Wonderful World

I am not much of a nature person, and once the rains get properly underway, i positively hate them. but there is something about the beginning of monsoon- the first clap of thunder,the sudden cooling of temperature and the forceful gusts of wind- that gives me goose bumps. the heightened-sense-of-being-alive kinds...

Back home, school used to re-open in the middle of June just as monsoon struck, and there was the excitement of meeting friends after a long time, going to a new class, and anticipation of new things. This is now so wired into my genetic code that the first flush of monsoon brings about a certain mix of nostalgia and anticipation thats hard to describe...a visceral feeling of standing on the verge of something big and wonderful... Some people get spring fever. I always fall prey to the monsoon bug myself..

Then there are the unique monsoon smells...the smell of wet earth is one of the heavenliest ever...and then each place has its own unique first-spell-of-rain-aroma...law school (in my first few years at least) had this overpowering eucalyptus scent from the wet trees between the hostel and the acad block, and my first few memories of law school are of running to and from class under the canopy of these trees as rain fell all around me, and of dancing in the rain outside the hostel during Univ week, kicking off slippers and racing each other from the phone-booth to the mess or playing rain-rugby in the quad...in later years followed by vodka shots in the room to warm us up;-)

Rains in Bhopal have their own magic. The parched earth and the dried up lake have sprung to life overnight...a mist hangs over the surrounding mountains giving them an etheral, sun-and-dew-drapped-lazy-sunday-morning feel...and everything is green again. There is again that sense of anticipation, of limitless possibilites, and the urgent need to sip hot coffee and nibble on deep fried samosas (which we substitute with choy and chips). And everytime I step out of home and look out onto the surrounding valley, lake and mountains there is a single breathless moment when I feel overwhelmed by the beauty of the place, and I think to myself, What a wonderful world....