sticky wicket

for many rain is welcome . the smell of earth after the first few drops is scintillating. rain is quite egalitarian - the rich and the poor are equally effected/benefited by it.
Egalitarian. nearly so. ask the pedestrians whose dress is spoilt by the speeding swanky cars.
that brings us to the roads. somehow, civic bodies time laying roads with the onset of monsoon. it's really an obstacle course. whole stretches are often washed away. at many places, manholes are opened to drain the water. good samaritans keep a flagstaff to warn of the danger. somtimes mischief-mongers remove it to cause well mischief.
beyond roads, the subways are motorists'nightmare. people nearby make a fast buck in pushing the vehicles out.
children splash in poodles much to the consternation of moms. many children throw away their raincoat hat - the coat itself if they can help - and make a dash for the pitterpatter. not children alone. but the young - those who don't dye of course - enjoy the rain - very often u see their pix in newspapers. why photographers pick only girls enjoying the showers is quite comprehensible. colorful umbrellas are out. the plight of those whose button sticks and the umb does not open is pitiable. esp in places like mumbai where the second btw rain and opening umb is very crucial as the drops pick up momentum in no time. (Umb are also money minting source. when asked why they spent so much on them for Commonwealth Games, the organisers said they are waterproof umbs!!!!) not all of course have duckbacks. polythene covers for rickshawpullers and for some others broken plastic buckets would do.
as rain falls, so do temperatures and tempers. but is no dampner on stomach. it in fact spurs tastebuds - demand for hot pakodas, samosas and bhelpuri would be high. if it's a holiday, the housewife has to put up with demands of tea - it really (d)rains her.
the plants rejoice even before it rains. in fact they herald them. afterall, rain water is to them what mother's milk is to the baby.
It always does not rain water - there are instances of raining crocodiles and frogs. the best of course was when it rained coins. the worst of course is the acid rain. the icebergs - very tasty and this writer and his sisters had great fun in collecting them.
rain per se is welcome but the thunder activity is not esp during nights - the spl effects render many sleepless. but if there is no rain ther's no rainbow.

rain also has its share of jokes. esp weathermen are often on a sticky wicket. Another is a bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask it back when it begins to rain.

not all are down if it rains cats and dogs. in fact oxymoron as it is a depression lifts the farmers' spirits. rain is very essential to a still predominantly agrarian society like us. in fact the first thing people talk is weather and veg rates. the next concern is the reservoirs' position. instead of augmenting the water position by strengthening and enlarging reservoirs and store it against a rainy day, they overflow, water is discharged into sea and a little later there is water crisis. weather sats have been launched to predict the direction and quantum of rain. but after the first showers people make heavy weather of it - what with flees, flies and muddy roads.
When i was child it's quite sunny if it remained cloudy for a longtime. there was an elderly woman near our house who would not eat without sighting sun. a very hot time for her. after a couple of days she would be too tired to come out and peek every other minute. so she would offer payasam to whoever breaks the news first that the sun broke out. really it was a sweet time!!!

hiatus

well started as ususual and like many with enthu but developed cold feet after a few posts. not that i hit what they called the writer's block - megalomania. can blame it on domestic preoccupations - but plain laziness. i took myself to task for that and would like to take the task earnestly. seriously many say but my take is sincerely. anyhow it cannot be serious since it goes against the very grain of this blog. with these few remarks to my - mostly imagination - readers, i remain.