There are several reasons as to why ever since I was a young
boy, I have loved it when it rains. Why that might be the case probably has to
do with the fact that I grew up in Pakistan and the weather there could more
than use a bit of rain here and there. Back as a kid who was ready to go to
school, I remember it was a pleasant reprieve when it would rain and mum would tell us
that the roads are blocked and hence we cant go to school anymore. I remember
how happy would I feel then, I remember how the sound of rain outside just conditioned
my memory to think of a day off from school. And not just an ordinary day off,
a day where I could play video games all day long without having to stop for
food (mum would just come and feed me with her hands. Thanks mum for that). I
remember the sound of rain in the morning always meant that. I still have those
mental associations to some extent. A lot in life has changed since then, but
rain still brings that sudden, abrupt, intense feeling of elation that comes
when you get up early for school and learn there isn’t going to be one today.
Best thing since sliced bread.
When it would rain in the evening, people would call to each
other proclaiming their love for fried food delicacies, and chief among them would
be “pakoras”. I have to confess that I didn’t really like pakoras in the
beginning, but later they grew on me, just like all other good food does.
As of right now, when I hear the sound of thunder, or when I
hear rain drops or when I smell rain falling on the ground to make that sweet
aroma, or when the sun hides behind the clouds, my heart just skips a beat and
it makes me happy for some inexplicable reason. And I absolutely love the feeling.
So this is the sort of respect and love I had for rain in my
heart when I came to Germany. However here, people don’t really like it when it
rains. I have heard people postponing their travel plans only because it
rained. I have seen people check the weather before they plan a vacation just
so they can avoid the days when it does rain. Unsurprisingly, when people
complain about the rain in my presence I find it difficult to relate to that
thought. However, I understand. I understand that here it rains quite often and
much more than it did back home and therefore its absolutely mundane and people here
have no such associations with it.
I am startled nonetheless; when people from the sub
continent tell me how good weather to them now means that the sun is shining
bright outside, I find it strange. For how can a person consider good weather to
be rain all his/her/its life and then suddenly change that definition after
having lived in a climatically cold county for some months.
Maybe its just the innate human desire to have things the way
they have always been. And that rain actually really isn’t all that comforting
but for now I love it, and I love it that I love it.
