Rain

Rain

She watches as the grey-black clouds gather over the horizon and takes a small sip from the coffee she has been nestling in her hands for the past five minutes. She likes her coffee lukewarm, a habit which always invites unwanted questions – Why don’t you have the coffee while it is still hot? Why order hot coffee when you intend to have it cold anyway? – that sort. What is even more annoying is the free advice people always seem to have ready to dispense – The coffee tastes best when it is hot; the aroma of the coffee disappears once it starts cooling. Frankly, she couldn’t care less. It’s something she is drinking and she should be able to do that any damn way she wants. That’s why she developed this habit of taking her evening cup of coffee she buys from the café below her apartment to the terrace where no one generally came up, not during the rains at least.

The terrace of the apartment is usually empty during the monsoons. No one cares for walking about on slippery ground. The only person who comes up is the hypochondriac who lives on the top floor and keeps complaining about how the damp from the ceiling will cause him to die of tuberculosis

She is fond of this solitude that the rain offers her. It’s her nice private little world up there. No one asks intrusive questions and no one gives unnecessary advice. She feels free and uninhibited there. She watches the grey-black clouds gather over the horizon and takes another small sip of coffee. The clouds have become darker and she can already see the fine mist of rain far away in the distance. She knows that soon she will get wet but she doesn’t care about that. It’s a cleansing, cathartic feeling.

The first drops start to fall on her head. She relishes the sensation almost as much as she likes lukewarm coffee. With a contented smile, she finishes her coffee, sets the cup on the floor and turns her face to the sky. It is really pouring now. She just stands and lets the water runs down her face and body in small rivulets and the first small puddles begin to form on the terrace. Soon, she will go down and make a few paper boats and float them on these mini lakes. The rain keeps falling in swirling sheets.