Wet. That is what I remember the most. Everywhere all the time. Bed posts acting as support for washed clothes drying out, creating private rooms where one could lie and read story books all day long without falling into Mom's notice. Floors damp from the short dashes outdoors and back - the recycled gunny bags acting as door mats no match for the surplus water. Humidity so high that the bath towels remained damp forever. Water splashing through the meshed windows, coconut tree leaves swaying in a frenzy to the winds tune. That was how it was at home.
One day, midway through, school closed early citing the weather. Our transportation to/from school was a mini bus which always reminds me of a loaf of bread. It must have seen many years; though the way it ran till then, there was never a hint that its better days were over. It almost got us all the way back home, fighting the rain, its engine slowly heating till it started spewing out fumes. And then it gave up and died right in the middle of the road with a few more Kilometers left before all the kids got home. It being the days before cell phones and virtually no means of contacting all the parents; and the kids old enough to find their way back; above all, it being a small city in India - the driver and conductor let us get off the bus to fend our way homeward. In the pouring rain.
It's probably the best rain day I ever had. Splashing our way through shallow and sometimes not so shallow puddles, nary a thought to hygiene. Playing and jostling with siblings and friends. Raincoats and umbrellas no match to the wind and the water; boots all sloshy from the water soaked in through the socks. Drenched to the bones. We had the time of our lives heading the last couple of miles back home that day.
Haven't seen rains like those in a while. Though today's weather comes close.
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