"Mausam"

It is difficult to write about something that has inspired writers and poets from time immemorial. I cannot even try to express the maddening feeling, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes melancholic, that stirs up my heart when the sky is overcast or when the wind blows among the trees and they nod as if talking to each other in a language we mortals do not understand. Kalidas explained this unique feeling in Meghdoot as

मेघालोके भवति सुखिनोऽप्यन्यथाव्रत्ति चेत: कण्ठाश्लेषप्रणयिनि जने किं पुनर्दूरसंस्थे ॥३॥

meaning " Even the mind of a happy person is excited at the sight of a cloud, more so when the one he longs to cling to his neck is far away?" I cannot but help eulogize this phenomena, unique to this part of the world, in words as best as I can, which I am sure does not do justice to this sheer splash of beauty. You might disagree with me, citing the ills of the monsoons especially the fact that it wrecks havoc on innocent lives , but for now let us just get drenched in its glory. Below is a picture of the sky just after a shower that i took from my hostel terrace.

I am a child come in the womb of the sky
She holds me close as I swell within
The air is astir , in the trees up high
The horizon waits for the celebration to begin.

I am a maiden as I dance on the grass
I tease I play with the winds on rage
Sometimes they shriek sometimes they sing
Mad for the heart that has broken the cage

I am a lady who weeps at her window
For the lover that came with the flowers of spring
So dark is my visage since he went with the sun
My heart does break , you can hear it wring

I am a mother that suckles her child
I call him Life, he's my beautiful dove
When he is parched and thirsty and crying
I rain from my bosom the manna of love.