Monsoon hits Mumbai
Hey folks, its the wet time again. Time to get rid of inhibitions and get the cleansing of the spirit that a bathroom can’t manage. Time to head out in the rain, feel it drenching the world around, go to some roadside tapri and have tea in small glasses and hot pakodas - its a tradition.
A tradition that takes me straight back to my childhood, where my family had this firm belief that getting wet in the first monsoon of the year is good for health and gets rid of prickly heat and other nasties. Don’t know about the prickly heat, but the sheer enjoyment of doing it probably adds a few years to my life.
I remember this time, before schools began, buying new school books, uniforms, preparing for the coming year, enjoying the last of the summer holidays…… and the rain. The mood changed to celebration. Of families heading out of their homes to drench themselves, of paper boats, the grandmother waiting with a towel and hot cocoa…….
Those days may be gone. The friends are grown up and scattered, the grandmother is dead (I miss her), families are more reserved about kids running around muddy if they can prevent it…… but the passion that rises in my blood with the energy of the monsoon endures….
