B3: The day when it started raining.

“ It is not the water dropping down that makes it monsoon, it is the rains with the smell of mud along with the sounds of thunder added with the colors of rainbow makes it monsoon.”

The day when it started raining

The days of hot summer were over, I could say this as the month of muggy May had ended and clouds have made their way to cover the sky above us. It was windy, dark, and cold. The heat of summer was blown away by monsoon winds. I love this period of transition, how the bright sunny days turn into dark and shady rainy days. The warmth of the sun doesn’t sweat us anymore, those itchy, stinky, and dizzy days of summer gave us farewell.

The excitement in us to see the first rainfall, to feel the raindrops touch our skin, to smell the scent of the mud, to sense the touch of the cold breeze, to enjoy a perfect combination of hot tea and pakoras, to read in this blissful moment, to capture the first rain in a photograph, to dive in the memories of happiness and so on comes running at us. How poetically people describe their monsoon days! They romanticize it, talk about how they miss their loved ones, about the way they spend their cozy rainy days, and all those romantic stories. But what really happens in a middle-class Indian family from The day when it starts raining?!

Hello, this is Siya Patil and this is how I spend my days of monsoon season. We all know the Mumbai ki garmi (heat) and the Mumbai ki baarish (rain) and how both give us great and extreme weather rides. In my family, the first instinct once it starts raining is, “Bring the washed-hanging clothes inside from the balcony!!!!” and what my mother worries about is, “How are we going to dry the clothes now?” and what haunts my father is “Trains are going to be late now onwards”, my annoying little brother cries out loud about, “the fields are going to get damp and muddy” and what worries me is getting drained by the water thrown backward from the road at me in the auto-rickshaw.

There’s nothing ever romantic or exciting about monsoons and rains in my life. The only things that we think of are; drying the clothes, electricity, mobile, and tv networks, late running trains, losing umbrellas, and spoiling our favorite jeans, and please do not even think about wearing white trousers. But this monsoon wasn’t going to do anything atypical.

It was like any other rainy day, drizzling, lightning, and thundering. I was late from work all soaked in rainwater and trust me take as many as precautions to save yourself or protect your baggage with layers and piles of plastic, Mumbai rain will reach and drench everything. My favorite formal trouser was all destroyed. My dad was smart enough to take a half day and come home early, we must take the weather reporters seriously….sometimes. And guess who was the luckiest amongst us, that little brat, he had a holiday! God, I miss school!!!!

Getting all cleaned up I decided to Netflix and chill. I was enjoying my time, it was just me and my TV. What else could go wrong now? And it was the exact moment when Damon was about to kiss Elena for the first time, boom, the electricity is gone! My tv is dead. My phone’s battery is dead. So we all came in the hall infuriated by our situation. Now, how are we supposed to pass our time? My mother all calm and composed lit up the candles and brought us some snacks and a mystery bag.

It turned out that the mystery bag wasn’t just a bag, but a carrier of memories. It was filled with our childhood, our parents’ childhood, and their wedding albums. We spent the whole evening going through the pictures, there were cute pictures, romantic ones, and embarrassing ones. So many stories and tales are captured and preserved in a photograph, it is a of miracle of technology as they say.

We went through pictures of my brother crying at his first birthday party, and photos of me scribbling and drooling and crawling, every first action by us was seized. The beautiful and adoring wedding photographs reflected the happiness, amazement, and excitement of my parents for their new life. We spent a happy family time with sweet memories and tasty food. As it was raining heavily, the winds filled in for the fans.

Credit: Priya Art Studio

I was sitting near the window, holding an album of mine when I was 3 years old. I saw pictures of me smiling, a face free of any tension of project submissions or the end of the due date, exempt from the stress of my promotion, a face void of any worldly problems. There were photos of me playing with my parents, talking and laughing with them, enjoying my days of innocence. It is hard to remember such days, days, and times I spent with my parents like this, all happy, cheerful, and loving.

There was a picture where I was painting, a scenery maybe and my father was beside me assisting or even directing me, I cannot recollect such moments anymore. The picture that caught my eye was of my beautiful mother, holding me closer in her arms and kissing me. We wore a dress of the same cloth, cringy enough for today but I think it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I haven’t seen my mother this stress-free in a very long time or maybe even us agreeing on the same dress. I cannot recall the last time when I sat with her like this and had a daughter-mother chat.

As we grow day by day we tend to drift apart from that innocence, stress-free smile, family time, and relaxed hours. We get ourselves contained with all the worldly requisites, and we forget about how simple our life could be. We give importance to things that will make us successful in the eyes of others, we run behind things the world wants us to and we leave behind what really matters. We forget to enjoy, smile, laugh, to live content with what we have.

This world is unpredictable, our lives are unpredictable, and we can lose anything dear to us in just one second. We should stop running behind on things we are told to have. In the quest for new treasure, we must carry our own and old wealth; our family, friends, and loved ones. We may or may not achieve what we want but we can always preserve what we have. We can protect and live a pleasing life with them.

That moment, gazing outside the window, looking at those droplets falling down and feeling the winds whooshing, listening to the sound of thunder, I could realize the fun I was missing while whining about my life. I glanced at my family and I could see those smiling faces, the faces of the people who care about me more than even I can care about myself. And that very moment I promised myself that I would live the life I was given to the fullest and share it with the ones who gave me my life.

This monsoon didn’t just bring rains and troubles for me but it brought a spirit of living in me. It made me realize how important my life and the lives of people around me are. And that I shouldn’t waste it by complaining.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” – Steve Jobs. 

By - Humaira Kazi.