The Rains

Love them, hate them, you can't ignore them, especially when you are in a city like Mumbai. It is just the end of July and the city has already had about 75% of its seasons' quota.

It's not been raining the proverbial cats and dogs but yeah, it has not also stopped in a while. If I am counting it right, it's been almost 9 days since the last dry spell.

Personally, I love the rains, the smell of the first drops on the soil, the greenery it spreads, the fall in temperature, the happy kids jumping in small puddles.

Yes, this blog is more about that. The kids in a puddle and enjoying the rains. The smile that they have and the innocence that they carry.

It was about a few days back, I was on my way to my club to play a game of squash with my buddy. It had just started to rain and I was trying to get my wind-cheater out of the bag. I was about to cross the road when I saw an autorickshaw had got stuck in a small pothole. It was full of muck now due to the on-going Metro work in the area. The rick guy came out trying to free the wheel that had got stuck in the hole.

He was trying to get people's attention to help him out but to no avail. Then suddenly out of nowhere these 7-8 toddlers, dressed in a white and biege school uniform came trudging out of the rickshaw and started pushing it. It was a sight to behold.

As I made my way towards them to give them a hand, I realised they were so excited at being able to get wet in the rains in the name of pushing their vehicle that they actually managed to get it out of the hole!

And the next scene was something right out of a scripted children's show. The kids were literally basking in their glory, rather getting drenched in it! They all left their bags in the rick and were jumping with joy and the innocent smiles made the people looking at them remember their childhood when they would find reasons to get wet in the rains and enjoy the weather.

It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in a city which is so busy in itself that it hardly looks at people around.

The rains made me realise one thing, if it is summer that gets people's tempers high it is the rains that gets them down...and how!