Its a rainy day…

The kind of day you wake up to after having spent the entire night listening to the winds howl and lash against your window panes, and the steady patter of the raindrops hit the balcony outside with bulletforce. The kind of day you want to cover your head again and go right back to sleep, and soundly ignore the alarm bells ringing in your head about tiffin and lunch boxes to be packed, child to be woken, the washing machine to be put on and such exciting things that welcome one every morning.

Got up reluctantly, got myself bathed and dressed. The child up and got the milk down the hatch before getting him bathed and ready for school. And then needed to get into town with the spouse for an appointment. It poured through the way. Poured cats dogs and cows. Huge Heifers. Falling from the sky plum on the car, almost denting the hood. I kid you. But the drops were huge and relentless. And we got out at our destination, needing to walk a little bit from where the car was parked. The spouse opened the huge umbrella, a white polka dotted, frilly number which was never intended for his usage when bought. And held it over the both of us, and put his arm around me, walking me carefully through the maze of puddles, slush and ditches. He held me carefully, as I cursed the totally unsuitably high wedge heels I had worn, he held my hand as I tried to defy death and cross a road with traffic racing past. I put my arm around his waist for balance, and for strength and warmth. Did we look like two forty year olds, with grey hair and wrinkles, and bellies, trying to get through a downpour undrenched. We did. But we felt like two teenagers. And at that moment, we were back again in time,  back in college. Walking together in the rain, under a single umbrella, because we needed to go by public transport. Sharing a cutting chai because that was all we could afford, waiting for a bus as the rain pelted down because we had no fare for autos. Revelling in each other’s  presence.

Thank you, monsoon. For a brief moment, the years fell away. And the love came right back.