Little
Riya woke up suddenly from her afternoon slumber at the cracking sound of
thunder. Crying in fear she ran and hid in her mother’s sari as another
blinding lightening and deafening thunder rocked the sky. Little did Riya know
that, they were a sign that the clouds in the sky were coming out of their
slumber and would soon shower the earth with the heavenly blessings. The rain
was actually a knight fighting a war with heat, demon of summer with the little
arrows of water droplets.
Soon
the thunders died and Riya ran into the garden which was looking dry, as the
first drops of water hit the dry ground spreading out the sweet smell of the
first rain. Looking up in the sky, the droplets hit Riya’s face as though tiny
bullets were shot in her face. The drizzle soon turned in to a heavy rain and
Riya was dancing to the melodious tunes of the rain splashing the water on the
walls of their and droplets hitting on the puddles freshly formed.
Much
to Riya’s disappointment, Riya’s mother pulled her into the house soon scolding
her for getting wet and trying to dry her off with the pallu of the cotton
saree she was wearing. After helping Riya change out of the wet clothes and put
on some dry ones, her mother stopped her from getting wet but let her watch the
rain from the French window facing the garden. Her mother soon returned with a
tray of hot and yummy looking freshly made Pakoras. The very sight of the pakoras made Riya’s mouth water as she grabbed a piece from the plate even before her
mother could set the plate down.
Biting into the finger burning hot Pakoras Riya
thought “There is no match to eating a yummy hot Pakora tired after playing in the
rain and then watching the rain from window.”
But
what comes also goes. Soon the rain died down leaving behind mud and dirt
everywhere. On coming home, Riya’s father complained of the poor state of roads
and how the roads were covered with puddles of water which splashed water on by
standers as vehicles passed by them.
Riya
smiled at her father and thought, “Yesterday Dad was complaining about the sun
and the heat and he wanted it to rain badly, today he’s complaining about the
rain and mud puddles on the street. What is it that’s good then? Sun or
Rain???”
