When monsoon rains teach a life lesson

As monsoon inundates the City Beautiful, I remember the rains of my childhood. It was the late nineties, after two days of relentless pouring, the clouds had finally allowed the sun to peek through, while still hovering in the sky. It felt like a quiet truce as if the sky had chosen harmony. The season quickly became my favourite.

I remember riding the school bus during this season. My school was close to the Sukhna Lake and I always looked forward to catch a glimpse of the lake waters and sky touching each other, perhaps lost in their private communion.

The school bag used to be heavy but never as heavy as the weight of expectations my folks had from me to be “the best” at everything in school and at home. Yet, on those mornings when the light danced across the school lawn and the wind silently blew through the classroom windows, I longed to watch the clouds and sun play hide and seek, instead of focusing on the gruelling mathematics which made me wince. In those fleeting moments the 10-year-old me believed in the quiet magic of “just being there” with the sun and the clouds.

Nearly three decades later, my favourite season is again upon us, with the sun and the clouds playing their eternal game of hide and seek, and I find myself pondering over with the same questions — Why can't I simply look up and enjoy the beauty of this game? Why must I chase being the best and miss the simple joy of living?

Perhaps, these question plague many of us who are seeking the courage to pause, to breathe and to let the clouds and sun remind us that sometimes life is not about winning and being the best — it’s about “just being there.”

Dr Nidhi Sharma, Chandigarh