'Bi-Lingual - Monsoon Rants'

ഉറങ്ങുവാന്‍ നേരമായി എന്ന് അറിയാമായിരുന്നിട്ടും
ഉറങ്ങുവാന്‍ കൂട്ടാക്കാതെ ഞാന്‍ ഇരുന്നു.
മഴ പെയ്തു തീര്‍ന്നപ്പോള്‍ ജനാലകള്‍ തുറന്നു,
ദൂരെ പാഞ്ഞു പോകുന്ന മിന്നല്‍ നോക്കി നിന്നു.
എഴുതുവാന്‍ വെച്ചിരുന്ന കടലാസുകള്‍ മുഴുവന്‍
ചിതലുകള്‍ അരിച്ചു പോയിരുന്നു.
പണ്ടെങ്ങോ വാങ്ങിയ പേനയില്‍ ഞാന്‍ മഷി
നിറയ്ക്കാനും മറന്നു പോയി.
ഒരുപാട് നാളുകള്‍ കൂടി ഞാന്‍ ഇന്ന് എന്റെ
ആരും മുട്ടാത്ത കതകുകള്‍ തുറന്നു.
ചെരിപ്പുകള്‍ ദ്രവിച്ചു പോയതിനാല്‍ ഞാന്‍
ഭൂമിയുടെ തണുപ്പ് മുഴുവനും അറിഞ്ഞു.
കാലുകള്‍ ഉറക്കാത്ത കടല്ക്കരയിലൂടെ
ഞാന്‍ അവശിഷ്ടമായ പാലം തേടി നടന്നു.
വഴിയിലെവിടെയോ കിടന്ന നനഞ്ഞ കാഷ്ടം
എന്റെ കാലുകള്‍ക്ക് അലങ്കാരമായി.
തുരുംബെടുത്ത ചരിത്രത്തിന്‍റെ എല്ലുകളിലൂടെ,
ഒരു ഉറുമ്പിനെ പോലെ ഞാന്‍ നടന്നു.

ഇറങ്ങുന്നതിനു മുന്‍പ് ഞാന്‍ ഭിത്തിയില്‍

എഴുതിയിരുന്നു, ആര്‍ക്കോ വേണ്ടി, ഒരു തെറി!!
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Talking about Rain.
All I have is some Images. That's how I remember things.
Starting from my days as a child. When I was the only one.

My parents found a house for rent. An old creepy one. The Kitchen used to leak. And my Mother used to put buckets under it. It was a big house given for a thin rent. Before I joined school, My mother used to make me sit on the veranda and we used to solve puzzles and make India out of Jigsaw Puzzle. We used to make houses using the boxes and colour animals on the books. The heavy rain used to wet our strectched out legs and I would tell her to make a boat. She never mastered that art and would make lousy boats which would sink at the moment it hit the puddled water. And also she used to make really great vegetable soup and feed me while telling me stories. These are the earliest possible 'Rain Memories' I have.

I also remember riding in a scooter with my parents during heavy rain because there was no shelter on the country road. I was possibly 4-5 years old and when we stopped near a water pump house, my father took me into his hands and rubbed my chest. I was fragile as a child because I was only recovering from an asthmatic problem.

The 'Rain Memory' which still give me shivers and nightmare is the one incident which happened when I was 10. The road between the two fields was flooded and we ventured into it on a scooter. It was nine at night and I still had my school uniform and bag on me. The engine was flooded with and it stopped in the middle of the road. The force of the water increased and we started getting pushed off to the field. Suddenly, I was neck deep in water. My Father pulled me up with one hand (the other hand managing the scooter). There was at least half a kilometer ahead. Heavy rain started and there was no street light. I was standing on the seat of the scooter with my hands crossed across my father's neck and eyes closed. 30 minutes walk through the water and we were off the flooded area. There was a group waiting once we crossed across. One of them told us that it was a rescue group for two people who went missing in that place an hour ago. :-)

S.B. College, Changanacherry is beautiful during rain. The victorian style rock building towering against the rain clouds is a sight. Also amazing is the 'Arts Block' with the cleaned up red tiles on the top and its paint darkened. The campus goes silent during rain. That's when we step out. The rides through the narrow, cozy streets of Changanacherry aiming Indian Coffe House is memorable. The hot coffe and snacks from Adens and sometimes Vanilla ice Cream or Burgers from Uncle's Ice Cream Parlour also made up several rainy evenings.

During the rich days, I even used to take the car out for a drive with the friends. The attractive Alappuzha-Changanacherry Road, drenched in rain; dangerous but beautiful because it has a lot of shops on the sides which sells Non-Veg and River/Sea food. Secrets used to spill out when we used to sit around the round table in Garudakari Toddy shop and also did future plans and hopes.

Long, continous and strong Kerala Monsoon rains moved away slowly and I started having the 'Hyderabad Monsoon' instead. Its not bad... only different. Its not strong and furious as the one back home. There, it hit with all its fury and I suppose, the anger goes down when it climbs up the subcontinent.

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