Rain Rain, Go Away!

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.                                              John Updike

A lot has been said and written about the beauty of rain, how it instills freshness in us and bestows peace to our stress stricken minds.
One of the first rhymes that we learnt in kindergarten was :

Rain, rain, go away. 

Come again some other day. 

Little Johny wants to play!

No many how many times we wanted the rain to go away, the joy of rain was experienced to the fullest only in the yester years. With little palms, tiny legs, small feet, and oversized uniform, we jumped in puddles, dancing in the cool droplets from the sky, much to the annoyance of our parents and teachers. 

Rain was always welcomed with open arms and embraced like an old friend. The various boats we owned like kings, were flaunted and sailed. 

The heart was richer, the soul was happier, then!
As we grew older, the rain remained our ally. Strict warnings and scoldings had no effect on us! We would wait for our mothers to lose attention for even a second, so that we would easily fled without the hideous raincoats we were equipped with. Even if we were unsuccessful, we would be the King of our hearts once we reached school!
Not a single change was missed to not get drenched! 

Rain was another good reason to skip school at times. "Mummy, it's raining. I don't want to go. What if I fall sick?"
And on days when the devilish mind had already planned to get wet, no amount of persuasion could stop us from going to school. "Mummy today we have an important mathematics exam."

Such was the innocence of childhood, such was the love for rain.
Poodles were jumping grounds, for we strongly believed that Stains are good. (Daag acche hain!)

Another set of years passed and as the teenage knocked on the door, we began to notice the beauty of the droplets on leaves. The fog on the window panes instilled us with ecstacy. Nothing had changed.
Dancing in the rain became our favourite sport in monsoon.
Mothers couldn't understand why it rained so heavily when their innocent little children had "no place to hide."
She couldn't understand why the umbrella didn't open on the day it rained cats and dogs.

As another set of years passed, the friendship with rainfall became restricted only to watching it through window and to hear it tapping the panes vigorously, calling us outside. 

But alas, fear of missing the important exams that could change our lives didn't let us cross the confines of comfort to embrace the rainfall again.
Metamorphosis had commenced. 

Another few years passed, and we stepped into the reality of life.
Today, the rain doesn't excite us. It makes us cringe, several thoughts ricocheting in our minds.
What if the uniform gets dirty? What about the important conference I need to attend?
What if my shoes aren't shiny?
What if I fall sick and stay in bed for days?
And all we sing is :

Rain rain go away!

Come again, another day

If I get late for office, 

what will my boss say?

Rain rain go away!

I'm busy all day 

There's no time to dance and play 

I have Reports to submit 

And conferences to attend all day!

Somewhere between avoiding umbrellas and dancing in the rain, to clutching raincoats and fearing getting drenched, we grew up.

Rainfall is still beautiful. It never ceased to be. The affinity with rain has reduced.
It's restricted to watching it from a hiding place, smiling. Or savouring hot pakodas in the confines of our rooms. Or sipping latte with a book in our laps.

The rain doesn't change.
We surely did. 

Rain rain, listen and stay

I still love you, but can no more play 

It's a matter of time just wait for that day

When I ditch the coverings and join you again!