Rains : Sheer Romance

The Great Mumbai Boating Festival begins. Enjoy Free Boating in Kurla, Milan Subway, Sion etc.
HURRY!!!
Offer valid till water logging lasts.
Courtesy:  BMC"
This SMS came as the first heavy downpour  lashed Mumbai and adjoining areas some days ago. After a hearty laugh,  "The Thinking Zohra" took over and a thought hit my mind like a bolt from the blue. .
How contented we as a Nation are. Our sense of humour and the power to laugh at our own plight is awfully matchless. Life for us has become a celebration of tiny smiles that thankfully lighten the heaviness of a burdensome existence. It is a treasure hunt where we manage to find our dessert in the cocktailed menu that the daily grind  of life serves us.

Take the potholed roads for instance. I don't want those craters to be filled in. Not just me , but anyone who stakes  a claim to being young at heart...and its not because they tend to make our Erath look like the Moon, but because we know how invaluable they are to our disintegrating love life in an over-crowded, over-worked city. After all who would like to loose those plentiful opportunities they provide for couples to get romantically close while riding a two-wheeler.

Rain water washes away the heaps of garbage that are "stored" with as much care as the surplus grains in our country. It mingles with its counterparts that littered the footpaths and flows back into the drains. Some of it flows freely on the roads too, increasing the dining options for rodents. They now can choose to dine in "open-air-restaurants" rather than being confined to the usual dim-lit-guttery-candle-light dinners.

And the free boat rides that the above-mentioned SMS refers to is a rare annual chance to retrieve some benefit from the Sarkar in return for the taxes that we pay. If one is lucky he/she could also find some floating treasure navigating the "scented"  Black Waters.

Having said this there is certainly something special about rains that makes you forget the whole World. You fall in love with yourself  when inspite of your expensive, protective, beautiful, painstakingly-selected umbrella over your head, you get  dripping-drenched from head to toe.

You love the wind that blows away your scarf, stole or dupatta, upturning your folding umbrella, as it sweeps you off your feet,  while the heavily pouring rain joins hands with gravity to keep you from flying away !!!

Sharing an umbrella is another blessing that comes down straight from the Heavens alongwith the heavy divine shower. You cannot get more memorably close to your loved one than under a shared umbrella.  Raj Kapoor and Nargis have immortalised these moments of ambrosial nostalgia  on the silver screen long ago for us to celebrate with every shower of rain.

I am sitting in my verandah,  the  rain , taking a breather  has stopped lashing against the ornate wooden railing for a while ........... and the sight before my eyes is like a dream.
Cascading milky water falls among dark green hills, grey clouds floating luxuriously kissing and caressing the happy, smiling, thriving bounties of Nature... rain drops falling from the tree leaves like an adorable after-thought charming the senses...
And the romantic aroma of boiling corn in the kitchen  tickling my taste buds and completing this picturesque rainy day.

Moments that never pass

Some memories are strangely precious because even in the pain that they cause they are dear to us.
we just can't let them go as they are our last and only link with some of the most loved persons whom we will never see again.

Time is forever on the move....or so they say....
But we ceaselessly attempt to hold some moments close to our heart.
Frozen in time, they give us warmth whenever we go back to them.

Parents are one's best support in difficult times. They fight with the whole world  resiliently for their children and never ever complain of the injury it causes to their soul. My parents too stood behind me like a rock, not bothering what the world was saying after my husband expired prematurely.

My father even left his prestigious overseas assignments with TCS to come and stay in Allahabad and help me look after my late husband's business after his relatives turned hostile and the business was into a huge debt....
Those were terribly tough times....my children in classes four and eight ....and my in-laws ready to take me and my minor children to court (which they eventually did) over my husband's assets.

My father suffered his first heart problem there....  one of the best cardiologist in Lucknow examined him.... prescribed some tests , which he did not bother to undergo....naturally thinking that his health problems were related to situational stress and age, and that it could not be anything serious.
"These specialist have a habit of making a mountain out of an ant-hill" he would say.

Later after much of the ordeal was over  and we had just shifted to Mumbai, he had to be hospitalised. The doctors informed us  that his heart was failing.
It left  the family utterly shocked, but everyone knew of his fighting spirit.
It had been  his destiny to take the path less-travelled . Even professionally he had been forever entrusted with responsibilities that others, much senior to him would not touch. But God had gifted him with a wonderful smile, that came from his innocent heart, and he always succeeded in winning his toughest adversary.
 
But this time he was up against the strongest adversary that there could be.
Destiny itself.

Gradually his condition  deteriorated. Yet  none of us ever imagined he was going away.....
Till the end it was like "he'll be ok", he has been always so strong, has been there for everyone , family members knew he was the dependable one.....
But he had to hospitalised  a second time. And this time too he came back home although not very strong, but fairly well.

Then he started moving about slowly, sitting on the sofa or in the chair listlessly. Then the movements began to stop. He seemed to be at peace lying in bed, not wanting much....at times he seemed too lethargic even to get up for food. And then his voice began to choke.

But all this never for a moment  prepared us for his end.
We took him to the hospital, confident once again of his astounding will power .
So muchh so that when the attending doctor in the ICU called me in to inform that the ventilator is not helping and  its only a matter of some minutes now, I just stared in her face blankly .... dazed and numb....not believeing her even for a second, I started arguing with the doctor trying hard to prove her wrong....!!!

I still remember  my dearest father's face....his seemingly "comfortable" posture .... that subtle hint of acknowledgement as I greeted him that last time.........I'm not sure if he was trying to say something....but yes! his eyes, very wide and unblinking had a lot of concern in them.....concern for the unresolved issues of my life, concern for my children's future.......
He still had so much to do.....but he was going away.......
Prematurely indeed !!!!!
It was so completely impossible for me to believe that I was seeing him for the last time.........

My husband's death had devastated  my children and me. But my parents' support and  sacrifice had seen us through  those shattering times.....
Now life for us was changing again....... it really is never the same .....how can it ever be............ time is always on the move......and so is life......

But some moments never pass.