Page 18 - Seniorstoday June 2024 Issue

First Person

Listen to the Falling Rain

Image courtesy : dailyexcelsior.com

Nothing affects me like the rain does. I am captivated by the allure of rainfall;
if the skies are whispering secrets, I want to hear them, writes Vickram Sethi

Listen to the falling rain, and get wet.
Listen to it fall, The rains change the landscape; everything
And with every drop of rain, is fresh and green. The frogs, the snails, the
I can hear you call, shoe flowers, and in Andheri where I lived,
Call my name right out loud, there were snakes that came out of their
I can hear above the clouds holes and scurried to safety to prevent being
And I’m here among the puddles, eaten by eagles, crows, and other animals.
You and I together huddle. The best days were when the schools shut
Nothing affects me like the rain does. That down. The rains brought much relief from
fresh smell of the earth, the pitter-patter the heat.
of the raindrops, the damp air on my skin.
I always wondered how I could be so
sentimental and romantic about the rain. I
grew up in Andheri, in North West Mumbai
(then Bombay) in the fifties. The place got
flooded with the shortest downpour, and
there was joy in wearing a raincoat and
splashing about in rainboots (gumboots). I
was so fascinated with the rain that I could
sit all day in our verandah, itching to run out

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