Yesterday  afternoon, the weather changed suddenly.  From being hot amd humid with bright cloudless skies,  there was a distinct drop in temperature of a few degrees.  The sun  disappeared behind some very grey clouds.   And a brisk cool wind got busy.  We had assumed for the last couple of weeks that the rains had well and truly departed from our lives for this season.  But what was happening now spoke to us of other delights in store.

Within minutes the brisk wind had become a squall.  As some doors and windows carelessly left unfastened – assuming warm, still weather – started banging, dying and dried leaves  from trees around the haveli began whirling their way into the courtyard and into the sparkling water of freshly cleaned and filled pool.  Soon enough, what started out as a few giant drops developed into a heavy shower.

The newly-wet earth let out a mighty fragrance.  A luminous and unearthly light bathed the landscape.  And we could do little else but lift our faces to the sky and gratefully feel the water cascading down our bodies, and gape in wonder at what was happening.  Standing on the roof of the haveli, it was easy to feel one with the obvious delight of the swaying trees,  the gratitude of the shrubs for getting a natural cleansing,  the spirited drumming of vertical lines of water on the courtyard and pool, and   the sudden wetness all around after weeks of dry earth and fading grass.

Within an hour the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started.  But there was a still greater treasure awaiting us.   Strong and glowing, girdling the expansive sky above us, stood our first rainbow of the season.  Like a benediction.  A canopy that we wanted to snuggle under, never to leave.  Some grey but spent clouds still covered half the sky swallowing up about a quarter of the rainbow.  But it didn’t matter.  Our day was made.  Our hearts were full.  And it prompted us to think of all the good and bad  in our lives –  all the human and non-human beings of the world, all the known and unknown beings, all the friends and loved ones and the not-so friends and not-so-loved ones, all those near and distant – and to wish for them the same happiness  and peace and joy in nature’s wonders that filled our hearts that evening.

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