Living in Europe, I would often
come across these words whenever Madrid was accosted by dark rain clouds “ depressing”, “dreadful”, ”awful”, and
the list goes on. It was cited as the number one cause for being lethargic, not
wanting to work, and basically being blue (or grey in this case). Coming from
hot India – Delhi, to be precise, its dust laden roads testament to its
aridness, I, on the other hand have almost always welcomed dark clouds and rain
with a little internal jig like this.
http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/1d2da3358d/the-best-dancing-gifs
Anyway,
I thought it was us Indians who have a penchant for this strange behavior, when
people in higher latitutdes with the cold and dark are driving themselves over
the edge (literally), because there is such a thing as seasonal affective
disorder. People even report lower life satisfaction on rainy days! [1]
I
understand that if it is cold and rainy for sustained periods, which it is in
many parts of Europe, people feel their lives are restricted, and this could
dampen people's plans and so forth. However, I thought this certainly wouldn’t
hold for Indians! We of the monsoons, and such!
In
India, farmers from ages ago depended on the south-west monsoon when irrigation
facilities were non-existent. Imagine depending on rain for your survival!
Besides, considering that we get majority of our rain in the summer months when
temperatures are pushing upwards of 40 degrees celsius, it is no wonder we pray
to all gods known to us to let it rain! It is tough to let go of that deep
sense of attachment to something that resonated with joy for people in the
subcontinent for thousands of years.
The
origin of the word monsoon is not that surprising to people in Asia atleast.
Monsoon arose from the Arabic word “mausim”
which basically means weather, which of course is a commonly used word in
Northern-India “mausam”. Hell, we
even have some Bollywood movies with that name.[2]
In India, we also have a raga in
Indian classical music known as Malhar.
This raga is often associated with rains and monsoons. I remember as a kid, watching a movie
where Tansen, the court singer for Akbar, was asked to sing raga Deepak to light the lamps in his court,
but on doing so, Tansen started to burn from inside and then someone had to be
brought to sing Malhar, to bring rain
and cool his body.[3]
Whenever I am in India during the
monsoon season, I always come across kids, so many of them dunking into
makeshift pools and dancing in the rain. Everyone has a smile on their face, no
matter if they have to wade through knee-deep water (myself included). So
collectively, the Indian conscience revels at the site of rain clouds and
monsoons and rain!
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/jun/13/the-best-news-photographs-of-the-day
As I am writing this, I am
listening to raga Malhar by Pandit
Jasraj, hoping some of that magic would rub off here in Hong Kong and make it rain. I do see clouds in the distance.
I think this song from Lagaan,
set to the exquisite music of the genius A.R. Rahman, embodies the sentiment
that people often experience at the prospect of rain.
