The Gentle Drops

It was one of those days, which we feel low. Nothing seemed interesting. Starting from morning, the water guy was late. I had to give him some money, hence kept waiting for him till 10 am in the morning. I was supposed to reach office by 9 am. The clock ticked 10. I lost my patience. I grabbed my bags and keys, kept the empty can at the door step and locked the door from the outside.

As I walked down the stairs, I slipped and fell down. I thought... Ah! this is normal. Thank god! I only hurt my bump. Stood up supporting myself to the staircase handle. As I walked down I was thinking about when was the last time I fell and had a serious injury on this stairs? It was last September after a rain as stairs were wet. I looked at the sky through the window pane. It wasnt too sunny. I sighed thinking that it isnt sunny, due to the cyclonic weather, that Abhishek kept mentioning about the previous day.

As I came down and rode over on my scooty, the shops werent open. The laundry guy was closed, the snacks guys was closed. I wondered why. Later it flashed that today is actually a holiday, the May day. Only the upper primary team at the office was working. The roads were unusually empty, and i rode at a speed not any less than 60 kms per hour.

I reached office, kept my bag on table. The office looked empty. The EVS guys werent there. Looked for Sumithra and Saktee, there werent there too.. Heights of melancholy, my mind whispered. It was Naveen, Abhishek, Anbu and I at the place where I sit. I went on to the break fast table to find pongal and sambar.

Seriously??!! I thought. Out of everything in this world, this had to be the breakfast. I knew I was having a bad day. I silently chanted my prayers and started hogging. I kept cursing my fate for eating that. The goodness in me argued that I should be thankful for what I have and not whine about it. The conflict didnt end until I left the table.

I had no clue how to begin the work. I opened the laptop monitor, opened the poll form, there were 2 more response. This is not bad. I thought. Finally something was going the right way. I was finishing work one after the other in a very light fashion. I dont know why, when too many people are not around, the work looks light to me. I was looking at people's faces around me. It seemed to me that all were in some sort of unease. I generally ask people about it, but today I wasnt able to pull my own shit together, what will I ask them about. And I backed off.

It was already lunch time. Post lunch, it was nothing different, untill I fell asleep in the meeting room bed for 2 hours. Proper deep sleep. I remember experiencing a vertigo in sleep. But not sure whether it was a dream. Apart from that, I think I lied there with no movement as if I was no more alive. When I woke up, one side of the face felt heavy as I had pressed it to the pillow. There were fabric folded imprints on my skin. It was probabaly from the pillow cover. I splashed water onto my face, gently wiped using tissue paper, taking care my bindhi isnt disturbed.

I came and sat at the seat near the window where I sit to work off late. The weather was calm. It is Cyclonic!! But it is still not like the Monsoons in the South west of India. Not more than 1 hour I had spent working, a cool breeze came through the window. There is wind in Pondi.. but not cool. Now this is rare. It became windy. It is stormy! Abhishek exclaimed. As it started drizzling, Sumithra was highly excited and screamed "Wow".

Not very late, the room started having a rare but familar odour. Petrichor!! I screamed. Naveen looked at me. I told the odour of soil when the initial drops of rain hit the ground. Petrichor. It started raining cats and dogs. Once I had finished my work, I wanted  to get wet. It had been my practice to get wet in the first rain of the season where ever I am. My granny believes it boosts immunity. But I do because I love it. I was intending to get wet after finishing my work.

As it was mundane, I stepped out to inspect the rain. The office doorsteps had become messy due to the fallen scenenscent leaves and pouring. A pair of slippers were floating in muddy water. I dipped my legs in for a few seconds and went back inside. When I asked about slippers, Naveen said it was his pair of slippers.

While on work, I remembered my sister for something and called her. As we were talking over phone, a group of people were standing at the door peeping towards the corner. There was a buzz about a snake. I tried to see it, but was unable to make out untill its head moved. Further, I went down to see. It was a white snake with black dictyonic pattern on its body. It had partially swallowed a frog. Food chain in action.. I wondered. I disconnected my sisters' call and went further near to take photos of it. I felt quite excited now. Divya  informed us that she saw a turtle. We went near the turtle and took photos of it. This is wonderful now... I said to myself.

After a long mundane day, the rain added some good flavor to it. The day suddenly got better to me. Another highlight was that one of my tecahers had mailed me. Then I felt quite motivated about rest of the evening. I started listing down about the various work I had to do tomorrow. I felt like drawing something and remembered that Gautham had asked me to draw a spotted owlet 4 weeks ago. I made a spotted owlet and sent it to him. It was made in a doodle book Sumithra had gifted me for my 25th birthday. By the time I finished drawing, it was 9. 50 pm.

Then I walked out of the office. The weather was quite moist but, pouring had competely stopped. The air seemed a lot  lighter and cleaner. It feels that rain water had dissolved most heavy particles from air. I wish rain could also dissolve and wash away our heavy thoughts and problems and keep us light. As I drove down to my lane, the wind became cooler and cooler. I got down the bike in front my gate and realised, that the rain had stopped, the moment had passed, the roads had started drying. And darkness crawled back again into my life.