This weekend past was about the wettest weekend of the season. Funnily enough this was the first time that the Met Department actually got it right.

Because it was so wet and dreary, I spent the major part of it at home save for one drive down Marine Drive where I saw a bunch of people walking on the promenade. They were rain lovers enjoying the strong breeze and enjoying the salty rain drops.

Seeing their obvious joy brought back memories of monsoons past when I too enjoyed getting wet in the rain. As a school girl, we took great pride in reaching school some how or the other, only to find that with just about three children in class, the school authorities had no choice but to declare the rest of the day as a holiday.

In hindsight, I wonder why we ventured to go out especially when it had rained all night long. Moreover, why did the schools not advise us to stay home on very wet days? 

Whatever it was, we still had to go to school on very, very wet days. This meant a day of adventure particularly on the  journey home . We had to make our own way because we didn’t even have a telephone . Besides who would/could have come to fetch us?

The bus was the obvious choice because it was the only vehicle that could make it through flooded streets. However, this wasn’t a guarantee because invariably the bus would stop half way and we had to wade home in waist high water.

But we enjoyed it, trying to avoid water splashing on us, struggling to keep the umbrella open and squishing through the flood.

One journey home that remains forever etched in my memory is when we dared to hitch hike. The driver was a kindly young man  who seemed amused to see two school girls about. He put down his window and asked us to hop in, volunteering to take us as far as he was going. Alas! hardly had we got a 100 yards down the road when the car sputtered to a stop. Now it was our turn to help the good Samaritan and the two of us got out in the pelting rain and  pushed the car to dry ground  (a good 200 yards away), while he sat inside and steered the car!

We reached home safely however and dried off after a hot shower and cup of tea.

Today I can laugh at this turn of events but looking at the pictures of the horrendous floods my country men are facing in Bihar, Assam and parts of UP, this seems like a walk in the park!

Indeed hundreds if not millions of people are left stranded on rooftops, trees or even floating pieces of furniture. These are the lucky ones. Some have literally been washed away. An umbrella at a time like this is futile.

I hope the monsoons have been good to you wherever you are and your umbrella was good enough to keep you safe and dry.

I’m linking this post with Corinne’s #MondayMusings . Do drop in to read some interesting posts from those participating in this initiative.