Unabashedly Romancing The Monsoon

Time of India

4 hours ago

The monsoon brings with it the promise of flirtations and romance, creative imagination, poetry and music, musings and reflection. The pitter-patter of falling rain and cool, caressing breeze could rouse the dormant poet in anyone capable of finer feelings. What comes to mind is Meghdoot, The Cloud Messenger, by Kalidas, a lyrical narrative of a yaksha's yearning for his dear wife. Separated from his bride due to his master Kubera's orders, he pleads with the cloud to carry his message of love and longing, and the resultant 120 stanzas are an outpouring from a monsoon-inspired Kalidas.
As a pluviophile, who enjoys rain, clouds, and even the darkness that comes with a looming monsoon, with perhaps thunder and lightning flashes, this is the perfect season for finer thoughts, to curl up in a cozy corner facing the window and read while listening to music, and generally let one's imagination run wild with passion. And Kalidas provides the perfect atmospherics, as he narrates the story of an exiled man pining for his bride, who is at home in the Himalayas. As eight months pass, the lover, emaciated, finds his gold bracelet slip down his wrist onto the floor. He asks the cloud to carry his heartfelt message to his wife, saying:
"Though thou be pledged to ease my darling's pain,
Yet I foresee delay on every hill
Where jasmines blow, and where the peacock-train
Cries forth with joyful tears a welcome shrill;
Thy sacrifice is great, but haste thy journey still."
In another verse from Ritusamhara (The Seasons), attributed to Kalidas, the poet speaks in the voice of the lonely lover pining for his lady love: To you, dear, may the cloudy time/Bring all that you desire,
Bring every pleasure, perfect, prime/To set a bride on fire;
May rain whereby life wakes and shines/Where there is power of life,
The unchanging friend of clinging vines/Shower blessings on my wife.
Rabindranath Tagore wrote that when it rained, his heart would dance with joy:
My heart dances today -
Dances like a peacock.
A heavy downpour falls on the new leaves,
The garden quivers with the chirrup of crickets.
The river has crossed the bank and approaches the village.
My heart dances today - dances like a peacock.
In religious traditions, Chaturmas, between July and Oct, has special significance. Vishnu is said to rest for four months on his serpent bed in yog nidra on the milky ocean, for the cosmic order to reboot itself. This is also believed to be when during samudra manthan, churning of the ocean, Shiv swallowed and held the poison in his throat and came to be called Neelkanth, During Chaturmas many Hindu festivals are celebrated, including Janmashtami, Navratri and Deepavali.
Jain monks don't travel during Varsh Yog, the rainy season, to avoid hurting insects that may not be visible to the naked eye. The season is utilised for prayer and reflection, studying and discourse and they also observe the
Paryushan festival
.
My favourite account is that of Alexander Frater, who, in his
Chasing the Monsoon
, says: "As a romantic ideal, turbulent, impoverished India could still weave its spell, and the key to it all - the colours, the moods, the scents, the subtle, mysterious light, the poetry, the heightened expectations, the kind of beauty that made your heart miss a beat - well, that remained the monsoon."
Authored by: Narayani Ganesh
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