Bangalore Rains

It is July 2018, middle of rainy season which is Samyukta's favourite time of the year. She stands in her kitchen, bare foot, on the warm and feathery rug feeling its softness as she gently rubs her feet on it time and again. She is among people who enjoy the sound of rain and smell of earth sitting inside the cozy confines of her home and not the "get-wet-in-the-rain-with-arms-wide-open" type. She looks at her 1.5 year old daughter playing in the living room, narrating a dramatic story aloud to an invisible audience in an unknown language where she is the warrior princess of her kingdom and also the dragon, the fairy, the horse, the tree, the robot, the airplane..Must be very tiring to play all the characters in a fairytale-cum-sci-fi movie by oneself, Samyukta thinks and smiles. She knows that her daughter would sleep peacefully with her eyes half shut and perhaps her mouth half open, thin line of saliva trickling down which she finds inelegant and cute at the same time. This will give her and Abhay some quality time with each other which otherwise is a rare phenomenon amidst the hustle bustle of "9 to 6" job for a living and "24-7 job" of parenting.

Outside, the rain pelting on window panes and inside Kishore Kumar in stereo, are in perfect harmony to recreate "Rim jhim gire sawan" all over again. The house is immersed in the smell of brewing ginger tea and Pakodas sizzling in a pool of hot oil, Abhay's moodsetters during this time. There is something very beautiful about rains in Bangalore. The air gets cold enough for one to want to tuck his feet under a duvet but not enough to pierce the skin to cause discomfort. Rather just enough to binge watch a series on Netflix or sit by the window and stare at the ripples the rain drops make in a puddle or challenge your eyes to spot KRPuram bridge hidden behind layers of mist, dust and drizzle. During college, Samyukta and Abhay had spent a lot of fun times doing these silly things and dreaming about their future over several ginger teas and Pakodas -  a comfortable house, pretty kids, furniture, organic farming, overseas travel, time travel, going to space, one night stand with favorite movie star, to name a few. Among all the achievable desires, Samyukta had wanted a house with fancy and broad window sills where both of them would sit facing each other with rain in the backdrop.

There is a knock on the door and Samyukta knows it is him. Abhay had called her sometime back to tell he would be home early to dodge the "after-rains" traffic. With child-like excitement and a tinge of seduction in her voice, she tells Abhay, "kiddo wont be awake before 2 hours, ginger tea and garm-a-garam pakodas waiting and guess who else?"  Platonically Abhay replies, "Sounds fun babe, but I have a client call now, some big escalation." Samyukta hiding her disappointment tells him it will all be OK. She keeps the cup of hot ginger tea and Pakodas on the study table for Abhay and as she is walking out of the room, Abhay calls her out, "and darling, please shut the door when you leave". She nods and smiles at him and says, "let me know if you need anything else."