By Thunder!!

It's officially, properly summer. No, it hasn't gotten any warmer, quite the contrary! You see, summer in Bengal isn't summer, without the kal-boisakhi, and today, finally, we had the season's first :). It is a rather sudden thunderstorm that is often seen in these parts this time of the year, but had been ominously absent so far this year, letting the mercury soar to unprecedented heights!

And when I say sudden, I mean it in the extreme sense! One minute the sky would me mostly cloudless and the sun bright and unbearably hot. Then, as soon as you turn away from the window, the sky would cloud over and the driving winds build up to a crescendo! Of course when, like today, the earth's been particularly dry, a dust storm is inevitable. You can more or less see (and sometimes hear) the consequences in neighbouring households as people scurry to shut the windows and keep the rooms from sprouting mini sand dunes :|.Then when the rain does come, well, let's say this the kind of rain I like best :). It has none of the brooding nature of the monsoon rains here. Or the long drawn out, somewhat depressing nature of the Mumbai rain. (Yes, sacrilege, but I never liked the Mumbai rain, with its rather overly persistent nature and therefore its lack of character, in my mind.) Definitely none of the barely-there annoyance of the Norwegian spring rain. Or the hide-and-seek short-lived exuberance of the Perth variety... This rain has character.

Part of it is the total authority with which it dictates life! Commanding reaction at a speed that is otherwise quite unbelievable for most people in these parts :D. Then there is the rapidity with which the first drops are followed by the rest of the millions! This rain means business! And you better not get caught out! Within seconds you would get more thoroughly drenched than if you were standing under a shower-head! And the best of rain gear gives you only minutes :).

Once it is in full swing of course, it has the ability of drawing out that kid inside of you :). Maybe it's just the sudden and absolute relief from the heat, or just the joy of the first rain, but it is not surprising to see people out on terraces and streets :). I usually stick to watching the sheets of torrential water that's just everywhere!!! Water that is driven almost to madness by the invisible whips of the shrieking wind! It's hypnotic :).

I was reminded of times when there'd be hail stones with the rain, and then the rooftops would quickly be littered with these pebbles of ice! And we'd go trooping up to collect them :D. You learn very quickly that an umbrella is absolutely no good, you need a metal or plastic bucket on your head! And there's no stopping the stinging on the rest of your body :). Just get out, get the really big hail stones, the ones that wont melt away by the time you're done, and race back under cover :D.
But the best part of this rain is how once it's done cooling down the earth, it doesn't linger. Most of the time the sky is back to it's bright blue self quite quickly. The sun shines down on the now lush and rejuvenated, and the happy :). Now we'll have a couple of days before it'll get really bad again, and then everyone will be waiting for the next one!
Well, except for the owners of these hoardings I suppose :D.

Feeling: cooler :)
Listening to: The Weepies - World spins madly on