Rain and Relativity!

Yesterday it was cloudy, but still the temperatures could penetrate through the clouds and it was definitely not pleasant. Even humidity was at its peak. Well before all this sounds like a weather report I need to say that it rained last night between 12 and 1am and what a rain it was, a real downpour with lightning and thunder. I really do not understand whenever it rains or the winds start blowing with high speed, immediately there to be a power failure.

Does this happen only in Vizag? Is our power system so weak that it cannot withstand a few strong winds?Anyway although it is not the proper onset of monsoon in Vizag(Psst: I really doubt if Vizag has any specific monsoon, bcz it seems to rain only when there is depression in Bay of Bengal) This downpour did bring a respite from the heat that we went through for the past few days. It is cool since morning and cloudy, perfect weather for a Long Drive with some good music on.

Now I told about Rain, then you all must be wondering what is it about Relativity? Nope I am not definitely going to quote Einstein's Theory of Relativity here.(Physics was definitely not one of my favourite subjects in school, I was class topper in Biology)

Coming to the point, how people are happy to see the rain, I am seeing so many comments on FB thanks to Friends across the country from Bombay to Bengaluru and from Delhi to Kerala either people are waiting for the rain or smiling that it rained. And come to think of it none of them are farmers to start their farming season :-). Most of them might not even face the heat so much getting out of AC cars into AC chambers, still .....

Where as in the rest of the world people say "it is bright and sunny and wish for a little bit of sunshine" that seems to be the weather for a picnic or rejoicing. So no wonder it is relativity where there is snow or rains or cold weather for most part of the year a little bit of sunshine brings those smiles. And in our tropical country like India especially Southern and Eastern India where almost for 8 to 10 months it is sunny a few drops of rain do bring the smiles.

And there must be many rain lovers out there especially people of my generation born in the seventies who had the time to sail those paper boats in the puddles of Rain. But even now rain has its charm, even on screen for all those wonderful rain songs now and then in Tollywood and Bollywood.

But one more fact of relativity that surfaces in my mind whenever there is continuous rain for 3 to four days is, why are we not as happy as the first day when we have rain? On the first day we are happy, we gather together and have a party of hot pakoras, or curl up on the window sill with a hot cup of steaming coffee. Then slowly the effect wears off, we cannot sit confined indoors, there are thousand and one tasks for the people in this world to go out. We do not want to get wet and reach our destinations. Clothes do not dry, the house starts smelling damp with wet and semi wet clothes everywhere. And again we start wishing for sunshine :-)

Did anyone ever had a thought about the effect of rain for the pavement hawkers and slum dwellers? We are happy that we have our groceries fully stocked, power in place, glued to TV sets or playing games on Xboxes we have fun. But for those people if they earn for that day, then only they can have their meal at the end of the day.

The proverb is well known 'Save for a Rainy Day' but it seldom happens with most of them hitting the bottle and no savings left. Here it is again relativity. Someone is Happy and Someone is not.

So next time you venture out in the rain and if the Auto rickshaw fella or fruit vendor demands a few extra rupees please do not bargain but part with a few notes and smile that you are the reason for some one's happiness and a meal for a family.