30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Films, literature, paintings, and musical notes drenched in the rains
Drench words
Think rains, and for many avid readers, a book that swiftly comes to mind would be Chasing the Monsoon: A modern pilgrimage through India by Alexander Frater. The book chronicles the author's journey across India in pursuit of the rain, delving into its impact on society, culture, and politics.
Rain, as a literary device, recurs with compelling symbolism across genres and cultures. In Haruki Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun, rain is tied to the reappearance of Shimamoto, Hajime's childhood sweetheart. Every time she enters the narrative, they are associated with rain.
In One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, there's a line that goes: 'It rained for four years, eleven months, and two days.' The torrential rain begins from the night of the massacre of banana workers and it continues, it serves as a symbolic cleansing, and reshaping the town of Macondo.
In The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield, set in the fictional Indian city of Ranchipur, monsoon arrives with devastating floods, and through the destruction comes a transformation. The key characters in particular reevaluate their lives and relationships as they begin to re-prioritise what, and who, is important to them.
Rain inspired poems can't go without mentioning Rain by Edward Thomas. He uses the weather to set the mood of his wartime poem that captures solitude and mortality. Some other picks are Song for the Rainy Season' by Elizabeth Bishop, A Line -Storm Song by Robert Frost, and The Rainy Day by Rabindranath Tagore.
In Malayalam, Rathrimazha by Sugathakumari, Mazha Pusthakam by Tony Chittetukalam, Mazhakaalam by Anvar Ali, and Thoraamazha by Rafeeq Ahamad are some works that rush to mind.
