Nature - Rain - Wonders - Tragedies

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, every year, when the much awaited rains arrive, I go gaga over them. I can’t help but feel, that the nature, against which we sin incessantly, has pardoned us  yet again. I can never stop wondering about the change brought about by a bout of rain. Overnight, my living room transforms into a paradise after being a pressure cooker for months. I can open the balcony doors and stretch on the sofa with a book in my hand, forgetting the fan. Two days back I was focusing two fans towards the sofa and they only made the matter worse.

Outside the house there are changes which almost feel like magic. I see them every year but I can  never stop wondering about them.

Look at these mushrooms which have sprouted in the crevices between the stone slabs, and on the mud around them in the front yard. I pour water on the slabs and all over the yard, every day, through the year, but they appear only after the rain water falls there! Do they detect the difference between my piped water and rain water?

And these night jasmine (paarijaata) flowers. It is the same soil and same plant. I water the plants religiously every day and they grudgingly give out few anaemic looking flowers which wither away within minutes after separating from the plant.  Look at them after a day long bout of rain. They blossom to double the size, look healthy and happy, remain fresh for hours, and retain freshness even after falling to the ground! How well they express their disdain towards my care!

These are the jasmine buds. I pour buckets of water on the plant, put all sorts of fertilisers that I find in the market, dig around them, remove the weeds that encroach on them and slog to keep them comfortable. For a whole year, I do not even see a single bud on the plant. Now, after just two days of rain, five buds have appeared overnight!

Any way I don’t grudge any of these. I just wonder at the ways of nature and enjoy them when they last.

I come on to the main road. Early in the morning, before the traffic takes over, it is a pleasure to walk here. It is nice in any season but it is inviting when it is washed by rain. There is no dust on the road, the road side trees are washed clean and green and the leaves are dripping. I walk along singing a tune till I see the first casualty of rain.

 The Civet cat, a wild cat, which used to appear around my house every evening and climb onto the roof at night, is lying dead on the road, run over by a vehicle. I can’t blame the rain for its death but it is likely that the motorist did not notice the small animal in the pouring rain. It used to climb onto the roof over the water pipes in search of rats which resided under the tiles and had kept the rat population under control. I will surely miss it.

But the death of two viper snake hatchlings, the bodies of which I found about a hundred meters ahead is certainly due to rain. They stay in the crevices and burrows in the ground and when the rain water enters their residence emerge on to the surface.  Being inexperienced, they must have strayed onto the road and must have been run over.

May the souls of the civet and vipers rest in peace. (Since I am not a whatsapp paparazzi, I have allowed them privacy in their death - no photographs)

As I was returning from my walk, I saw the sun struggling to break through the clouds. I was glad to note that the clouds held ground and it has been pouring since morning.  The meteorological dept has officially announced the arrival of monsoon in Goa today.  And if their predictions are right, we may expect above average rainfall this year. We are in for a bounty! 

I am excited about the rain today but I am sure that when this bounty keeps pouring without a break for two weeks, when my side walk turns slippery with moss, when the washed clothes remain wet and start smelling,

and when the fungus appears on anything left unused for a few days, I will be praying for the sun to break through the clouds and brighten things at least for a short while!

Well that is nature and that is life. All of us know it but I keep writing about it year after year at the cost of being repetitive. So, that’s it.  Happy rains!