A rainy July in Delhi

Boy, I love the rains! No...I'm not a desperate farmer, eying a depleting bank account and a bleak crop, praying for the skies to open and for the clouds to bring ‘em on.

But my most nostalgic memories are somehow of rainy days.

My most abiding moment of school (or, to be more truthful, the beginning of another summer vacation) was riding my bicycle back home after the last of my final exams in my 9^th standard, dripping wet in the rain and without a care in the world. The road ahead was a summer full of chess and hardy boys, which were my two biggest reasons to live life back then.

Bangalore, Brindavan campus of the SSIHL, Whitefield (where I did my BCom): When the creator constructed me physically, the last thing he had on his mind was a football player. And yet I love that morning at 7 AM on a rainy February in 1995 when 15 of us played an informal match in pouring rain. Even at the best of times, I tend to get bumped off when a larger body collided into me and it was all the more frequent that morning – I fell into the grass atleast a dozen times.

The most heartfelt moment I’ve lived in my life so far was when I proposed to the only girl I’ve ever loved in the pitter patter of a November in Chennai. (the song November Rain has always been one of my favorites, but has taken on a nostalgic ring after that day). She didn’t make up her mind that day, and did so 3 years later, but her parents objected, and in that swift way of Tamil Brahmin parents who didn’t want their only daughter getting entangled with a Hyderabadi of unknown antecedents, married her away to some “stable” tamil Brahmin with a respectable ancestry. I left it at that, and began a new life with work taking me to different cities.

Eight years have rolled by but I still unfailingly remember these moments when I get wet in the rain.....

PS: If you're ever in Delhi on a weekend with time hanging on your hands, make a beeline for Big Chill at East of Kailash / Khan Market. They make a sinfully delicious molten baby chocolate, with hot chocolate and vanilla. Several other items on the menu are worth yelling from rooftops about, so I'll keep that for another post.