Barso re megha!

It's been a while since I wrote something, and was even pulled up by creyzeee about it. I told her about me having a kind of a writer's block, and she, in her inimitable style, dismissed it with a "vadde log, vaddi baatein" type of comment ;) But its actually true, I was having a "I don't know what to write about" kind of problem.
Yesterday I got up, with a feeling, that I have to write about something. And just like that, as I looked out of my balcony in the morning, it started to rain. And all my favourite rainy day moments, and rainy day songs started playing in my head, waiting to be put in words, waiting to be immortalized.

So here it is, some of my rain-related memories!

1) I lived in Kuala Lumpur for 3 years, and true to its tropical nature, it rained practically every single day- I am NOT kidding. And I have never ever seen a better example of "pouring like cats and dogs". In my school, we had this rule that unless there was lightening, the sports class wouldnt be called off: so i have many memories of playing football in the open school grounds, the rain completely blocking my vision (i didnt have lenses at that point of time, so fun times for me!) and getting hit by the ball ALL the time. Once, my mom had driven me and my brother to a nearby park for an evening out, and it started pouring (as usual), and i remember the three of us (definitely not the most geographically blessed in the family) had to make our way back home, amidst the showers and traffic jam...my mom hasnt driven a car since kuala lumpur, but whenever i think of my mom driving, i think of that incident.

2) One of my all-time favourite scenes from one of my all time favourite movies is the rain-dance in the gazebo scene from kuch kuch hota hai. That movie (all cheesiness and cliches included) always reminds me of childhood, of times when movies were so real...and that one scene for me symbolizes romance to the hilt. Recently, it was played out again in dostana, but it wasnt quite the same ;)

3) One day when I was in 12th grade, due to some seriously heavy rains in Delhi, my school bus reached school about 2 hours late...i remember walking into class to an image of socks hanging on the side of the room, and umbrellas opened up all over the place. That day, the humanities section had gone out for some competition, and because of that, my psychology class was cancelled. So, during the maths class which our classmates were attending, me and another psych student hung around the whole school barefoot (coz our shoes and socks were wet) and we even played hopscotch (good ole' stapu) in the rain. I remember coming home from school on that already lovely day, to the surprise that the parents had bunked office! I was 16 years old, but trust me, I was as happy as a little girl to see her parents at home when she came home from school :)

4) One of my closest friends from school, P, was in a terrible car accident when we were in 3rd year of undergrad. I remember all of us went absolutely crazy when we heard and wanted to see her the next possible day...the day we (the school gang) decided to go see her, all of us assembled and had lunch at our (then) favourite haunt- nirulas, chanakyapuri (which i continue to miss!). After gorging onto food, we came out to find N's car (which was to take us to P's house) not where it was parked...it had been towed! By then it had started raining, and all of us went in autos to rescue the car...by the time we got to teen murti police station, it was raining so so heavily! i remember me and two of my other school friends waited in the car (with rain swishing all around us) while N and S went to fight it out with the policemen...by the time we reached P's house, all "wish you speedy recovery" type dialogue went for a toss and it was all about "do you know what happened to our car?" It's not really a rainy day memory, but the rain just adds spice to the story :)

5) Whenever it rains (at least for the past 3 years), the first song which comes to my mind is "barso re megha"- i danced to this song on hostel night during masters, and thus know each beat, each word, each musical note...and i never get tired of it. whenever i see raindrops, i just want to dance to barso re!

6) I had gone to Poland in the middle of my masters, and one day while visiting the city center in Warsaw, me and my cousins were caught in the middle of some serious thundershowers. After waiting for about 10 minutes for the rain to stop, and then figuring out that nothing like this was going to happen for at least an hour more, my cousins decided (against my better judgement) to run in the rain to the train station...i pleaded and protested, but the brothers bullied me into running with them. But what a run it was! By the time we reached the station, we were wet and when we asked a lady to take our photograph, she looked at us like we were bonkers! When we got home, my aunt and uncle promptly told us to change and had steaming hot pakoras and chai ready...aah bliss!

7) In my final year of masters, me and some friends (in a bid to lead more fun lives) decided to go to the IIT fest, and as soon as we entered the campus, it started raining heavily and people who we met told us that scheduled events were most likely cancelled, since they were to take place outside. Despite such warnings, all of us walked in the rain (we were dressed really nicely btw) with 2 'barely there' umbrellas...my sandal broke, all of us were drenched to the hilt...and by the time we reached the inside of the campus, it was confirmed that the events were cancelled. So after hanging around aimlessly for some time (in the rain!) and having soup or coffee (don't remember) all of us trudged back to our hostel...mulle ki daud masjid tak!

8) One of my cousins got married last year, and right before his wedding reception in delhi, four of us went for a walk around our colony (its a code word for "secret bonding time"). In the middle of this walk, it started raining heavily, and instead of running back to our respective houses (which were hardly 30 seconds away) all of us stayed in the middle of the rain in a sheltered spot, and continued to talk and chat it away amidst the puddles, the thunder and the raindrops. That is one 'walk' which I'll never ever forget :)

Rain has been used as a metaphor for a lot of things in books/movies/songs- for love, for separation, for change, for happiness, for new beginnings, for sadness, for tragedies...and a myriad of emotions. For me, rain has always been about joy, about fun, about memories of a lifetime...

of europe, family and doing very 'not-me' things

so back from europe. it was f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c, as expected. after this trip, i think i can conclude that europe is about world history and culture lessons, along with a treat for the eyes.the last time i went to europe, circa 2001, it was the visual treat part. i dont remember much culture or history then. we saw tons of places, which were all very lovely and beautiful and we oohed and aahed over all the lovely locales of switzerland (truly jannat), the hustle bustle of paris, the calmness of brussels but the life in the 'grand place' there, the flatness, the windmills and the picture book quality of hague, the castles of prague, the churches of germany..europe 2001 was a visual treat.

europe 2008 (rather poland and berlin 08) was also a visual treat, but it was also a world history/culture lesson. there were places which were visually just so appealing, one felt like capturing it all forever. the mountains of the south of poland, the sand dunes at leba (pronounced weba...dont get me started on the polish language), the baltic sea (aah, a true piscean i shall always remain at heart).

THEN...there was auschwitz, one of the largest concentration camps during Hitler's regime. The two hours there was enough to really understand what world war 2 was all about, what the jews went through. i dont want to put words to that experience, coz any words i use will never do justice to what i felt during those 2 hours. i think those 2 hours will haunt me in some way throughout my life...BUT, its one of those experiences which you are thankful for, and which makes one feel so humbled and thankful to whoever is responsible for deciding our fates...we are really very lucky individuals.

there was berlin, which again was a history lesson in itself, what with us visiting the German parliament Reichstag where the entire Hitler regime and the east/west berlin division and subsequent merging was reprised with pictures; then there was checkpoint charlie, the official immigration point between east/west berlin...there was a quite a dose of world war 2 during this trip.

apart from the world history lessons, there was something else very unique to this trip; me doing very 'not me' things; like going on a roller coaster at full speed out of my own free will, and not once but TWICE- it was one of those things where one could choose their own speed(!); the trek up to zakopane with the brothers- im NOT one of those sporty, adventurous types...so that was BIG; the super fast motor boat ride (a HUGE adrenaline rush!);running like a maniac in the rain and getting seriously drenched; watching BATMAN (lol...THAT was big!)...there were sooooooo many fun things i did during this trip...i felt like a kid again; rather, i did things which i had never done as a kid.

the family bonding was also very special. for a family which has very few members in india, and the rest all spread over the continents, 8 people being together for 10 days is BIG...what is very special is that everyone has their own lives now, everyone is busy...yet there are these trips which just come up and which turn out to be successes (read super fun!) because we all love spending time with each other; whether its a day trip to agra, a week's trip to rajasthan or a 15 day european sojourn...the family manages to have the time of their lives...which is what makes my family just so incredible!

so im all happy after the trip...and im back to the grind of delhi life. the classes-office routine is on and the coming yr seems to be looking quite grim...best of luck to myself and my fellow sufferers!