Sunday, August 17, 2008

Raindrops keep Falling...

Have you ever seen the rain fall in the wrong direction? Its silvery wisps gradually intensifying to crystal drops then to angry, pounding waves, each trying to outdo each other. The lush, green hills have faded into obscurity, veiled now by a white sheet of precipitation. The birds have gone silent.
The rustling leaves, gently portending the impending deluge have been replaced by battered foliage.

And unlike the way it began, it stops suddenly. Lightning crashes and the wind picks up where the cloudburst left off. Silence is replaced by more silence. Eerie pervasions tempt the heavens once more. This time, the downpour begins, accompanied by its supporting cast of light, sound and air. Unrefined souls may curse the deities. I turn off the music to listen to the symphony that has been provided by Heaven. I turn my head around to engage the beauty of the Earth.

The camera can capture but a fleeting moment; no substitute for the first hand ocular experience and a grave injustice to the magnificence that has just been witnessed. It reinforces an appreciation for life. It hastens us to put into perspective, life’s petty and petit dramas. It calms and brings sanity to the insanity of daily life. For others, it may be a twenty minute spell of rain that brings inconvenience, damp and cold. For me, it is a welcome interlude and a new beginning.

The birds sing again to pierce the deafening silence, no doubt prompted by the feast unearthed by the driving monsoon. It is over now. The breeze will blow chill tonight. Lovers will entangle in embraces, fuelled by the aphrodisiac of the air. And me? I will sip graciously from the vino chalice. I will appreciate the moon. I will think of my own. I will promise. I will dream fearlessly for if the rain can fall in the wrong direction, then so can I.