Monsoon magic

The rains are back!They crept upon us last Tuesday, a week before predicted, as if eager to meet us after the long, dry year. The rains bring with them some strange joy, some inexplicable upliftment of spirit that keeps me cheerful despite the gloomy skies.Haven't you ever felt it?That crazy desire to get soaked in the rains, to come home dripping wet, to curl up on your window seat watching the rain pouring outside, while you drink hot coffee?
I love the rains(quite obviously!).It always reminds me of Kerala, of the long train journey winding through the konkan coastline that takes me there.I've never been to Kerala in the rains, mostly in summer, but it is the kind of place where everything is reminiscent of the impending monsoon.The green fields that never seem to dry up, the lovely rivers...The train always reaches Kerala early in the morning, so that we can marvel at the sun rising over the coconut palms. Every time i go back, I always have the same sense of coming home, back to someplace that has a stronger, more undefinable link to me than just college or a job.What's even stranger is that I get the same feeling when we get back to Mumbai.Sure, the sites aren't so pretty, and there aren't any trees to speak of, but that same sure feeling of welcome greets me here too. It's wonderful to be able to belong to two different places, two different cultures whole-heartedly, completely, without having to choose, isn't it?
The rains give me hope again, of a new beginning, of everything washed clean. New year's does nothing for me - nothing in nature heralds it.But the rains...in a day the weather was cool, after an awful summer.The trees rejoice, their vigour returned.The monsoon is when nature triumphs over man, showing us where we stand, worshipers at her feet, not lord and master.