Bombay Rain

Rain in Bombay is something else altogether. We wait all year long for the rains, grumbling, complaining, and pleading to the rain gods; but when it arrives we regret its arrival almost immediately. That’s how Bombay rain is, you can’t live with it, and you can’t live without it.

The first day that it rained for just 3 hours, the entire city went crazy. It was like when you leave blind mice in a box that smells of cheese, they run helter skelter. Everyone seemed so confused. They didn't know what had hit them. Roads were jammed, traffic choked, new pits and manholes magically appeared on the roads. There wasn't a rickshaw in sight; all the drivers suddenly seemed to have vanished in to thin air. People were running for shelter. It was total chaos.

Only after a day or two of torrential rainfall did people finally get the hang of it and moved about their daily lives unperturbed by the rain. Normalcy returned, at least on the surface.

I have loved the rains for as long as I remember, especially in Shillong. The hills come alive with the first shower. The fresh smell of wet earth, roads that look clean and pristine, leaves that turn a darker shade of green and the lovely cold breeze. Steady pitter patter of raindrops on tin roofs and the occasional sun peeping from the clouds.

Bombay rains are so different. There is no petrichor, instead there is a dirty stink that will make you gag. Dug up roads are filled with knee deep muck. Getting somewhere during the rain is a royal pain in the ass. And mind you, in Bombay it doesn't just rain, it pours. It’s like somebody’s emptying bucketful of water on your head. People who haven’t been out of Bombay in rains will not understand what all the fuss is about.

But no matter how difficult life gets in Bombay during the rains, I’ll always have a special place for it in my heart. Long drives with friends, bhajia and chai at a tapri, getting splashed by big wild waves in Marine Drive, sharing a steaming mug of coffee and conversations with your best friend while watching the rain pour harder than ever before… and my red raincoat.

This is my Bombay rain, a part of my heart.