Elephants in raincoats..!!!

Yes! Elephants in raincoats. It's THAT crazy now.

This is what it was like when it started: Ah! The rains are finally here! The newspaper reads, "Delhiites finally get respite from the heat". There's a cute picture of kids jumping in puddles with a nice little caption that really sums it all up. Bottom line: It rained... FINALLY!

Remember that day wise calendar that they used to show in older Bollywood movies as a symbol of time passing by as page after page of the passing days got torn off due to some extreme wind coupled with the translucent background showing the hero growing up? Now imagine that same situation, only this time, it's not the hero, it's us i.e. the Delhiites and this time everyone was happy to begin with, but now our faces are filled with gloom and the thought of rain alone is depressing enough.

What is happening these days in Delhi puts the saying "when it rains, it pours" to shame. Water logging issues not only on the roads, but on staircases (yeah, mine! And I live on the second floor!), broken up roads, farmers' yield ruined, power cuts, traffic jams due to vehicles breaking down on the roads, etcetera etcetera etcetera... and a few more etceteras after that. This is a small log (no pun intended... you know from water logging??) of all the problems that the rain brings when we've had more than our fair share.

Now you'd find a newspaper article headline reading, "Rain filled gloomy days ahead" or something to that effect. When the monsoons did not arrive on time, everyone was angry and frustrated. When it finally did, everyone was happy for a while. Now it doesn't leave! Go monsoons! GO! The rain is like that friend of ours who arrives late at the party, makes everyone wait for him like he's some celebrity and then refuses to leave when the party is over. We've had enough now. If we wanted to see this much rain all the time, we could have lived in Bombay. I know they will agree. So no point saying that Bombay has it much worse. They've had their time to get used to it.

But whenever we Delhiites are about to get used to something, it goes away. "Oh the winter is here! Let's get all our warm clothes out..." A few weeks later... "It's still not cold enough! What was the whole point of all the shopping??" A few more weeks later... "Aaaah it's finally chilling! Let's get that new jacket out and flaunt for a bit shall we?" The next day... Aaaaaand it's turning warm again. See what I mean? No? Do you want to go back and read that para again? Or maybe the whole post??

But the monsoon is not like that. No seriously, have you ever seen anyone ever flaunting their new raincoat they bought? "Oooh I love how it makes you look like a big plastic bag!". I mean proper raincoats, not the ones that are very fashionable, because then my point will be... well, pointless.

The thing I'm trying to convey is that the rain is enjoyable as a pleasant change after a sultry streak of hot, sunny days, and not as a permanent condition especially in a place that is used to much else. It ruins plans as it goes. It causes a hell lot of inconvenience to mothers everywhere. There's not much need to say anything about women and their shoes in this God-forsaken weather. They know the story.

So I guess all I'm trying to say is: RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!!

In the meanwhile, why don't you enjoy this lovely picture of that elephant I was talking about...