Monday, December 17, 2012

Rain, dear


I love rain! It’s one thing that I have always looked forward to every year, from the time my memory goes back.  I grew up in Delhi where temperatures in summer can soar up to an unbearable 48-49 degree Celsius. The rain comes as a saviour and also the perfect time to make paper boats walking and dancing in the rain. A true Delihite would welcome rain with chai and hot pakoras, while chai was never offered to us when we were growing up, we were compensated with a warm cup of bournvita.


Things remained same even as I grew up went to college, rain meant bunking class sitting at the canteen having coffee and hot samosas. Those were the best samosas I ever ate the, I am sure that’s in part clouded due to cherished memories from the college where I found great friends.

I have also seen the scarier side of the rains, the flash floods of 2005 in Mumbai. I was just a month old in the city, rain started to pour down heavily and I was stuck in the town with no chance of getting home to the suburbs. Life came to a standstill but even then the whole thing turned out to be a fun night with my favourite girl-friends by myside.

Divya a dear friend, who also happened to be my client working with the Tata group managed to get me and a friend a little place to sleep at Taj Palace that night. Most of the Tata group employees those got stuck were accommodated there, fun night with room of 10 or more girls chattering through the night.  After that, me and my bestie, Pinks were stuck at the company guest house for 2 nights and with no work!

Another night that same monsoon season me and Pinks walked 5 kms in the rain with no rain-gear on us to eat at a rustic restaurant Crystals in search of delicious  rajma and baigan bharta.  Drenched in rain and both of us shivering we ate like as if we had not seen food for  days, somehow the food that night made us feel as if we were home.

Cut to life post-marriage, l find myself in this desert land where thinking about rain is just being harebrained! It is not that it does not rain but maybe day or two in year. Last time we had big rains here in Dubai was maybe 4 years back!

There is another problem apart from this I am married to a guy who works for the insurance industry and the moments it starts raining his first thought would be, “there goes my bonus!”.

It’s been raining here in Dubai today and is predicted to rain over the next days too and I am secretly feeling happy. I wouldn't want to be seen hurting my husband’s feelings and so I have quietly stepped out to the nearest café to write this post and enjoy some scrumptious food courtesy his credit card. 

25 comments:

  1. That is unfair to enjoy the scare rain in the desert in a cafe on hubby's credit card knowing that bonus is at stake!! What you wrote about rains in Delhi n Mumbai is true:)

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    1. Rahul - guilty as charged .. I don't know what is about the rain that makes me so happy .. as if god is showering his love upon me :D

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  2. Loved reading this post, Sangeeta.

    What you wrote about rains in Delhi - you are right. We celebrate it with hot chai and pakoras. Coming from God's own country, rain brings memories and nostalgia. We, Keralites, tend to romanticise everything about the rains - it is a secret passion and we take it with us everywhere we go.

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    1. So true Swapna the second best of going to kerala on vacation even now is rains , the first of course being the family :D

      Thanks for stopping by !!

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    2. good comment and nice post, bonda (in kerala) is the best combination with hot tea.

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    3. Pazham Pori, amma spl chicken cutlet !! uff now I want to go back home

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  3. hahaha it is fun reading your posts :) :) hot chai n pakoras are blisss during rains :) :)

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  4. Rain and hot food is the bestest combination :)

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  5. Well its quite cold in Delhi right now, so I hope it doesnt rain anytime soon! But cute post, Sangeeta, takes us back to childhood days and like you said, chai and pakoras. Cheers!

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  6. Nothing can beat the canteen samosas, I hope you and many others will agree. And rain is an extremely beautiful gift of nature, it evokes all sorts of emotions. And a post written in a cafe, that too about rain and on husband's credit card, Thumps up Gal :) LOL!

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  7. Reading about all those yummy things have made me hungry....
    One keeps on learning about the good employee caring nature of Tata companies..this is one more such case...

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  8. hope u didn't charged ur hubby a lot for that cafe trip... :P
    .
    Just kidding... ;)
    Rain and food...one of the best combos... :)

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  9. That was a lovely trip down memory lane... the dreadful memories of 2005 flash flood are still fresh in my mind and what you have mentioned about canteen samosas is an eternal truth!!! Thanks for this lovely post :)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by ashwini ... glad you've enjoyed the post!

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  10. lovely post...nice memories. Yes rain does that to the best of us. Being a Bombay girl rain was a part of our life...at times I have dreaded it, cursed it and on other occasions loved it, got wet and couldn't get enough it. Glad to know you liked our hotel, Taj Mahal, Mumbai...used to work there once upon a time....lovely memories again.

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  11. coool...I also miss rains . In Kerala, I enjoyed riding bike in the rain and now I am in Qatar, where no rains at all

    Snapshot | Reflections

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  12. Rains always have some wonderful memories attached to it! Lovely memories!

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