“Hey! It’s raining outside and what ‘a you doing, let’s play!” Said one of my childhood friends when I lived in village, I mostly savored those times. School-time was 9 am to 5 pm with one hour interval after every subject that too lasted for an hour max and sometimes used to be skipped when it used to rain not because they could not teach us when it rained but it would become difficult for them to reach their home safely as most of the teachers lived in nearby town or village. I would envy my fellow friends at times when my teacher planned to keep the session longer for my class and others were asked to leave so that they could enjoy playing in rain. Well-being a smart student has its’ own disadvantages at the early age.
No! I enjoyed a lot at my early age and that is the reason I wanted to write about! Leaving some odd scenarios aside, mostly it happened that when it rained we never took permission from our teacher to go home and don’t ask what we did! Ran away!
Being the rainy season most of us carried a plastic bag so that our books didn’t get wet, well who cared if they did! Parents’ advice ‘precautions’!!
I would never forget those times or times will not allow me to. It would happen that we danced in the rain, I still wonder what music we danced upon but it was simply amazing. Those times when rain would stop and clogged water needed ways to reach the riverbanks and how we voluntarily loved to make those ways and often get covered in the mud and get hurt in the process by broker tree branches but never heard complaining words from parents about such fun!( I guess they too loved to do it when they were young) Yes they would restrict us from swimming in the river when it recently rained but after two or three days when there weren’t chances of raining and sun shone like it won’t allow rain to take away our joy of swimming, they wouldn’t even question. I loved swimming in the river and nowadays when I have grown up I hardly can find such thing to enjoy. You may consider my height by my age at that age as I don’t exactly know what it might have been 😀 (As far as I remember I was 12 or 13 years old) and remember that water normally was above my waist and flow wasn’t much fast either, the place at the bank we dived was a bit deep and water over there was above my head but never feared to dive in. How day would pass no one of us would have any idea nor did anyone care until it got dark and felt that stomach needs something inside it to make us feel energetic. I hardly remember if anybody taught me to swim yet swimming was never a challenge and now it has been days that I went for swimming in the river.
I remember one of the instances; I and my fellow friends went for swimming as usual at the bank and there wasn’t a sign of rain at all since last few days. We threw all our clothes and dived in. Recently I had learned a new move-I used to go up at high rise (a point we used to dive in from) and jump into the water and disappear swimming underneath the water and reaching to some other end. That day after doing that move, I rose up from water and due to swimming underneath the water my vision seemed a bit dull. I looked at my back side I could see that water level is suddenly raising. No! Water double of my height was nearing us in no less than two minutes! First I called my best friend, “Ryan, LOOK! What’s that!” I started shouting loudly to all later realizing it was “FLOOD”. “Guys look there, get off the water its’ flood coming towards us and we might get drown in it!” I still doubt how lousy that water would have been, I made all my efforts to get my friends out in no time and all of us were out in less than a minute, because the word “FLOOD” scares every one of us though we have never seen or experienced one but surely heard from someone, we waited till our favorite swimming spot was sunk under the flood water and dismayed everyone of us. When we all were out of the water, everyone praised me for my quick response to alert everyone, well I didn’t realize that I saved all of our life at that time as I was worried what we might be playing tomorrow if this water level didn’t sink down, there were few elders who said it though I didn’t understand much of it. Well I remember we went for swimming that was after a fortnight when water level was only 2-to 3 feet but the spot where we used to swim was enough shallow so that we could dive in!
Living a country-side life as a kid has made me understand a lot about life however currently as being an adult I find a bit of disconnect with it. Nothing can bring those moments back…….
I would continue writing about nostalgia whenever I get time as I have a really busy schedule however I will try best to go for it.
Note: The picture updated is not from country side instead it is taken in Mumbai at Band Stand and have updated it with no importance.
Ravindra Pathare 