The other day I was on my way to work when the rain gods decided to descend on my part of the planet and my luck I wasn't carrying an umbrella. I have a penchant for being at the wrong place at the wrong time .All those weeks when I had an umbrella with me and it would almost rain but alas the sun would burst out of the clouds. That’s the story of my life. Anyways I ran for shelter and suddenly for a fleeting moment it was total deja' vu .I never thought I’d say this but I think I finally started missing Pune.
The rains will always remind me of Pune. I have so many memories of the rains. It started off with the rains that monsoon 5 years back. I remember walking into college that first day and as I entered the gates whoooooooooooshhhhhhhh came the rains welcoming me aboard. That’s how it began and this time when it finally ended it ended with a whooshhhhhhhhhh too. That last rain. It washed away all the ties, the bonds and all the tears. I’d thought it had washed away all the memories too but as the days go by I realize that in some corner of my heart everything is intact and always will be however much I try to deny it.
When I look back I realize the rains have been my constant companions be it in good times and the bad times. I remember that first time walking back from college and yeah the heavens opened up but nevertheless we walked on in silent companionship. Maybe we knew that this was meant to be. Our first date and walking aimlessly in the rain for hours and the nonstop chatter. You caught this nasty cold and apparently I had made you walk all those miles. That’s what you told your friends. Finally when it was all over, I remember the salty taste of my tears mixed with the raindrops. You left me crying in the rain. But that was another day another time...
Second year all of us bugged were with the rains. We were perpetually getting drenched in the rains and most of all our jeans would suffer the most. The ends would be filthy so three of us devised our own way to fold our jeans and comical as it sounds they remained folded forever after that. To our delight they became a fashion statement a year later. We’d be in our folded denims and all those hoity toity women from the arts and commerce section would be decked up from head to toe and would give us those dirty stares and we couldn’t really care less. The rains could never stop us. We’d still go ahead and do all that we wanted to. If we had to party, we had to party. So what if it’s l Monday night and we just partied the Saturday before? So what if it’s raining cats and dogs and we'd needlessly get wet from head to toe? What are rickshaws for? So what if we can't take our bikes and we barely have money enough to pay the rickshaw fare but we shall go ahead and do what has to be done.
I remember P and I on her green bike on are way to Barista after college and the water was falling in sheets that day. I tried to open the umbrella only for it to turn upside down in the wind leaving us looking like a pair of bedraggled wet crows and laughing in splits. That wild night when all of us went looking for alcohol at 3 in the morning. The rain would not deter us. We were looking for some obscure "mavshi" {aunt in Marathi} who'd sell us liquor even at this unearthly hour. To top it all her shop was under some Banyan tree. Every tree we passed would be scrutinized from every angle because in our inebriated state trying to recognize a certain kind of tree was a wee bit difficult. We never found the alcohol that night but one of the bikes stopped working and we had to push it back around 5 miles. It was 6 in the morning by then. We were tired and drenched and a tad bit irritated too.
Last year was the penultimate, 200 of us would be lawyers out on a legal aid camp in some far off village. Off all the days our college authorities had to choose the day when record rainfall was recorded in the state and the Bombay deluge happened. To think we actually had a dress code and we abided by it seems amazing. We were in pristine white salwar kameezes and the poor boys had to wear suits. Forget about being able to give valuable legal advise to the poor and the needy, they ran in the opposite direction as soon as they saw us. We asked them "aapka koi problem hai,court kachahri ka?"[Do you have any legal problem?] They would look at us blankly and nod their heads finally after many such failed attempts this one friend of mine burst out "kuch bhi problem bataiye na.sardi, zukham madam kuch bhi chalega" :[ Madam any problem would do, even a cold and a cough].After all the poor souls with such heavy rains ,legal problems would be the last thing on anybody's mind. We came back to Pune soaking wet, color had started running out of every bag, stole and jacket. We had multi colored blotches all over our clothes. By the end of it we vowed that we'd never be our benevolent selves again, at least not on a rainy day.
Of course the rains in Bombay. I had to go to Bombay come rain, snow, hail. why? Silly me was in love and in my rational mind {yeah I can be rational too once in a while. Come on at the end of the day I am still a lawyer} if I thought if I don't meet him now then don't know when I’d meet him again. So there I went in spite of so many warnings from my friends that there mite be roadblocks and land slides. Who was listening? On my journey in the Volvo as I looked out I could see boulders all ready to fall on our bus. I was literally praying "No god. Not me.Pleassssssssseeeee....... not now". Needless to say I reached Bombay all safe and sound. I didn't regret it one bit though. It was a different world altogether. Driving all around Bombay with P. Walking along gateway of India in the light drizzle. Holding hands on marine drive. Fighting in the car near bandstand when he just insisted on dropping me home. That last day kissing him in the rain. Someways I knew this was the last time we were meeting like this. That’s the way it was.
This year was my last trip to Pune and that last ride in the rickshaw to R’s place. It was such a dark, depressing and rainy day. R was so cold. so hard to imagine that she had been one of my best pals for 5 years. I walked out with my luggage. I bid my final farewell to one of my most favorite people. Couldn’t stop the tears as they rolled down my cheeks and then came the raindrops pitter-patter, pitter-patter but the pace changed. even the rain must have felt my sorrow because it came down in torrents and washed away all my tears. I left Pune the next day never to return again.
Thus ended my tryst with the rain or so I thought. I am in a new city where it hardly rains ever. Until that morning it started again pitter-patter, pitter-patter. Darn it is that dreaded rain again. Follows me everywhere. Though I wonder what it'll bring with it now..........
