A Rainy Day

Cirro-cumulus

When I woke up this morning, it promised to be an ordinary day. The sun was shining brightly, the day was warm. Not warm enough to be uncomfortable yet. However, the heat was building up. By afternoon it would get stiflingly hot and humid. A few hours later, as I was going about my day, I happened to glance out the window. The sky was a surprising grey instead of its usual azure.

Cumulus

I like sunny weather as much as the next person, but cloudy days have their own appeal. When the Sun is obscured by the clouds, in the dull light, even the ordinary becomes mysterious. The clouds themselves are a delight to observe. I love looking at clouds and imagining them resembling elephants to cars to people. In school, we learnt that there are different types of clouds. Cumulus are the most commonly observed clouds.They are cottony, cauliflower shaped. Stratus clouds have horizontal layering. They look like parallel layers of clouds in the sky. The low lying dark grey clouds which shower us with rain are called Nimbus. The word nimbus itself is Latin for 'rainstorm' or ‘rain cloud’. The thin, wispy clouds seen at high altitudes are Cirrus.

I find that afternoons are the best time for cloud gazing. As I looked up at the sky this afternoon, I tried to recognise the clouds. They were menacing and dark grey, seeming almost to touch the top of the cell phone tower in the distance. They had to be Nimbus. It definitely looked like it would rain. The temperature had noticeably dropped several degrees. It was a welcome relief from the heat. There was a light breeze ruffling the long stems of bougainvillea bushes in the garden outside. I threw open all the windows to let the cool breeze in. In a few minutes, sure enough, it started drizzling gently. Tiny specks of rain dotted the ground, not enough to make it completely wet. The air was filled with the refreshing scent of wet earth. I breathed in deeply and took in the view before me. A couple of pigeons had taken refuge from the rain and were sitting on the grill outside the window, sheltered by the parapet. The plants in the garden looked greener, the flowers brighter, as if they'd got a fresh scrubbing. Just the day before, they had been dusty and drooping. Today, dancing along with the breeze, they seemed to have come alive to new life. It had grown quiet. The sound of vehicles on the road outside was muffled by the rain. The faint laughter of children playing in the rain was the only other sound to be heard. As I stood at the window, with the cool, damp breeze on my face, I felt content and at peace with the world. I could spend hours, just standing like that, basking in the beautiful weather. I wanted to capture the scene before me so that I could look at it later and reminisce. I took a few pictures, but they were nowhere near as picturesque. They couldn’t replicate the vivid colours of the surroundings, the sudden chill in the air and the now fading smell of wet earth.

There's something to be said about listening to music on a rainy day. The notes of the song mingled with the soft pitter patter of rain lends a surreal quality to music. As I was singing along with the radio, I felt my spirits soar. Rainy weather, good music and a good book to curl up with, constitute my idea of a perfect afternoon. Add to this, piping hot ‘dal vadas’ and ginger flavoured tea, and what we get is, my equivalent of the high life. :-)