An Ode To The Rains
08 Jun 2010 1 Comment
in Life, Personal Tags: Belgaum, bhutta, bliss, Brahma Kamal, paradise, rains, Sogal
Monday, June 7, 2010
The rain looks like needles shattering when it crashes into the ground,
The rain seeps into the ground making it damp and moist,
And I love the rain. ~ Darren Marble
Finally it rained after what felt like an eternity. It was a perfect A-Ha moment – that’s what I call eternal BLISS!! 
A breather when the sweltering heat was getting to me everyday almost drugging me to over-sleep. I felt like a squeezed lemon. 
I have never quite gauged the glory of summer days. Except, when I was a kid and we used to wait desperately for our schools to end and pack our bags to Belgaum, to enjoy the gruesome summer and the cool rains letting yourself loose in the lap of nature – a respite from the maddening city life. Wow!! those were some days. That’s history now though I miss being at Belgaum where even in summer it rains incessantly.
However, the bottom line is: I HATE summers. Mumbai unlike Belgaum has no pristine streams flowing down the mountains, ultra lush greenery, mystic peaks or the breathtaking view of the cascading waterfalls and deep gorges in Sogal (exotic hill station in Karnataka). But, I don’t usually mind the mucky roads, the waterlogged bylanes, 
soiled feet’s and worse still, sloppy clothes, courtesy: the skuzzy atmosphere all around. Monsoon has its own charm in this city. How can you overlook the pieces de resistance of this weather? Getting drenched in the rains without a care in the world and loosing yourself to the intoxicating fragrance of wet earth. It feels like you are in a perfumed paradise or simply driving down Bandra Bandstand while the rains gush across your windscreen, the little ragamuffins selling bhuttas, the sound of the waves lashing against the promenade…..its all quite poetic. And how can I not mention the beauty in my own lil garden where every year during the monsoon the Brahma Kamal (Saussurea Obvallata) blooms with all its astounding beauty and a heady mistifying scent that lingers in your heart eternally. Though it blooms and withers in a day. The beauty of this spectacular natures’s creation stays with you forever…..
Blooming Beauty: The auspicious Brahma Kamal
In-spite of all the not-so-pleasantries that Mumbai rains entail, I’m in Love with it, paradoxically. So whether it’s the colourfull gumboots, the frilly umbrellas, the countless cutting chais enjoyed at the roadside tapari with my friends or simply sitting with a steaming cup of cappuccino in my balcony while the incessant downpour continues outside, moments of tranquil bliss that the first rains of the city bring to the parched soul – the Rain God is a blessing, no matter where you belong. 
Sans Toit Ni Loi
Jun 15, 2010 @ 16:56:29
Shilpa … monsoon is probably the most erotic season to happen to mankind … no wonder why Bollywood has been promoting rain songs ever since it start the business of movie making
the best part of monsoon for me is the first drops of rain hitting the dry parched earth … the smell the aroma that the soil throws up is unbeatable … if there was a technology to absorb that aroma and bottle it .. I would probably be making millions marketing such a perfume 
I am sure we all love that aroma 
Monsoons however are best enjoyed on a beach watching the sea going really wild and on mountain tops where you are surrounded by clouds … gives you a feeling of floating in the clouds and if one can make it to Lohagad near Lonavala … there is this particular stream that defines gravity … a small stream on the west side falls down a cliff and the wind blowing is so strong at times that it actually pushes the whole water column up in the air .. it is like a water fall falling up in to the sky … ask anybody who has visited Lohagad on a real wet real windy day and you will what I mean with a gravity defying waterfall. The rains sure are the magic wand of mother nature. Hell … I could write endlessly on the topic of rains