Summer Rain

As a child, just like any other kid, summer vacation was a much-awaited time of the year for me. I did most of my schooling in the 1980’s. Playing cricket in the recently harvested paddy fields was the major activity. Waiting below mango tree for sweet mangoes and eating jackfruit till you get stomachache was also not so uncommon. Accompanying the ‘Kumbhakudam’ (Flowers in pot) procession with local oracle to Kali temple in neighboring village was another cherished memory. It would end with similar processions from five or six neighboring villages merging in front of the Kali temple. There used to be a friendly competition between different villages on who had most numbers of Kumbhas or how many devotees had their cheeks and tongue pierced with spear or who had the best ‘asura vaadya’ accompaniments etc. Eating ‘bonda and pazhampori’ from the local tea stall at the end of procession was one of the major highlights of this day.

‘Garudan Parava’ (dance imitating Garuda, the vehicle of Vishnu) is another memorable cultural event. It used to happen during nights and usually sponsored by one family in the village. There would be a podium for the dancer to perform, which 8-10 men would carry on their shoulders. The dancer, who would be a male, will step for the drum beat (‘Chenda melam’). People would give many offerings on the dance floor to ‘Garuda’, mostly as coins, currency notes, or new dhotis. Garuda would have a long beak and the dancer would take the offerings from the podium using beaks. This event, once again, would be kick started by the oracle and would end in the neighboring Kali temple. We children, who were capable of walking all the way would accompany the procession to the temple which was ~6km away. My leg used to hurt by the time it reached temple (I could only pity the back of the podium carriers!), but it was only a job half done because I had to walk all the way back home. And there were more such trivial activities that used to occupy the two months of summer. Many times I would be so exhausted by the end of this vacation that I would be dying to get back to school when the monsoon start in June.

Summer Rain in low resolution

I am back in my hometown during summer months after two decades. I have been away during almost all summers since mid 90’s. Yesterday was my first day in ‘Gods own country’ after 7 long years. It was close to 40 degree Celsius in my village yesterday. With plenty of humidity to add to the misery, simply put, I was baked alive. It is not the usual complaint made by an expatriate, but I do not remember feeling so much heat in summer as a child. May be that my mind and body is over reacting after so many years of relatively mild summer (in artificially regulated climates, of course). I may acclimatize to this scorching heat in few days. Anyhow, a much-awaited beautiful event is unfolding around me right now, the summer rain. It started in the evening. There were beautiful lightings that descended from the sky to touch the earth, which is accompanied by earth shaking thunders. All of a sudden it was dark all over that amplified the intensity of the thunderbolts. I was sitting in my veranda. It was one or two drops in the beginning that escalated to down pouring in no time. The rain god was dancing and singing today with the skill and refinement of an accomplished folk dancer. Suddenly the air was filled with the beautiful aroma of wet soil, the divine smell of first rain. But that smell faded away in few minutes when the rain gathered its pace. It was a pure display of raw natural talents, like the sound modulations of a gifted qawwali singer, moving from the lowest possible pitch to its peak in a flash. I just sat there looking deep into the rain as it pour down the dark green leaves of distant trees. It lasted for an hour or so. The cool recycled water of nature subdued the melting summer heat. The water filled potholes and ran down the hills.

The trees are still raining. Night has befallen my village. It is now the concert of all night lives rejoicing the much needed coolness of summer, welcoming new lives buried deep in the soil that was waiting for the first drop of water. The cycle of life that has to go on!