A line from a popular Bangla song goes “mon kharap kora bikel manei megh koreche” (an overcast evening means moods are low). That’s something my father always felt resonance with.
My father,
like millions of others around the world, had Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
What that meant, to him, was that he would feel depressed, low energy, and
overall malaise whenever the skies clouded over, the sun hid its bright face,
and showers began. I’m glad he lived most of his life in a tropical country,
not one of the Nordic lands with months of half-light and weeks of snow at a
time.
I, on the
contrary, exist on the other end of the spectrum. Nothing smells better to me
than petrichor – that first whiff of the monsoons, carried on the wings of
drops pattering down on the dry, parched earth after a long and almost
unbearable Indian summer. Nothing feels better to me than a moisture-laden
breeze, a harbinger of downpours to come soon. And when the showers
finally begin, I get so inordinately happy, so ecstatic, that one could be
forgiven for believing I was a peacock in some previous life, spreading
incredibly coloured plumage and dancing a welcome for the supreme relief of the
monsoons.
And though it might, in some way, connect to my physical and emotional problems with heat and sunlight; it is not just post-summer monsoon that makes me happy. Any rain, anywhere, at any time, is good for an instant mood lift. Even in the Pelican Valley, at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, even in sub-zero temperatures, rain – while freezing my nose and toes off – just makes me laugh out loud and want to dance like a maniac!
 |
— at Pelican Valley Yellowstone |
Monsoon should be over by now, in Kolkata, but this much-disliked city of mine has given me a very pleasant surprise today. I woke up to
overcast, cloud-laden skies, lovely cool breezes, and an almost constant rain –
now heavy, now a drizzle. Needless to say, my inner peacock is totally thrilled!
