me damn busy. Its ironic, how we think most Americans are not so bright, but thier course work is so damn advance, organized and damn tough for us supposidly brilliant Indians.

You used “was” for your blog, have you stopped writing it now? I love to read and comment than writing a blog now. You used cheeni, which is very north indian word, as in Maharashtra, normally people use shakkar, even for suger. North Indians use shakkar for jagary powder. LOL, sorry for that explanation, but I am sucker for behavior, language and culture change in differnet part of India or world.

Well, I enjoyed our this little discussion on Jammy’s Space. I am sure, he has already got very pissed at us for using his blog for our discussion, becoz now we changed the topic all togrether. So if you are interesting, we can talk on email my email is vineet.j.tyagi@gmail.com….

Cheers,
Cheeni bahi lol…take care

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *