There was a rumble in the sky as a dark pallor on the face of the sky floated in from the west. The faded blue hue was slowly being engulfed by the grey outlines of the incoming water saturated winds. The cool breeze soon picked up speed and started playing with unattended objects on the street. Bits of paper, loose bags and dust were mixed together into a mischievous concoction and designed into playful vortexes engulfing passer-bys with the glee of a child pranking his friends. Mothers and kids ran out to the roofs desperately trying to hold down the clothes put out to dry on the lines but the winds were unruly and snatched away a towel here, a shirt there and flew them like kites without a manja. The wind was however not done with its games and soon moved on to a new challenge and started trying to rip apart the plastic sheet roofs pinned down by bolts on a metal pipe. Nature has hardly ever been known for non-discrimination or a sense of mercy and like always the thatched roofs of the underlings were the first to be blown away.
Oblivious to the dark philosophical take on the situation, Rohan peeked out of the window grinning like he had won a year's supply of candy. He quickly ran out on the roof and leaned over the railing to watch the dust eddies on the road and was ecstatic to watch the clothes flying like kites. The clothes landed some distance away on the road and a few urchins picked it up and ran away. It was a Kal-baisakhi or a Nor'wester which he recalled from his geography lessons and it had totally brightened up his Sunday. He looked up at the sky and immediately sneezed. It always happened. Whenever he looked up at the sky he would sneeze - he had no idea why but he loved doing it.
The first few drops of rain hit him on the cheeks. The drops were really cold and it stung his face but the sensation was amazing. The feeling on his skin was akin to the taste of chilli on his tongue, only on a different sense organ. It soon started raining cold drops like pellets. Rohan crouched down near the roof boundary so that his back was protected but the drops hit his arms and legs from the front. He was shivering and hair on his hands stood on end as his body acclimatised to the cold. Rohan's head was clear of all thoughts solely focusing on the tingling nerves on his hands and feet spreading like electric! Sheer exhilaration! The corrugated asbestos on the edge of the roof was bent in the middle and all water rushed to the dip point and flew down like a waterfall and Rohan was soon running in and out of it. The small snails had come out of the soil in the pot with the bonsai banyan tree. They were slowly crawling out and some started climbing the agarbatti sticks in the soil - a remnant of the daily ritual where every evening Rohan's mom performed the evening puja or saanjh, waved an agarbatti in front of the bonsai banyan and tulsi tree praying to Vishnu and then planted the burning stick into the soil as the wafts of rose scented dhoop rose slowly and then dispersed into the heavens on its way to the Lord. Rohan was soon trying to race two snails, taking them out of the pot and placing them on the floor and making an imaginary start and finish line. Needless to say they both lost and never completed the race.
Rohan's mom had finally removed all clothes from the line and closed all windows, some half broken and secured with strings and others covered with plastic where the glass had broken as it banged to and fro in the wind. She looked outside the window and saw Rohan out in the rain "Rohan come inside ..you will catch a cold...Rohan, Rohan..."
"...Rohan, Rohan..Hey dude where are you lost?" asked Asha shaking the 30 year old guy lost in his thoughts .." I asked you a question - if you were a wizard what would be your memory to conjure a Patronus?" "Do you know?"
A serene smile spread across Rohan's face as he stood next to the open window and drops of Mumbai rain hit him on his cheeks and he said in a soft voice "Yes. Yes I do"
