I found this scribbled in a journal I used to write on and off while I was in Tokyo a few years back. I used to live in a concrete jungle then and I suppose I didn't like it much!
This seems like a good time to reproduce the entry here !
16th July, 2007,
The rains in Japan are not the same as the rains in India. Somehow they seem more impersonal here. There is no rejoicing, no sense of relief that the parched, scorching summer months are gone. People go about their business as usual, hidden under huge black umbrellas, shapeless in their raincoats.
No one puts out a hand to catch the raindrops; No one stands with their face turned towards the sky, letting the rain caress their face.
There are no kids splashing in the puddles,or trying to float little paper boats. I suppose the Japanese kids are better behaved than ours.
The rain doesn't make the same sound in this country. In India it has a soft comforting sound, enveloping you like a soft blanket. Even when it is falling on tin roofs there is a certain melody to it.
Here the rain has a bit of the typhoon in it, it slams against the buildings, bangs against my glass windows like whip lash and falls incessantly on asphalt and tarmac.
And right now I would give anything for the smell of wet earth!
No one puts out a hand to catch the raindrops; No one stands with their face turned towards the sky, letting the rain caress their face.
There are no kids splashing in the puddles,or trying to float little paper boats. I suppose the Japanese kids are better behaved than ours.
The rain doesn't make the same sound in this country. In India it has a soft comforting sound, enveloping you like a soft blanket. Even when it is falling on tin roofs there is a certain melody to it.
Here the rain has a bit of the typhoon in it, it slams against the buildings, bangs against my glass windows like whip lash and falls incessantly on asphalt and tarmac.
And right now I would give anything for the smell of wet earth!
Start writing a novel, Ruchira.
ReplyDeleteComing from you Shail .. I am speechless !
ReplyDeleteI hit enter too soon. I simply loved the way you describe rain. It gives one the experience and that's what writing is all about.
ReplyDeleteI second Shail! Such a beautiful comparison of the way rains are experienced in the 2 countries! Lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you Shilpa. You made my day !
DeleteYou have talent - I not only smelt the wet earth, I also sensed the nostalgia and homesickness for Indian rains here. Beautiful
ReplyDeleteThank you Ritu. Thank you so much !
DeleteLovely description...No sides taken, yet a comparison made... :)
ReplyDeleteThank you ！And welcome here !
DeleteI wonder why rain sounds so impersonal in Japan. Sounds like New York. But the reason there is that it rains all year round...so there really is no reason why people should miss it so, or wait anxiously for its return.
ReplyDeleteIt rains a lot in Japan as well - specially June, July Aug. Lot of typhoons and cyclones ! But the Japanese are not as passionate about rain as us - unless they are writing Haikus about it !
DeleteLoved this. Absolutely wonderfully described.
ReplyDeleteThank you !
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ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful ! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you !
DeleteIt's been raining hell since the last 5 days and I hate it more than anything. This post makes me like it a bit :) The rain does have a personality here.
ReplyDeleteAkhil Kalsh. http://1hw.in
Yes the rain does have a personality ! But even i would get sick of 5 days of continuous rain !
DeleteLol, sick of just 5 measly days of rain?! Its been raining since 3 weeks here and it will go on till mid August :D
DeleteLooooved this :) Sigh, rains mean so much to us :)
ReplyDeleteSo it does !
DeleteLoved this post. I have a similar post comparing seasons of Manchester and Delhi lying in my drafts.
ReplyDeleteAh the British weather !! You should post it !
DeleteEnjoyed reading it. Beautifully described. Missed reading such gems.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Such a lovely thing to say !
DeleteI don't about rain anywhere else than in India...and I absolutely love it. It is everything you have described it to be.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janu ! I think the rain in India is the best !
DeleteBeautifully expressed! Oh I am so craving for some showers, for the smell of wet earth, to get drenched, to splash in the puddles..
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post Ruchira!
Thank you ! I always crave for Indian summers and monsoons when I am not here !
Deletesuch poise in the writing....felt a lot of emotions while reading it. I miss Indian monsoons too. I used to be terrified of the rains in the US for the first few years I lived here, now I'm okay :).
ReplyDeleteThank you Shachi. What terrified you about the US rains ?
DeleteSuch a beautiful post. I spent a summer in Japan and I agree, the rain was different.
ReplyDeleteThank you Talya and welcome here.
DeleteThe smell of earth as rains hit it... how I missed this during the incessant London rains
ReplyDeleteThanks you ! The smell of wet earth is something I always missed the most !
DeleteIt is a poem,a lovely poem
ReplyDeleteThank you !
DeleteNo place like home, is there Ruchira? I am sure the sky isn't half as blue as it is in my little town.
ReplyDeleteOnce I visited Bombay during winter. At home those days, the sky was a deep ultramarine but in Bombay it was faded and white. I asked a friend why the sky wasn't blue and he said, "There are too many people using it here. The blue gets used up."
And that was so true. :D
Dagny
I suppose your friend is right . too many people to use up the sky ! No place like home!
DeleteThat is a sad picture of rain in Japan!
ReplyDeleteI once got drenched head to toe in Hungary, loved it!!!
I am sure you must have !
DeleteThat is because we Indians are sentimental about everything. Sab cheezon se bhawnayen judi hoti hain hamare liye. Others are matter of fact about these things. They may even admire it for a moment and then move on :).
ReplyDeleteTrue Rachna !we are a sentimental lot !
DeleteYou were missing home :( This weekend I was in Bombay enjoying the rain, feeling half happy, half envious because there was no rain, till then, here in Delhi...
ReplyDeleteI just love the monsoons of our Country... I must also confess I have not experienced the monsoons of any other country... I would like to experience the one's in congo for once :) but yes.. I guess it surely cannot be much fun enjoying the monsoons in the concrete surroundings... the leaves, the birds, the soil... they all smell of life flowering...
ReplyDeleteI was just imagining you writing it in your diary watching the stained glass pane... wonderful :)
Wonderfully written Ruchira. loved how you created the whole picture. I agree with Shail :)
ReplyDeleteits your post which almost takes me with you. I can imagine the well behaved kids there and remember my own childhood. The soft pace of rain which somewhere freezes our minds is ingrained in us as people.
ReplyDeleteA very heartfelt post Ruchira.. loved it :-)
Richa
Actually all seasons of india are just out of the world and the memories they unfold not only during rainy season but also the winter and summer is unforgettable.
ReplyDeleteGot nostalgic reading this...sniff sniff ;)
great write up!
I remember the anticipation building up as the sky went grey with clouds, the wind humming, the trees swaying in ecstasy and finally the rain falling in sheets, bestowing the dull landscape with an iridescent glow.
ReplyDeleteSigh, Ruchira! Your post made me nostalgic.
Oh yes! Having been born and brought up in a coastal place, I always awaited the rains... and now that I read this, I realize that I have never had the same experience anywhere else...
ReplyDeleteBtw did you know that wet smell of the mud is from the bacteria that "livens" up with the rain? :)
Since you are not writing any travelouges of late.. i go back and read your previous ones...
ReplyDeleteSince you are not writing any travelouges of late.. i go back and read your previous ones...
ReplyDeleteA lovely read and brings nostalgia of fragrance of water droplets meeting the parched earth!
ReplyDelete