right now, i have this horrible feeling of anticipation, layered with that fear that i might just be bypassed… that feeling of being left out of some great plans…

i can smell the wet earth that has been moistened for the first time after a hot, parched summer. the winds have brought that delicious smell right to my nose, but i cannot feel or see the rains…though i can hear the rumbling, thundering clouds, but the clouds are not yet here… will they blow over me?

waiting by the balcony
i peer out with my back bent forward 
and my neck craned upwards
i raise my hands to the skies
reach out for any stray droplets
and wait for yet another end to this mumbai summer…

this brings back memories from another time, and another place.
pune, 15 odd years ago… the first rains would hit during our summer vacations. and it always came down with hail… in our tiny hands those were large chunks of ice from the fridge in the skies. we would all go downstairs and dance in the rains, eating hail, getting totally drenched… it was one of the best parts of our summer vacations.

let me paint you that picture (since i don’t have a photograph)
a group of children, jumping and dancing in the rains, in those tiny spaces between the apartment building and the compound wall, getting drenched right to the skin, tiny hands flung about to catch a hailstone, followed by urgent shoving into the mouth to free up their hands for the next piece. childhood.