#மழை

               We were then living in the army leased house near Sun theatre behind the Sikh Gurudwara T Nagar .

        

      1962 . I remember the year because I was in class 3 and I had just started opening my eyes to the world around me. The rains  literally poured down. There was this slum some way off with low lying lands in between.  The whole area was flooded. I distinctly remember a regular boat plying over the waters and rescuing people and their belongings  that they had bundled up. 

        Next thing we knew there were hundreds of people under the portico of our house.  They were cooking and eating there. My brothers and I were only silent spectators. Sorry to tell you , we were even afraid that they would barge into our house upstairs .  So much for childhood compassion. 

          Five years later we are in  Bikaner at the edge of the Thar desert. It hardly ever rains here. Total annual rainfall is about 20 cms.  If it does rain then people will go berserk and  wild ,enjoying themselves,  playing , jumping in the small  downpour. What did we poor Madrasis know of this. We have been brought up strictly : Do not play in the rain. 

             So on this day when the heavens opened up just when we were leaving for home , my youngest brother and I quietly stood inside a shed in school. The other children were having a riot fest .  They were even unmindful of their books getting wet. We got our 10 seconds of glory next day when the principal pointed out to us as the model students.😅

               Next year saw us at Shillong. Four to five  months of incessant rains, day in and day out. I don’t remember how our  clothes  were washed and dried . However this I remember,  we had a bath only on alternate days.😅

                  My class mates would all be wearing gum boots.Protective gear bought by indulgent parents.   We of the thrifty parents would wear our hawai rubber chappals and walk all the way to school and then change to school shoes. There was no standing water anywhere  so we did not needs those gum boots actually , but the cold and wetness were another thing. We however did have duck back raincoats with hoods.  How proud we were of them . 

                     Even with all this water pouring down from heaven we had to collect water in drums when  it fell off  the roof.  Go down to the river  Umpling flowing at the end of our garden to wash vessels and clothes. Yes real irony in a land of plenty. .  Erratic power supply was the reason. 

                    All play and outdoor activities would come to a standstill. We could however curl up under our rajais with a book or play a lot of indoor games when at home. 

                      Let me add this , school was never closed due to the rains. 😁

                      Now for the nightmares. Here I am in the Broadway branch of my bank from  1979 onwards. Oh how I dread the monsoon rains. First I have to cross that slush called Ranganathan street, ( small mercy not the whole street but only from the Rameswaram Road cutting) . Hang on to a train and get down at Fort. The Esplanade. What a grand name for a stretch of dirty water upto above your knees. If you lose step you could fall in deeper. Strong winds , the puny umbrella is no protection at all. Again thankfully my branch is only a few doors ahead in -  yet again  a misnomer Broadway. Poor workers walking on further into slush and  garbage filled waters.    

                        So to avoid this if I come by bus I would walk upto Panagal park . Sit in a  leaky bus for an hour and a half and again walk in the dirty waters of Broadway. 

                       Even if somehow by a miracle  you arrive dry upto the branch doors, you have to climb up 3 steps in the water both at the front and back entrances. Sit in the wet clothes shivering throughout the day.  Some smart ladies would bring a change of clothes. 

                          Makes me nervous even thinking about those days. 

                         Forget the Chennai floods of 2015 , so much has been written about it’s destructive character.  Zoom to 2020 . Here I am sitting pretty ( not literally😅) .  Rains , I can watch and enjoy from my dry seat. Clothes drying inside the balcony so no worry.  I absolutely don’t have to venture into the rain if I don’t want to. I can make hot  pakodas and bajjis , eat them with delight  and put on more weight.  Yes the meek shall inherit the earth.😂