What is it about rains and nostalgia?
No seriously, tell me, what is it?
Why does one inevitably lead to the other?
Why DO the rains always remind me of childhood?
Those innocent, happy days..
The golden days of one's life, truly..
As the rains lash Mumbai, the inevitable season of traffic jams, potholes, accidents,bumpy rides, train cancellations, delays etc begins.
But so does the season of nostalgia.
As I look out through the window at the wet cobbled streets, the freshly-acquired green color of the trees, the neon umbrellas and raincoats, the dark hues of the sky, emotions stir within me.
I am magically transported to the oh-so-lovely, oh-so-wonderful days of my childhood.
How the advent of the rains would mean the start of a new academic year.
I would LOVE to go to school.
Me being me, I would have read all the school textbooks, every single page, before the first day of school.
The smell of those new books, sitting with my grandfather in the verandah and wrapping those lovely books in brown paper, pasting those colorful Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck "labels" on them.... All of it still brings a smile on my face.
Then, mom would take me to buy a new pair of the school uniform, and I use to wonder, every single year, why my school had a drab, navy uniform when other schools had orange or pink uniforms :P :)
Then would finally dawn the 13th of June, when a new academic session of the school would start. There was always a lot of curiosity around the new class teacher, the classmates - who has left and who is new?, the new classroom, who has grown taller and who has had what haircuts...And we would show off and compare our "cool stuff" like school bags, water bottles, tiffin boxes, pencil boxes etc.with the others :P. And yes, inadvertently, it would rain on that day!
The rains ensured that the school discipline was tweaked a bit. So you could wear the rainy sandals, instead of the drab, old school shoes(which meant your toes could never have nail polish :P)
.
.
.
Then as we became habituated to the new and the new became old, life would become "mundane"...
Then came the junior college days...
I happened to be in a prestigious one, just a stone's throw away from home. I don't really have many memories of the rains whilst I was here, because we hardly ever went to college :P .But I remember how we used to sit in the open library, reading novels n newspapers and comics, while others around us were immersed in log books and journals and huge textbooks, and the rains and the wind would blow away any loose papers ,and drench every single sheet. The famous Mumbai deluge of 26th July also happened during this "era" only.
Then came the engineering college days..
Ah, most memories of rains relate to the hassles in commuting in the local trains. the incessant delays and cancellations due to water-logging, taking an hour for an otherwise 20 minute commute etc.
We used to eat the oh-so-tempting unhygienic street food, and later pray that we don't fall sick.
For a change, we used to attend lectures (:P), because our regular haunts like the "khopcha" -a memorable corner on the second-floor corridor of my college. My favorite place in the college.. lots of memories associated with this place :)-, the staircase etc. were all washed out.
Rains would mean that the walls in some classroom would leak so much that, these classrooms would be practically unusable, so they would be vacant. These would then be our "hangout" place, where we could play all we like. And boy o boy, play we did. Some of the best memories of my college days are the games we played- dumb charades, pictionary, the dots and lines game, Taboo cards, "the cows and bulls" game, MAFIA etc. They were the primary reason I survived those never-ending lectures :P
And those wonderful rainy picnics with friends, especially Matheran and Bhivpuri waterfalls. AMAZING!!!
College and rains are also special to me in a way, because college was when I and a pact with self, that I would re-read the entire Harry Potter series, each year, around the time of my birthday(no prizes for guessing which season it is in). It's been almost 4 years, and I still stand by this pact. In fact, I look forward to this time of the year. Nothing can take my mood down then, because I know, whatever happens, in the evening all's going to be well, since I would be in an entirely new world :)
.
.
.
.
And today, rains give me mixed feelings. I hate it when the heavens pour down, when I am heading to work. I hate it when I get wet in the rains, when I don't want to. I hate it when I have to make my way across muddy paths. I hate it when the trees keep dripping even when the rains have stopped.
But I also love the rains, because they bring back my childhood to me.
They bring back memories of long-lost innocent times and old friendships.
They bring back memories of my school and teachers.
They bring back memories of simple, carefree times.
They inspire me to look back at the road behind with a smile, and not tears.
They motivate me to look deep within, and face the road ahead with determination and strength.
They make me cherish the past, live the present, and anticipate the future.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And oh, they also bring with them kanda-bhaji and masala chai ;)
No seriously, tell me, what is it?
Why does one inevitably lead to the other?
Why DO the rains always remind me of childhood?
Those innocent, happy days..
The golden days of one's life, truly..
 |
| Image courtesy: artsonearth.com |
But so does the season of nostalgia.
As I look out through the window at the wet cobbled streets, the freshly-acquired green color of the trees, the neon umbrellas and raincoats, the dark hues of the sky, emotions stir within me.
I am magically transported to the oh-so-lovely, oh-so-wonderful days of my childhood.
How the advent of the rains would mean the start of a new academic year.
I would LOVE to go to school.
Me being me, I would have read all the school textbooks, every single page, before the first day of school.
The smell of those new books, sitting with my grandfather in the verandah and wrapping those lovely books in brown paper, pasting those colorful Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck "labels" on them.... All of it still brings a smile on my face.
Then, mom would take me to buy a new pair of the school uniform, and I use to wonder, every single year, why my school had a drab, navy uniform when other schools had orange or pink uniforms :P :)
Then would finally dawn the 13th of June, when a new academic session of the school would start. There was always a lot of curiosity around the new class teacher, the classmates - who has left and who is new?, the new classroom, who has grown taller and who has had what haircuts...And we would show off and compare our "cool stuff" like school bags, water bottles, tiffin boxes, pencil boxes etc.with the others :P. And yes, inadvertently, it would rain on that day!
The rains ensured that the school discipline was tweaked a bit. So you could wear the rainy sandals, instead of the drab, old school shoes(which meant your toes could never have nail polish :P)
.
.
.
Then as we became habituated to the new and the new became old, life would become "mundane"...
Then came the junior college days...
I happened to be in a prestigious one, just a stone's throw away from home. I don't really have many memories of the rains whilst I was here, because we hardly ever went to college :P .But I remember how we used to sit in the open library, reading novels n newspapers and comics, while others around us were immersed in log books and journals and huge textbooks, and the rains and the wind would blow away any loose papers ,and drench every single sheet. The famous Mumbai deluge of 26th July also happened during this "era" only.
Then came the engineering college days..
Ah, most memories of rains relate to the hassles in commuting in the local trains. the incessant delays and cancellations due to water-logging, taking an hour for an otherwise 20 minute commute etc.
We used to eat the oh-so-tempting unhygienic street food, and later pray that we don't fall sick.
For a change, we used to attend lectures (:P), because our regular haunts like the "khopcha" -a memorable corner on the second-floor corridor of my college. My favorite place in the college.. lots of memories associated with this place :)-, the staircase etc. were all washed out.
Rains would mean that the walls in some classroom would leak so much that, these classrooms would be practically unusable, so they would be vacant. These would then be our "hangout" place, where we could play all we like. And boy o boy, play we did. Some of the best memories of my college days are the games we played- dumb charades, pictionary, the dots and lines game, Taboo cards, "the cows and bulls" game, MAFIA etc. They were the primary reason I survived those never-ending lectures :P
And those wonderful rainy picnics with friends, especially Matheran and Bhivpuri waterfalls. AMAZING!!!
College and rains are also special to me in a way, because college was when I and a pact with self, that I would re-read the entire Harry Potter series, each year, around the time of my birthday(no prizes for guessing which season it is in). It's been almost 4 years, and I still stand by this pact. In fact, I look forward to this time of the year. Nothing can take my mood down then, because I know, whatever happens, in the evening all's going to be well, since I would be in an entirely new world :)
.
.
.
.
And today, rains give me mixed feelings. I hate it when the heavens pour down, when I am heading to work. I hate it when I get wet in the rains, when I don't want to. I hate it when I have to make my way across muddy paths. I hate it when the trees keep dripping even when the rains have stopped.
But I also love the rains, because they bring back my childhood to me.
They bring back memories of long-lost innocent times and old friendships.
They bring back memories of my school and teachers.
They bring back memories of simple, carefree times.
They inspire me to look back at the road behind with a smile, and not tears.
They motivate me to look deep within, and face the road ahead with determination and strength.
They make me cherish the past, live the present, and anticipate the future.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And oh, they also bring with them kanda-bhaji and masala chai ;)
