I still remember how I used to love rain (or the very idea of rain) as a child. The earthy scent of dampened soil used to invoke something inside of me. Every time it rained, I used to jump like a rain frog to feel the drops of water falling at my face. I loved the rain even though I used to fall sick every time I drenched myself in it. After all, rains have always been romanticized, in songs, in writings, and movies.
Another thing that I loved about rain were the rainbows. We children used to jump out of excitement after spotting the band of seven colors stretched over the same sky that just had poured showers a few minutes ago. I remember how it used to be a partial rainbow every time, and spotting a full rainbow is still an unfulfilled wish of mine. However, as I grew up, several things have changed, and the rain doesn’t seem to be as pleasant as it used to seem back then.
And as I’m all grown-up, despite all the romanticism attached to rains, I now look at it more practically. For instance, rain comes with so many practical problems – it locks the road; it leaves us all cold (we crave warmth, crave to have pakoras, and tea/coffee); the weather seems uncomfortable and sticky; we get stuck in one place. We can’t take too much of it. I wish for it to end and hope for the light to come. Now, whenever rain ends, I look up at the sky, not wanting to be drenched in it again but in the hope of seeing the light and feel warm.
What seems like an inconvenience to us is crucial for nature as it helps blossom the most beautiful flowers in the world.
In our lives, we all go through such rainy days. We all are brought up in the most protected environment by our families. The innocent, carefree, reckless, playful, adventurous, curious, and stress-free childhood acts like a smokescreen that keeps us away from what life had been planning to throw up at us. I think our childhood phase does what the romanticism of rain does to us - it keeps us apart from the practicality of the most protected lives that we live. It keeps us away from the inconvenience life is about to give us. Funny how even the roughest days of life are often referred to as ‘rainy days’!
What we don’t get in our heads is that it doesn’t even matter if we like rain or not; because, in the end, we have no control over it. It has to happen. What seems like an inconvenience to us is crucial for nature as it helps blossom the most beautiful flowers in the world. And for the sake of it, we have to put up with it. Similarly, the roughest days in our life cause inconvenience, and no matter how hard we try, we have no control over it. But, in the end, it helps us grow and bloom into the best versions of us. And life is all about that! Life is all about locked roads, cold nights, discomfort, and stagnation. But if we take a moment and analyze what good things these rough days are bringing to us, they don’t seem as rough. And in the end, we can even choose the reward for ourselves. Remember the second most thing that I love about rain, the rainbow it is! And I still put up with the rain, and peep out of the window to spot a full-shaped rainbow, and that's my reward, a never-ending hope.