monsoon's here

here comes the season that mumbaikars love to hate. yes, this evening was the official arrival of monsoon in the city. it had drizzled a bit couple days back though. it started building up since morning when the sky started getting cloudy. by evening, it got really dark and at around 7 in the evening, came down the Gods from the sky pouring like crazy on the city.
i was actually in two minds before i headed out for a round of swim to the nearby pool. i got in the car and drove a little bit. by the time i was close to my destination, the rain was banging heavy and hard on the roof of my car. i actually got intimidated, turned my car around and headed back home.
i had kept an umbrella that we just got out of the attic last week (its a ritual everyone follows at the end of summer). though i had the umbrella and i had to walk only from my car to my home, i couldn't avoid getting wet.
here i was taking all the possible care making sure i don't get wet. on the other hand there were these kids in my building thoroughly enjoying getting wet in the rain. some of the guys were playing out and it rained, the others stepped out especially because it rained.
though rain brings a lot of trouble and hassle in the daily lives of the city people, we still love it because of several reasons. firstly and most importantly, it gives the much needed respite from the may heat. you gotta be in the city for a full month of may to understand what we go through - heat and sweat. as kids, we would just love rains. i remember, each night i would pray for it to rain really heavy so that the next day would be declared a holiday. and there were days when the rain Gods would listen and shower their mercy on me and a lot of other school kids who wouldn't go to school because it was flooded all over the city.
thats for kids. however, my heart goes out to people who travel on bikes, travel by trains and other public transport. it can get really really messy at times when there's absolutely no way to avoid getting wet. the city gets mucky - purely because of poor drainage and bad roads.
thats mumbai monsoon for you. you love it, you hate it, you can't live without it!