a blessing from above ...

I realise so suddenly that I am right now leading a very sedentary and comfortable bachelor life. Not as leisurely as Bertie Wooster perhaps but in my own way I do feel like the Nawab of Hyderabad! I am high on the feel good factor right now. Its the bloody climate I guess. Makes me stupid and happy. The rains do that to someone who is from Chennai. You don't get to see water for so long that when it actually falls out of the sky, you lose your marbles. Rains in Chennai do just one thing. It brings one of the biggest metros we know to a complete standstill. The rains seem to make up for lost time and unleash all they have in a very short time.
Rains in Chennai are rare and when they do happen, its the perfect storm! So a chennaiite no matter where he or she is learns to appreciate every drop that trickles down from the heavens. The rains make me happy. I'd rather not go into a 'wordsworth'y description of water rolling off leaves and branches. Instead I give you these lines that have touched me.
“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed- It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.”(sorry shaky)
I have not come across a more beautiful comparison. Mercy and rain.
My best holidays have been when it was raining heavily and you can just barely make out the landscape from the misty windows. The rain is like the veil that is thrown on the face of a beautiful woman. It gives you a shimmering look at the astounding beauty that she is. It leaves you intoxicated and aching for more. It makes you want to reach out and touch the drops and try to reach for what lies beyond the curtain of water. Everything is more beautiful in the rain. The ordinary neighbor who comes running in all wet trying to avoid the water(like I said more about her later! ;)). The little kids thrashing around in the slush and of course sizzling hot cappuccinos while we watch the drops of water trickle down the glass walls of the office cafeteria where I am stuck until bloody 6:00 in the evening with no hope of salvation because my idiot boss thinks it is good management to hand out all the work and then scoot off to god knows where to enjoy bloody life yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa X(. That felt good.
People tell me they hate the rains because it means they come to office all wet and muddy. People like that grow up to be the crazy uncle or aunty who yelled at you to get back into your house because playing in the rain will give you pneumonia and kill you. Screw them I say. I love biking in the rain! Every drop is a stinging bolt of pain on your face and every puddle is an opportunity to plaster your neighbor! I guess this is the reason why I have never been good at giving a lift to anyone. I am just having too much fun all by myself! I have very consciously ignored some very pointed but indirect hints from people. Sorry ladies and you other people ;).
I say screw the rules. Balls to the norms. "People who love sunshine have never danced in the rain!". Just remember, if you see someone standing in the rain just taking it all in and he or she has a beatific smile on the face, you are either in Chennai or the fella/felli in front of you is from Chennai. ;)
Get wet people! :)