Summer... weird in a lot of ways... first time taking classes (its a joke of a sem btw; 11 weeks; 3 tests, job hunt, interviews, mood swings...); also incidentally, its my first Texan summer... errr... am I still saying summer?? that which means scientifically when the earth, tilting on its axis, is oriented such that the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun?? which means its supposed to be hot?? well.. thats what I think so too.. but no.. welcome to Texas!! thunderstorms, cloudy skies, downpours... wet wet roads; wet wet paths.... wet wet June... does it ring a bell?? Not for me, it just conveniently transports me to the better part on the other side of the world... home... M U M B A I!!
Its as sweet as it is annoying; its as musical as it is pesky... Mumbai and the monsoons have the sort of love-hate relationship that only life can bring about... after 3 months of sweltering heat; dripping sweat and we-are-mumbai-how-dare-you!! attitude ensuring electricity in our homes, come those cloud-laden horizons... typically bollywood in nature.. romanticizing the hassled Mumbaikar with the thought of rain.. but na... nahi nahi abhi nahi..abhi karo intezaaaar.... the intruiging part... it only adds to the humidity!!! I don't know if any of you have noticed it.. but there are these 2-3 evenings when the sky turns yellowish orange just as the sun is setting.. for me that personally heralds the onset of monsoon... for the concrete jungle that it is, Mumbai has its share of natural visitors.. the monsoon harbingers which poor Times of India makes it a point to publish year after year, more out of sympathy for the photographer's sweat and pain while waiting to click the snap...
One fine day; one fine moment... it arrives.. pit pat pit... a few drops initially... then the torrent.. truly heavens opening up kinda scene.. the asphalt on the roads actually hisses.. as though a blacksmith immersing his red hot iron into a bucket of cold water.. almost no one on the roads has an umbrella (fooled by the past evenings of cloudy skies)... pedestrians react variedly; some rush to the nearest shop, others just stand and soak it in... the guy who ran into the shop... wearing a wry smile on his face..telling the store-keeper who has his hopes risen by the sudden incrase in customers(oblivious to the fact that none of them would probably buy a thing),"accha hua shuru ho gayi barsaat!!"
What transpires for the next 3 months or so is pure magic.. pure romance... I don't know of another place on this planet which gets transformed to such an extent..maybe snow makes cities look good, Fall has its colors.. but Mumbai.. its almost as if it gets nestled into the rains, rather than thwarting it... If I just make a random list of things that make me smile about the Mumbai rains, it would read like this:
1. Autos with their cute-little good-for-nothing shutters
2. Water falling off like a hose-pipe from the front of BEST busses when they come to stop
3. Bhutta
4. Gumboots and school kids in raincoats (which btw make you sweat even if you are wearing them in the rain ..annoying little material tht plastic)
5. pot-holes
6. Umbrellas (especially the sun brand.. considered good ... but sorry boss not for more than a season of Mumbai ka barsaat)
7. flooded Milan subway
8. Earthworms in bathrooms (I'm a ground floor guy so similar ppl will definitely agree)
9. Snails
10. Grass on barren grounds which we never ever thought were capable of vegetative growth
11. Moss on the walls of the buildings
12. People with umbrellas and raincoats dripping wet but cramming with the same intensity into trains and buses (and no one really minds it too..chee.. duur hat.. u'll never hear tht inside a bus)
13. Waves splashing up the wall on Marine drive
14. Fallen trees and blaring sirens of the fire brigade crew which dodges its way through traffic to get to the spot
The city actually becomes beautiful in my eyes.... of course, the floods and the tides have their cat and mouse games... and there is always a day or two in July-August when things come to an absolute standstill... sab bandh... and you hear of how ppl were stranded but made it home in tempos, trucks and wading through knee deep water...
All in all, I always found myself living my life and enjoying it the most during the monsoons...the world claims four seasons.. monsoons and Mumbai claim each other...
