Those Raindrops Keep Fallin' In My Head...

Since the past week or so, all calls/msgs frm my friends in Bombay have invariably been interspered w/ phrases like "it's been pouring non-stop for the past n days" "it's raining like crazy", "it's raining cats n dogs"...leaving me all green w/ envy! I miss those crazy unforgiving Bombay rains! Now Bangalore weather is all fine...it's cool comfortable n pleasant. But I miss the madness...the sheer downpour...the deafening din of rain lashing against windows, walls, trees...patiently...incessantly.

I esp miss the beach...it was so teasingly close...just a 5 min walk frm my place. N during heavy rains, I'd sometimes walk upto it n watch the sea raging, tossing n turning in all its glorious fury. But I must admit it's a scary sight. Usually the sea is very inviting...even when she sends huge waves at u. But during the monsoon, she's a totally different creature...all grey, opaque, choppy...foaming! But it'd somehow still be beautiful...a bit like staring at a snarling tigress! Lethally beautiful!

The best part wld be the crazy wind...so totally out of its mind! On which the rain wld hitch a ride n come lashing crashing onto ur face...ur back...it wld literally bite n u cld feel those teeth digging into u. But weirdly enough, it left u smiling...stupidly, at those furious clawing raindrops...n the sea, raging beyond! Sometimes when I'd feel braver -- read foolish -- than usual, I'd go stand right at the mouth of this storm-water drain, which emptied into the sea...n be confronted w/ this tantalizing spray frm the waves crashing onto those black boulders. One cldnt help wishing to magically metamorphose into a sea-gull...cackling away w/ pleasure...teasing even more, the irate sea goddess...

Bollywood has a weird fascination for the rains -- n for some very obvious reasons, of which I wont bore u w/. The result being that most things associated w/ that heavenly downpour have been cliched to death...none more so than walking on Marine Drive, hand in hand w/ gigantic waves crashing over u. Be that as it may, it certainly feels wonderful...sitting there on the wall...clothes clinging to ur soaking skin...rivulets of rain running down ur face...ur lips...the tongue involuntarily making a grab at raindrops...u sit there, watching raindrops on ivory arms...shivering slightly, u instinctively tend to huddle closer...n can literally feel the heat flowing wherever the bodies touch...it's such a delicious feeling...so very sensuous. N yet watching that gigantic sea roaring in front of u kinda makes u feel very vulnerable n fragile...as if it cld wreck everything...bringing it all down in a single...decisive...crash...