Day #39: Monsoons (100 days Gratitude Challenge)

Day #38:     Monsoons
(100 days Gratitude Challenge)
The skies have darkened and the clouds have gathered and burst forth to shower rains on us. Yesterday was the first day of the monsoon and the city is getting pounded by torrential downpours. I love the rains and this monsoon is promising to be a good one with rains predicted through the month.
Along with the rains, romance is in the air. This is the time when you can cuddle up and make out with your lover even during the day. If you love books, this is the time to sit in your favourite armchair, sip hot chai, munch on some bondas and drink in your book. 
Monsoons revive and rejuvenate us and give us a fresh new start every year. The city reservoirs get replenished and the water table rises to store enough for us to draw water for a full year.
The city gets cleaned up by the waters which wash away months of abuse and dust. The pitter-patter of the rain on the sunshade, the croaking of frogs that have suddenly popped up from the dry earth, and the damp air transport me to my childhood.
Monsoons were looked forward to. We got unscheduled holidays when the cyclone was predicted. When the rains were torrential, schools were closed. We made paper boats and let them sail down the rivulets running outside our home. When my parents were not looking we danced in the rain. Rains meant mischief, fun, holidays, hot snacks, wet earth, the smell of fresh air and more.
As I got older it meant love was in the air and I graduated to walking in the rain or cuddling in a car cutting work and taking the day off.
Now I stay on the 20th floor and rains means wide expanses of water in front of me, dark clouds massed up on the horizon, water streaming down the French windows and the sound of frogs croaking. People have learnt o be afraid of the rains because of the floods two years back.
Whether we fear the rains or not, it does enormous good for our land and us. I'm grateful for the monsoons and the refreshing rains that it brings.


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