Rainy Days

Those were the days of incessant rains which bring me some unpleasant memories.  Rains are attractive only in films. In real life they drench us wet and would be pounding us heartlessly for weeks.  First sufferer of these yearly pains was the cattle; normally   we didn't have enough sheds to accommodate all the domestic animals. Preference would be shown to the bulls that pull the carts and till paddy fields. The   milking cows would also manage comforts; but the poor buffaloes had to be in the rains for months. They had to pray for any let up to dry their skins and see a little bit sunlight.  Accompanied by this yearly ordeal is providing them hay. Only when the skies show mercy a bunch of hay could be provided to them. But mostly those would be the months of October and November and we farmers would be left with very little hay to spare for them.  The cursed buffaloes would be surrounded by thousands of mosquitoes making the life of these unfortunate victims more painful. As they would not withstand the hunger most often they would pull the ropes, they were tethered to, violently and would run away with the wooden stumps to enter neighborhood paddy fields.

Those were the initial days of the arrival of electricity and most often there would be power outages for the entire rainy months. Kerosene chimneys and lantern lamps would light our homes and there would be households who can’t afford this luxury.  The radios were popular then and a few villagers would be reaching my home to hear the weather bulletins. I don’t recollect anybody carrying an umbrella as it was seen only in limited hands. An emptied plastic bag which contained urea or phosphate, which was used as fertilizers was used to cover the body and the heads from the showers. In fact me, or my brothers never had an umbrella till we finished our schooling.  I recall as we returned from the school the heavy showers would beat my cheeks heavily and we would manage to protect the books and copies with plastic sheets. Almost every year the Jungle Rivers which are there on both sides of my village would be in spate and we can’t go to schools. On these days we would take the cattle for grazing for at least 3-4 hours lest they might die of hunger.  The endless sand on the river banks and the swift moving clouds of different shapes and the occasional rainbows were visual treats for us.

The most terrifying experience would be the thunderous days. Accompanied by shrill showers the thunders would threaten us with death. We were told to repeat the name of the Mahabharata hero Arjuna  to save us from death or injury. It was believed that these heroes or gods were using their bows and fights endlessly and hence the thunders. If these threats were from the skies, the little ugly frogs of varied sizes would make our lives miserably. They would be croaking endlessly as if a big orchestra was on. At times they would stop their chorus singling only to be resumed with more vigor.  My parents used to tell these funny creatures were welcoming the monsoons and the showers.  Unfortunately some of these croaks would become prey to the snakes gliding around.  The endless noise would create a strange fear and that would drive us to sleep. During these times scorpions, water snakes and at times cobras would also seek to share accommodation with us and would invariably get killed.

Yet another feature of unfailing regularity was that we had to put more hay on the roof as the original roof made up of palm leaves or cattail would be allowing water to enter into the home. As for the food or snacks collecting and storing fire wood would be a monumental task. Neatly cut branches and twigs would be there to heat up pots or vessels. I often wondered the fire sparks  which emanate from  a burning   cigarette  bud, left unattended make unimaginable havoc s ; but with a pipe of steel or tin even when we blow for hours together in the hearth the wooden logs won’t catch fire and would leave us tired and suffocation in smoke.

The rainy days were long. The sunny days were limited. To me rains don’t evoke happy memories. To me it is always  …. ‘Rain, rain go away’ only.