Rain, rain, (dont) go away alias manathodu mazhaikkalam

When the clouds start to darken the day, thunder rumbles somewhere far away, tiny lil droplets of rain touhces the ground and releases the smell of sunburnt earth. Aah! Heaven.

Yes. Am talking about the first rain after a hot summer. Being from chennai, I like the rainy season better than any other. Unlike people abroad who prefer the summer sun, we chennaiites enjoy the september rain.

I always feel the rainy season brings out the child in oneself(who ll not love to play with rain drops, splash a puddle or simply watch it with a hot cup of coffee n fried r bolied peanuts) whereas the summer ages even the young.

From the younger years,rain has always been my gud friend. Though it paints the world grey n dark we ll see so much colour once it stops. The greenest green of rain drenched leaves, the brownest brown of the muddy earth, the reddest red of the roads with chemman(red soil) and cleaner exteriors and vehicles.

Its fun to walk to school on a rainy day. With our bag full of books n a raincoat that tries to cover us up, we play with our umbrellas and lil puddles of water all the way to school. The classrooms will be full of half wet people n umbrellas drying in the corridor. In the dark classrooms the vivid colours of those umbrellas, the musky smell of soaked wood n rain is heavenly. Its much more fun when the sky opens up with all its might n roar making the room dark n hearing ur teacher near impossible. Sometimes even the teachers stop teaching to let the kids sit &enjoy the rain. And suddenly there ll b a warning of storm and the school closes early to let the kids reach home safely . The ever friendly rain ll stop the moment u reach home. The sun ll be out n smiling at us while we run outdoors to play with paper boats, watching the toads ,while in the background our moms ll be scolding the school admins for letting the kids out early on a rainy day.

Rain has always been the friend of kids, coming exactly during half yearly exams, sometimes raining cats n dogs from the previous day evening so much that the Government ll declare holiday for schools n colleges, making the school admins cancel the exams. The sun ll be out by 11 o clock smiling on us who llb outdoors.Oh how much we pray for rain to come for the exams we vent prepared adequately. These ll sure upset the plans of working parents but ll make us kids happy happy.

As we grow into a teenager , rain becomes more of romantic companion wishing us to hear all the mushy-mushy love songs n making us curl up in our rooms with romantic M&B s.

As we grow older , even when the rain makes travelling to our office an ordeal with ptc buses ready to bath us in holy mud, drying our clothes near impossible, n filling the house with musky smell of undried clothes n humdity it still gives us all a moment of relief n joy from the daily routine. It makes us enjoy the smallest pleasures of the life. The feel of a warm water bath n dry clothes after we get drenched ll make us at peace with ourself. From watching rain from a balcony, playing with the drizzle with ur umbrellas, travelling through ECR by car or bus on a rainy day hearing the angry beat of rain n maddening roar of seas, enjoying a hot samosa n chai from our office chair taking a moment to go near the windows n watch the rain, to enjoying a home cooked supper of milagu rasam, paruppu thogayal n chutta appalam, rain makes us cherish our blessings in day to day life. It makes us feel happy about the roof we have over our head, the dry clothes waiting for us at home n a treat of home cooked food.

Like humans, rain shows varying emotions from playful childlike drizzle, to taunting lover , to continuos silent mourner, to angry beating down -on- ur- windows in sheets, to mad violent ones with thunder n lightning and swinging n swaying trees flooding our locality. I accept they disrupt our daily life . Yet they are always a sight to watch.

I hope u enjoy this rainy rainy post with a rainy rainy song like http://video.google.ca/videoplay?doc...dex=0&hl=en-CA this and a hot cuppa coffee or chai n pakodas.

Regards,
CC