Rain disasters of a different kind ... When it rained immediately after the morning assembly in the school, we always lamented why the rains did not come a bit early! And when it rained after the school, it was again lamentable, but not as much really for returning home on bicycles with friends then was more fun. And if it rained only little bit while getting up in the morning and readying for the school and did not lasting long enough to let us being told—you will have to miss the school today—it was a disaster. And if having been told to miss the school, if someone appeared who could drop us to the school, it was a bigger disaster. And if some children did not make it to school while we did, it was the biggest disaster. When in the village during holidays, we enjoyed standing under a rain-fed state of the art gargoyle sprouting water in ample measures. I can still fell the cold water hammering my head then. We took our turns to be under the blessed stream. Rains coming to a stop and beginning to pour and we shifted the game to making dams, holding water and releasing it. There used to be a technique to walk on the slippery kachha lanes during the rains. One had to bury ones toes deep into the mud and slush to avoid a fall. In the villages they had a sack turned inside in a way that it made a make-do raincoat covering the head and the back. I can still recall its smoky smell. After hours of rain-bathing we returned home with cluttering teeth and watering nose, sneezing. All routes around the village got so inundated that for weeks altogether one could not go across with ease and comfort. Snakes and other water creatures put up their presence than normal times. Gnats and mosquitoes ruled the roost. Moths on the lanterns gathered in swarms of whom a large dead army was found the next morning as if spread eagles after a war. Some wild fruits that grew in water also were made available. I remember there was a white lotus like flower, which had a long tube like pithy root, reaching the bed where a bulb full of edible stuff grew. This was called ‘Bandedh’ ...
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 17:08:18 +0000
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