Rainy memories..

                 Its been a lazy summer which extended well till the end of June. The sweltering heat was yet to give any respite. All my dreams of sleeping late in the rainy mornings (while the school kids go to school ) was down the drains as afternoon workouts became unbearable and I had to drag my lazy self to exercise in the mornings.
                 And then one morning, I struggled to open my eyelids even as the mobile blared at full volume to wake me up. Aha! Perfect morning. The large French windows tried to keep steady as the strong winds pushed it. The water knocked gently at first and then vehemently as if trying to garner the attention of the blessed owner still sleeping (read me). After deciding to give the morning class a miss I allowed myself the luxury of sleep past 7.
                 A rainy day, a perfectly jobless me, ginger tea and memories come flooding by...

               The earliest memories that I have of rainy days are those from my childhood (quite obvious :P)
 
              I remember not being able to go out to play in rainy days. My friends used to sail paper boats in the rain water which used to accumulate in front of our houses. Being the delicate one, I was never allowed to do that much.
              The umbrellas used to kept open under the fan to dry and sometimes clothes over it too.. This became like a tent for me to venture into.. I would sit under the umbrellas and be lost in  my world. This was like my own home within a home and I would practically be living in it.
              Once some of my friends found me playing and were irresistably drawn into the game and since then bye-bye paper boats and playing in rains, umbrella  house it is!

               One of the rainy memories which keep coming to me is about a certain best friend I once had. We used to go to the same dance class which would leave at 8.30. Usually we both would come back together. I was about 10 then and she about 12. IT was raining hard that night. We had only one umbrella between the two of us. 

              The class left and we both decided to take the long cut back home :P The main road was already flooded and there were only a few people on the road. The narrow streets wore a deserted look. Unknown to the dangers of that night, we merrily tread through the waters. To top it, we kept singing all the way home. I still remember the song that we so loudly sang, "Mere khuda mujhe itna bata kya aisa bhi hota hai pyaar" by Lucky Ali ! 

              Sharing an umbrella in such rains or coming home drenched made no difference. We were soaked as it is by the time we reached my home.. to see it locked ! My Mom had gone searching for me with an umbrella. It dawned on us that while we were happily spluttering around in the waters, our parents were frantically looking for us. The long cut was definitely not thought of by both the parental units :D 

              We got lucky and didn't get scolded though! It still remains a very happy memory of a very carefree time I once had..

           The recent addition to the rainy memories was with S in Goa. We decided to go to the beach early morning. It was cloudy but we did not carry umbrella as  we were going to get drenched in the waters anyway. 

          We walked halfway to the beach and it started raining. S insisted we keep moving but I thought it would stop in sometime and we took shelter under a roof of a shop. The shops were not open and the road all lonely. We kept waiting for the rains to stop but they wont! 

      S-   "I told you we should keep walking, we would have reached the beach by now"

      Me- Ok, so lets start walking now. What difference does it make?

      S- Shall we start?

      Me- Yeah chalo!

      4 second silence

      S- Nahi sardi ho jayegi tumhe :P 

          And so we waited some more. I consistently prayed to the rain God to please stop now but Rain God was in no mood to answer my prayer that day. After some more time waiting, we decided to walk to the beach. It was a good idea until my shorts got too heavy with all the water they soaked and the Tshirt started clinging to my body :P I again stood under a roof. S was too cold and shivering! I stood there hugging myself and later hugging him. The rain finally had some mercy and started slowing down a bit and we quickly made way into the beach waters. 

         The sea water was surprisingly warm and we sat there for a long time with S trying to go more into the waters while I sat close to the shores. He tried to pull me into the waters but I was petrified of venturing more. He assured me that he would hold me but when a  wave came to hit me and I lost balance he pulled me by my leg :P :P That's all that needed to sway me into the waters and him to realise that water really wants me :P :P 

          Out of the water and into the cold streets again! This time we held on close as we walked. Though the rains had mellowed down , the winds kept blowing harshly. 

          S had wrapped some money and my mobile phone in a plastic and given it to me. I had kept that in my shorts pockets and when we retrieved it back... the  mobile had stopped working. Thank God it was just a temporary old phone I was carrying!

          The next few minutes, I kept frantically trying to make it work and S kept asking me to dry myself or else I will catch cold.. The phone wouldn't work and I relented to S ... Thankfully all went well even though I was phoneless for the next 2 days :D 

                                                 

         That day it kept raining on and off.. When S was leaving, we walked under the same umbrella and I thought, "This has to be the best monsoon.." I kept staring at him and he kept asking "What?" and all I said was "Nothing." I was freezing every second of that walk in my memory. Every detail of his face, every movement of his muscles which I felt as we kept walking, every chill that passed into me when the winds suddenly blew strong and every expression that he gave as I held him closer when it chilled.. 

                                                           

                                 Happy monsoon readers! What's your favorite monsoon memory??