may 14th

halki barish

yesterday morning, i was caught unawares in this game between water and the wind. ummm well, not completely unaware. by the time i left home at eight, clouds were already beginning to cover up the sunshine. but it had rained last night also, so i thought it must be the after effects and in no time sun will be up and shining strong. anyways, i don’t give freak rains much of a chance in the sizzling May we’ve in delhi.
the weather was turning pleasant gradually. i boarded the metro, got down at the new delhi railway station bus terminal (its oxymoronic, isn’t it), boarded the desired bus and chose a perfect window seat with a large open window. there was a risk though, the window was completely stuck and in case of even a brief thundershower, i was going to be totally soaked. i’m glad it didn’t rain much, and except for a couple of plip-plop drops kissing my spectacles, nothing major happened.
after more than 90 minutes of an extremely pleasant journey, just when i’d to get down at my bus stop, a rapid wind started lashing everything in sight. in a matter of minutes, it was completely dark, the visibility must have been lowered to only a few meters, vehicles had their headlights switched on, it was night at ten in the morning and i’d no option but to walk twelve minutes to my office, in a raging dust storm.
in those few minutes, i got completely soaked in dust, even the books in my bag were filled with it. tried calling dee, but it was difficult to talk without dust filling the tastebuds. with the wind already bending me down, picked a couple of ‘amaltas’ flowers from the ground beneath, and a perfectly shaped ‘peepal’ leaf.
the flower was lost soon after entering office, but the ‘peepal’ leaf still graces my monitor. am planning to make a bookmark out of it and gift it to dee. it’ll always remind me of the may 14th morning i was soaked in a dust rain.
what is it about summer rains anyways, that they always remain unexpected and yet are remembered year after year?