Oh I like rain………
I like rain falling like shimmering iron sheets from the skies, I like it drizzling slowly in minute drops, I like it slanting away in air currents on the plains, I like rain falling like hail storms with fury and deadly intent, the rain that searches for us through open windows, roaring and thumping on the roof while we are within, crashing into us while driving, caressing us on a the hot summer noon coming totally unexpected, I like rain murmuring like our beloved on a pale evening while the day is ending, I like seeing it falling with hissing kisses on the surface of the water and gushing and gurgling through sewer pipes, nipping at the leaves of the trees out in the open, chortling through the passages that it created on the ground and becoming little pools in the sand, I like rain whooming and whooshing in the nights, love the rain which clings to the ankles and apparels of stunning girls, the sudden rain driving men and women into the shades they can find, rain clouding my helmet , the rain coming in great streams down the slopes in my ancestral home, sloshing and slopping in the mud, fogging over the fields in my country side, the rain sliding of the hoods of vehicles, streaming down from the faces of little kids who takes it all very importantly, flooding fields and making vehicles to be escorted across by people walking on both sides of the submerged roads, darkening the skies and the mind with faint dread , rain seen on a sea shore and while bathing in the sea, the rain starting and dying and starting and dying, rain going the whirl wind way, falling off trees, rain following the trains and bending back as we observe it, rattling on the window panes, making strangers acknowledge each other with faint smiles on their faces, making others move closer to us for warmth, rain weaving fantasies in our minds, bringing longing and remembrances, asking questions like ‘ Did I do right then?”, rain wetting palms and crinkling the skin up, running down the spine with fits and starts, spreading on the chest making noises with the clothing, rain coming and not reaching us, rain following us and leaving the places behind, rain seen on my beloveds face and tasteless on my tongue while I kiss her, rain muting all sounds, rain making the saplings bob and bob like a kid elephant, rain spreading like sweat on plantain leaves, moving in droplets over telephone and electrical wires, forming globules on the end of grass which children used to apply to their eyes, rain filling the ink stems which we applied on our slates when young, rain wetting our school books and satchels, filling the freshly ploughed fields so that the skies looked up to us from them, rain seen from afar, falling on distant mountains, filling ponds and wells, making the small fish and water snakes come out on the surface of water to breathe again and again, making the frogs start on a weird symphony, rain running down the trunks of trees, steaming on hot roads in summer, the new rain bringing that exhilarating earthy scent, drowning the paper boats I made in childhood, making my father buy new umbrellas which I never really used and forgot to bring home every time, making the old wooden doors in my country house very unruly to shut, rain washing the face of the earth and making everything appear new, rain falling through bright sunlight making the little children exclaim that the fox is getting married just then, rain making my feet chilly with its persistence, creeping through my arms to my body, drumming on upturned flower pots, rain which makes the night lights hazy, the new rain creating flies out of tiny ants, rain making my dog philosophical and glum, bringing on snails into the house which he doesn’t like, rain in the night with fire flies around, swaying with the trees, slow rain making them stand still as if in expectation of something, rain bringing in letters and news papers wet, creating headlines in TV, which floods the road in front, which brings everything with it while we stand watching the river in spate, cows, logs, pieces of clothing, plastic buckets, toys, uprooted trees, furniture, cans, floating dogs, rubber hoses, radios, napkins, card board packets, rain which turns off the power as if by magic, which makes us light candle sticks and peer at each other at night and making us say every now and then, “the damned fellows wouldn’t repair it in this rain”, that make the trains late and people lax, that makes the politicians come out of their shell and forces them to make statements like “ the roads are being cleared manually and a special action committee has been convened to monitor the progress” which makes the ministers fly to the capital to seek assistance for damages right after they have been back from a visit to claim assistance for drought, rain which makes the electricity minister say things like “ There is enough rain in the catchment area of the dams, but the silt may make it impossible to collect them in our fragile dams” and which makes the authorities say, “ we have no other option but to open the shutters to avoid serious complications, so the public may be inconvenienced for the next two or three days ……….”
Oh I like rain and the troubles it brings. To our poor tropical hearts rain is a sentiment, it’s a part of our sensibility, it sensitizes us to the finer feelings, it pours directly into our hearts and floods it with new shoots of creativity, see, it even brought out the poor poet in me, though the guy is ashamed to be seen………
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