When I Walked in the Rains

For four months, I walked in the rains - sometimes heavy, sometimes drizzling. It was my first monsoon in Mumbai and I was amazed at the amount and intensity of the rains. I stay close to my workplace so it is much easier - particularly when it is raining - to walk down (rather walk up and down on a sloping road) than to negotiate with an auto rickshaw driver. Contrary to my apprehension, I rather enjoyed walking in  the rains. I did not even mind getting partially wet under my umbrella when it would rain very heavily. It gave me an opportunity to meditate on issues. It made me appreciate the beauty of nature as rains cleared up - even if temporarily - pollution and dust of city streets, and leaves and branches of trees lining the roads to make them sparkle like crystal.

These times I would also try to sort my conflicting feelings of being in a new city. I moved to Mumbai because I got an interesting job and a chance to introduce a change in my  comfortable lifestyle. From driving a car everywhere in Delhi to walking to my workplace in Mumbai, often in high humid warm weather, itself is a big change. Anyone who knows Delhi would know it is not so easy to walk on the streets of Delhi because of distances and safety issues, and anyone who knows Mumbai would know it is a blessing to manage to avoid rush hour traffic here every day.

But anyone who knows about Mumbai monsoons would also know, it is not always romantic or even pleasant to step out when it is raining. Still I enjoyed - because not only I could practice 'walking meditation' but also it gave me fodder for photography or sketches or writing. I would philosophise about my daily life or the life I left behind. I also liked the (almost) pleasant temperatures of the rainy season as opposed to sticky higher ones of the summer.

A lot has been written about moving jobs but not so much about moving cities, at least not in India. We, in India, generally resist change – in all spheres of life. Perhaps this is a reason for us, as a country, in lagging behind in modern innovation. Innovation requires changing a way of thinking and often a lifestyle. One needs to ‘think out of the box’, ‘go out of one’s own comfort zone’ apart from spending time and energy in innovating. Moving cities (though this was not the first time) and moving away from a close circle of friends to come to a place where I did not know many people, has been an exhilarating experience for me. It gave an opportunity to let go of a few pieces of past baggage (there have been some in the past few years): I learnt that letting go of a lifestyle may help in letting go of memories we wish to release. Interactions with a different set of people and dealing with issues in an unknown city taught me new ways of responding to situations.

More than for any philosophical or creative reasons, I enjoyed walking in the rains for its sheer sensual pleasure. The fragrance of wet earth and trees, the rhythmic sound of falling drops, the visual of dreamy but unclear path ahead of me and the sensation of being washed by cool rain water – I loved every part of the experience. I also wanted to take some good rain photos. This proved hard because of my hesitation in going out with expensive photography gear in heavy rains. 

We need rains for many reasons, not least to give poets an opportunity to write verses. I needed the rains to reaffirm my life’s priorities. Priorities have not changed because I have attempted to change my life - to the contrary these have become firmer. Now I am eagerly waiting to enjoy the beauty of the next season and perhaps the next phase of life.

Text and Photo: Sanchita C 2013