| Break of Monsoon - 21 May ?
As I left Whitefield at 3:00pm on 21st May by road to Chennai, the first thing I looked for is to get a bottle of cooled water as the heat was killing and the car was indeed hot idling in the sun for over 6 hours in the ITPL open car park. Past Vartur and Sharjapur R/A to Hosur was done quickly and after some traffic jam at Hosur I was slowly heading towards Krishnagiri when i realised it was getting dark already. Taking a second look at the digital clock, I inched towards the Chennai road and indeed I noticed the dark clouds ahead, possibly for some summer rain. As I was reaching Bargur, the strike of a big lightning right above my view and slowly several all around looked like a live TWISTER movie. There is an old saying that when you see big lightning you will get big rains but when you hear big thunders there will be no rain. As I sat thinking about this old myth and began to laugh if there is any truth in it, the first strike of drops on my windshield commenced slowly increasing its pace and your wiper switch had to go full throttle in no time.
The sight of rain all around you lashing in its glory, the sway of cocunut trees across your horizons welcoming the rains, wet roads, dripping trees looking greener cleansing their dirt, cars stopping mid-way with defective wipers, people nudging under the trees, bus stops and some kids just enjoying the whip-lash, mud being washed out of the road like a crude leak from the oceans and the shriek of tyres hitting water spots simply makes you feel the joy of rains! I had switched off my mp3 player to focus on the rains and as I turned it on, it resumed my Geeta Dutt's collection and it snapped on to the classic Dada Burman's duet - "Rimzim ke taarane leke ayee barsaat - something to do with the rain and the "pehli mulaqat" ??.......that was a real coincidence (I dont follow Hindi but listen to all hindi songs and have some of the best collections of the old classics of Rafi, Lata, Asha, Mukesh, Hemant, Talat and Manna Dey)
I had to stop the car now, managed to crawl to the rear, rumbled through my luggage kit for an umbrella (which I keep in stock) got out and went for a strole exactly on the bridge after Ambur town........ the sight was just unforgettable. I walked back half wet, climbed aboard and thereafter prayed that the rains didnt stop. It didnt, and it was in full gusto all the way till I crossed Vellore, Ranipet and approached Kanchipuram, when the sight of black clouds with several silver lightning cracks on the rear view and side mirrors told me that I was getting back to summer territory. That was an entire 3 hours+ of driving in non-stop rains - I thought the monsoon had come and come early - the net assured me that and so were the next day's papers.
I took a solemn oath that I will have a good monsoon's drive down from Munnar one day.........until then I will live in the memories of seeing a wild monsoon break early (even if anyone tells me it was just another summer rain).
(pics taken on my cell when driving, be divine and pardon this human err!).
cheers,
Ram | 
23rd May 2009, 14:57
