As I leaned out of the window in the classroom, I inhaled the fresh air carrying the smell of wet earth. I looked up and saw clouds slowly gathering together so that they could shower their cool drops upon us down below. The trees were swaying slowly in the light wind that had picked up. It felt as if Mother Nature herself was getting ready for her dance in the rain.
The school bell had gone and off I went. I quickened my pace as the clouds began to gather in the sky. Up till now, the sky had been postcard perfect, but it was changing. The beautiful cocktail-blue shade was beginning to darken and turned into gravel grey. Large pillows of clouds were forming, blocking out the old gold colour of the sun.
I got the first spatter of rain when I was halfway across the road. I took shelter under an old tree, hoping that I could see the shower out. Droplets of moisture began to drip from the leaves. They were sprinkling onto the grass like a gardener’s hose. Then the rainfall became more intense. A wall of rain moved over the trees and the drops were drumming against the canopy. So much rain was falling that the sound blurred into long whirring noise. It reminded me of the motor blades on a helicopter. Eventually, the noise lessened and the drops faded into a musical chime. I opened my umbrella and kept walking back home.
The sky was as dark as the devil’s soul. The world became cellular dark and the swelling and buckling sky was about to collapse onto me. Then there was an explosion like a sonic boom and I feared for my safety. Doom black clouds pregnant with malice, churned and roiled. They looked as vaporous as mist and as fleecy as black wool. A clanking sound could be heard from the sky. It was as if a huge anvil was being dragged across the vault of heaven against its will. Buzzing and hissing, they trembled with the anger of being shackled to the sky since time began.
Cold glistering water droplets fell lazily from the dreary and overcast sky to the ground. The rain was truly an astounding thing. It was Mother Nature’s laser light show and drippy fireworks all in one. All my senses focused on one point, listening to the ‘drip drip’ and the ‘boom boom’ symphony playing around me. My mind was racing with excitement. ‘Drip drip. Boom boom. …’
Everyone and everything looked fresh. The sound of falling rain was pleasing to the ears. No one minded the inconvenience of wet umbrellas, soaking shoes and wet clothes. The plight of bus travelers was of course pitiable. Buses were late and overcrowded. It might be quite pleasant to take a brisk walk in the rain. Nobody liked standing in the queue in wet clothes with drops from other people’s umbrellas dropping down the back with cold clammy frequency. The street urchins were having a great time playing in the streets, floating boats on the sides of the roads where the water was flowing fast. Splash! A vehicle passed through a puddle near me. It seemed that it was late for an important meeting. My trousers were wet and my shoes were soaked in water. I really hated this feeling, which made me dash back home.
I could hear the wind tugging at the trees, and small droplets of water left trails as they rolled down the dark glass. A large boom echoed in the far away mountains, and the rumbling claps of thunder shook the city. I love the thrill of thunderstorm. It was like that some primal instinct was coming to tell me to run far away from this mighty storm. This is the nature.
But beyond expectation, from nowhere, an amazing burst of wild colour darted across the blue sky. The beauty of it took my breath away. A neatly spread rainbow shone as freshly as one from a storybook. The sun came out as if it had been newly refreshed after its long drizzling nap. The air was crisp with a sharp and sweet perfume that smelt like roses in bloom.
The sweet smelling perfume floated up like music from a violin and brightened the clouds. Rain is truly as essential part of an amazing and beautiful world.