I am not a superman, but a rain man. In short, I just confessed that I love the rainy days. Don`t know if it has to do with Raj Kapoor and Nargis, who formed a marked impression on me when they walked to the tune of the Pyaar Huwa, Ekrar Huwa Phir Kyoon Pyaar Se Dartha Hai Dil song, under a black umbrella.
I think it was an advertisement. And I know what the evil mind of yours is thinking. Ok…I agree, it was an advertisement for a birth-control measure. Now, you know why it made such a mark on my psyche. To cut the long story short…I love rain. You are probably saying, finally there is something that this psycho loves.
My love for rain has nothing to do with all that tea that is created on a kuccha road after the rain. OK…if you are not as imaginative…you probably never realized it. Next time you see all that brown muddy water on the road…imagine it to be tea. You will sometimes even see the malai floating. After a car or a van passes by, for sometime the muddy water will resemble a chocolate milk-shake.
Over the years, my affinity towards rain has been motivated – for different reasons. When I was in class five in Kendriya Vidhyalaya, Ballygunge, Kolkata …the school would submerge (not fully but at least a foot deep) after an hour`s rain. This meant leave for two days….now don`t blame me for loving rain.
As I grew my reasons changed. When in tenth, I loved going to school on rainy days….because half the class wouldn`t have turned up and the teachers dare not teach. Some of the teachers would be absent. I still remember a sleeping teacher sitting in front even as we spent the 45 minute periods talking our way to glory.
When in college, it provided us with an excellent excuse to come late or bunk classes. In Madurai, traffic depends on seasons. There are two seasons – the seasons to ride (Summer) and the season to drive (Rainy). Purists believe there is one more season – the season to sit at home.
When it rained we would all go to the nearby Bus Stop and stand gaping at the girls from the nearby Lady Doak College. BTW…Lady Doak College is also known as LDC (It is another thing that we expand it as – Love Developing Center. It was the nearest girl`s college).
Girls, trying to avoid the muddy waters on the road are a pretty site. They are poetry. Reams and reams can be written on the expression one can see on their faces. Next time it rains, go to a muddy, water-logged road and anchor. Look out for a 18-25 year old girl walk through/around the water…you will know what I mean. Remember, age is important here.
When I joined Indian Express after college, I hated rains. But that was only for a brief while. Being a sports journalist I had to cover sports events in Coimbatore. One day, there was this major tennis tournament happening on outdoor courts…and when it rained…I did not go there to report. I had assumed it would be postponed. Unfortunately for me they had shifted to Perks Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Uppilipalayam and were playing the tournament indoors. That day, I came to know that it is one thing to blunder as a student and completely another to blunder as a professional. The result: I started loving rains again. Shucks…why is this turning into an auto-biography? Am not that old….or am I?
Now, I love rains for the fringe benefits. I don`t have to wash my wife`s scooty. Talking of washing…is it logical to wash the soap after taking bath? Isn`t it supposed to be anti-septic and anti-germs and all that jazz….? Because yesterday, I got scolded for leaving the soap ‘as is where is`, after taking bath. Phew! I have never heard of a lady who washes the soap. Getting back …yesterday I had a drink..courtesy the rain. And tomorrow, I have decided to take off…because I am going to fall ill..courtesy the rains.
Sorry…we stop this because it is already sounding like an autobiography. BTW, here are some titles for my autobiography –
a) A Tall Order
b) Five Feet Deep
c) Making Sense of Humour (get the pun?)
d) Buffalo Skin
e) The Wife Beater
f) Mr Wife
g) Soapy Tales
h) Heads & Tales Of My Life
i) Handsome Hunk – Up Close
j) Mrs Rekha`s Husband