Rains....

As it continues to rain and drench the sunlight trying to struggle through my window, my mind wanders to some monsoons gone by. We are often fickle when it comes to rain, changing our like or dislike for it as it suits our mood. While one is all alone at home with nothing but the sound of raindrops hitting the AC for company, it casts a film of gloom around everything it moistens. However I remember a time when my friends and I walked through the rain, trying to squeeze two or three of our not so tiny selves under one umbrella. Seeking shelter in Andheri Mega Mall after gorging on some Chinese food, we waited for the rains to stop while we indulged in some caffeine therapy. Coffee has a way of making you feel warm and cosy from within, like someone wrapped a blanket around you from inside and held you close. Over coffee began photography, as my good friend Gattu, ever eager to display his I -phone began to take some pictures of us. Some were candid, but most had us strike absurd and melodramatic poses, inspired from a wide range of Bollywood films. One of my favourites is one with Noopur, Faraz and me, trying to mimic the famous wannabe Baazigar pose. I am sure Faraz had a ball, with two women apparently acting coy with him, and I repeat apparently.

Ever realised how the most seemingly inane conversations end up being the most fun and memorable when it involves your friends. I don’t think one serious or cerebral was spoken between us that evening, and in fact now that I look back I think all four of us were acting seriously tipsy and even indulged in some singing… ahem... I think I should stop embarrassing myself. But that evening is time with my friends I will always remember. Where we had no worries about time, virtually no cares in the world, it was just us and our time together.

There is another time I remember when I spent an enjoyable rainy evening with my room mates. We plonked ourselves on the window sill of our shamefully large room-seriously; it was a mini studio apartment almost for Mumbai standards- and sang Hindi film songs. For those few moments we were young girls, probably in pigtails again, being silly, having fun, little realising that one year from then, we would be in four different parts of the country and very soon world, probably enjoying different seasons at the same time of the year. As clichéd as it sounds; only human beings have the ability amongst all animals to take things for granted. Our health, the weather, our jobs, family, cheeseburgers (till your family pack resembling abs prevent you from eating one) but most importantly our friends. They are the only people in our lives; we have been given the chance to choose. Whom we are born to and whom we will marry is I strongly believe pre ordained. The other good thing is that you can always have more friends; there is no limit, like one set of parents, one or two siblings and definitely just one spouse, in most cases. They keep coming into your life, new ones at different stages, and while they don’t necessarily replace the old, they sometimes fill in the little gaps that old one made by moving on or moving away.

Talking about moving brings me to another time when the rains almost played spoilsport. Aakanksha, the first to move back home amongst the five of us, left in September last year. Just before she left it was her wish to spend a day at Essel World, and enjoy the marvellous rides they have there. However as luck would have it, it began pouring and the clouds kept at it, sending down sheets of rain. Change of plans, rain or no rain we were going to have a fun day. So taking refuge in yet another mall we spent the day, playing… believe it or not... video games, and other amusing little sports where in strong competition with us were a group of kids about 5 years old and their slightly bewildered parents who I am sure were worried how long they would

have to bring their offspring. As we vented our frustration over the lousy weather and our work hassles by shooting digital men, thrashing crocodile heads and driving computerised cars and motorcycles, all the stress and arguments of that morning just seemed to evaporate. As we laughed and chortled, glared at children so that they got out of our way and ate junk food, it seemed liked we could not have a more fun filled day.

There are so many more happy rain memories out there, each left captured in some time bubble along the way, floating till one of them bumps into me and I relive that moment again. Like the first day in the rain with the man I love and married. The sound of the sea and the pitter patter of raindrops and a lonely beach were perfect companions to two nervous souls, still getting to know each other but falling in love, slowly and surely. I used to always feel that the movies and arts exaggerated the romance in the rains... but that was till I experienced it myself. The swirl of water, the way the drops rest in your hair and on your face, the nip in the air and packets of freshness stuffed into the air around you.

Today as I go ahead to make a nice dinner for hubby and me it continues to rain again. I write this blog with breaks in between as I catch up with old friends and wait for Mr. D to come home and share the evening with me.