What's the rain for?

One of the natural elements that we've all been conditioned to dislike is the rain. Right as soon as we could mutter words, we were taught the rhyme: "Rain, Rain, go away; Come again another day; Little Johnny wants to play." And as we grow, so this mentality develops. We try very hard to "make hay while the sun is shining," as if there's completely nothing beneficial we can do at other times. As if there's nothing else we can do at night or on overcast days but sleep.

This bias that we've been set with in childhood, by unwitting parents and other authority figures, takes a stronghold in our consciousness even as our understanding of things broadens. Consider, for instance, what we commonly associate the rain with: inactivity, boredom, gloom. Even as we know that this need not be so, that first concept that was planted in our young, impressionable minds prevails. We wish for the rain to go away. But the rain comes with unfailing regularity. Our not wanting it does not make it go away. It comes around when it's time. Yet many of us still get caught off-guarded by the rainfall. We curse the sudden rain, while we might as well be cursing ourselves. It is our lack of understanding, our refusal to understand the cycle of the seasons that makes us unprepared. Only with understanding can we learn to adapt to any season-or any life circumstance for that matter-and have the power to make it our blessing rather than our curse. The thing we can't change should better change us.

Today the rainy days are here again-a big inconvenience to the cities. The rains hamper the hustle and bustle of city life. It is messy and restrictive of free and swift movement of people from place to place. This is especially so in an old city like ours where it easily floods after just a drizzle. Many city industries complain that their productivity inexplicably slumps during the rainy season, notwithstanding their efforts to rain-proof their working places. Psychiatrists also say that the onset of the rainy season can trigger depressive moods in people. They construe, this is because the rains tend to minimize one's mobility and activity.

To the unprepared the rain showers come with many predictable surprises-the common flu and a host of other illnesses, among other things. The kids are often the most vulnerable victims. Before they even catch the first signs of cough and colds, the rains would have already taken away their playtime. Yet, perhaps, the worst affliction children get is the misinformation that real fun can only be found outside, as a way of keeping them from messing up the household. This falsehood is seldom set right, and is held as true, as the kids grow.

There just seems to be something about the rain that holds people back somewhat, that makes them weary. The probability of getting drenched is often a reason for not going out, for not being able to go through one's usual grinds, for being lonely. Even as our modern communications technology has forever broken physical distances-while there's no more reason to feel alone even inside an isolation cell-we remain restricted by a deeply ingrained, flawed view.

Out in the farmlands is a different case. The farmers celebrate the coming of the rains; they even have thanksgiving rituals for it. Rain is a boon for their growing crops. For them, the rains signal a new growth, a new beginning, a new hope. In the rural town where I came from, the thickening of the clouds enlivens the community. People suddenly become excited and enthusiastic as the cold winds begin to blow. It is a fervently awaited time. Even the fishermen that have to stay home during the rainy days welcome it. It is their time for rest, or for helping out in the farms. They say it is the time for the seas to recover, to replenish its resources after months of incessant harvest. Rain falls on cities as it does on farmlands. It comes to water the crops that need it most. And it need not dampen the spirits of the cities that do not want it. It gives both farmers and office workers the cool to relieve the physical fatigue and mental stress that are the tolls of living . While it rouses the farmers to go out in the fields and work, it gives the city folks reason to stay back and recharge worn spirits. It wheedles the cities to slow down, for their people to pause and reflect. When it rains we think of friends and long for warm conversations.

Nature has a way of prompting us to take care of our different needs at different times, to have balance in our life, to make us well.