Monsoon!

TV news says, the monsoon has started in Keralam, a day ahead of 'schedule'! :)

My earliest memory of being outside in the rains, is my mom and I enjoying the heavens drenching us, in the backyard of a house in (what was then) a largish town.

In towns, large and small, I remember waking up in the early morning chill, to the roaring rains outside, and snuggling back into the warmth of my bed, with the depressing thought somewhere in the back of my mind, that I had to go to school.

I remember the thrill of riding in the rain across a city, at an age when one wants to stand out and fit in, at the same time!

I remember gazing forlornly at umpteen shades of green earth and gray sky, beyond the clear veins of rain running down a train window, for, when the next lashings of rain came, they would not come for me.

I remember the giddy roadtrips, across sensuous, dusky forests heavy with the scents of June showers, and down tortuous slithery ghat roads, to an old city by the sea, to hear the sound of a girl’s voice, to watch her smile at life’s simple pleasures.

This monsoon, I hope to visit a town by a river, to watch another girl smile, at a world she has known for just about a month.

This monsoon is my baby girl’s first.