Delhi Rains

Smiles. Discussions. Exhilarated expressions. The monsoon clouds finally are above Delhi. So what if they are 6 days late, at least there will be showers now, and cooler temperatures (and hopefully cooler people too). The weather man has been the butt of all the jokes ever since the clouds descended over our country but got stalled on the way. Now he (wonder why its always weather MAN and not a woman) could breathe some relief too. Its early evening. Time to wrap the day's work and head home. The sky's darkening outside. I am contemplating if I should leave early (rains are a perfect excuse). Just then the skies open up and there are rains!!!

YUHOOO....YIPEEE...throw open all the windows...How I love the smell of wet earth!!!

Now all around people are playing rain-astrologers (if such a term did not exist prior to this blog, it does now) and taking turns at predicting how long will this spell last? And the conjectures vary from as small as 5 min to as long as an hour!! Hey, someone should have said it will last a day because it used to when I was a little kid. The bases of their thoughts are the size of the drops, the intensity of the rain and what not!! After being a mute spectator (I am no astrologer, how can I predict?) to their crystal-ball readings, I bid adieu and WALK to my car. Its been raining 15 min now and already there's water stagnating on the roads. So the walk to the car! My footwear is soaked. I see some more people around, waiting for the rain to stop so they to can travel back home. Time to play the good Samaritan. I offer to drop them till the auto-rickshaw stand, though it means some bit of detour for me.



I am behind the driver's wheel. As I turn on the ignition, I realize that this will be the FIRST time I would be driving in such a heavy downpour. ADRENALINE RUSH. I am looking forward to whatever will happen now. As I turn for the detour, the road is just not visible. Water all around. Muddy water. Only if Delhi's drains were not clogged! Kids sitting on the road, almost naked, splashing water, soaking in the rain, having loads of fun. I am safe inside my car. A little ahead a car has broken down. Two more people are pushing their two-wheelers. Nail-biting. Hope I reach home. I take a u-turn to drop off my co-passengers and in doing so block some bit of traffic behind me. People panic. Loud long honks (and I expected cooler people!!)

As I drive down, I come to a small puddle. No one's around. Fun-time. I accelerate and make a SPLASHHH. The very next minute I speculate some loafer guy jay walking (the kinds who always knows how to be a trouble maker for females, I am not a feminist-so the explanation) and I could take revenge. Alas, that's an unfulfilled wish. On the ring-road now. Clogged drains again! Speed ranges from 20-40 km/hr. Other cars have their blinkers on. I switch mine on too. Time for a left-turn, I need to give the indicator. I have to switch off the blinkers. That's confusing (remember it's my first drive in the rain). Parking lights shall be fine I think. More broken down cars stuck in the middle of roads. Traffic jams. Its a norm, so no more nail-biting. Put on some music. FM- the RJ's are playing my fav monsoon songs. Enjoy the splitter-splatter, the respite from the burning heat, the thick grey clouds creating a picturesque moment. Its Delhi monsoons after all.

P.S. - I enjoyed my first drive in the monsoon shower more so because there were piping hot jalebees and spicy hot samosas in the car, which I had picked on the way back, to be had with garam-garam elaichi chai....ymmmmm!