Rains

 Rains have a way of prettifying even the worst case scenario. Why, after the first n sudden summer showers, our urban spaces, often literally swollen in any which way, actually appear clean and cute, like a baby properly bathed by a loving grandma. Honestly, even in the monsoon puddles, with their curious mix of overflowing drains, slush and the leaked petrol/diesel, i manage to see lovely little rainbows! Monsoon, in brief, beautifies!

Given such a truth universally acknowledged, imagine the Express Way (our very own "Autobahn" of which we can reasonably be as proud as Germans are of their own) during the high monsoon. It is wondrous, all shades of green, punctuated by the rivulets of the purest trills of the whitest serene jumping gleefully down the rough and tough terrain! 

Yet, despite all your "Mi Marathi" pride, THE Sahyadri appears quite hillock-y-ish, once the Himalayas have claimed you as theirs! Honestly, such is the grandeur and yet the dreamy allure of the Himalayas that the only possible reaction is falling desparately in love with the Himalayas, as if you are the Kalidasa and Wordsworth combo re-born!

Forget the monsoon, even the sudden summer showers there are unimaginable. Anyways, all along the high terrain, winding, narrow routes, clouds literally play hide-n-seek with you every nano second. The deep ravines, the craggy peaks literally scratching the skies, the dangerous, can-crumble-any-second cliffs, all these threats wear a diaphonous veil of bridal beauty. The sky-shattering thunder and lightening, i suppose, must be the warning of the 'real', the 'Sonam before the police take her away' look the day after, once the costly bridal make-up and re-fine-ry (full of chemicals! so!) are removed!

Silly jokes apart, the Himalayas, with or without the rains, ARE glorious. Yes, I am absolutely aware that I watched all that majesty safely, from behind the panes. Yes, one does know the terrors the cities/towns there face. I suppose though that it is human beings who, too, are to blame. If structures are built in a threatening way, almost within the 'norm'-al way, what else could be Nature's response, right?

In brief, despite all the dangers that could claim your very life every-and-any second, the Himalayan magic "rocks"! Literally! 

Pratima@ Rains!Rains! Blast away/the squalour with which humans betray! / Honest innocence they always besmirch/As comfy respectability they 're-search'!