Rain

I can sit for hours watching and listening to rainfall. I personally think that it is the most versatile sound on the planet, ranging from pitter patter to downpour to everything in between. It is also visually very appealing and when you put the audio and visual together, it is nature's answer to Broadway.

Imagine this....lush green vegetation and air so thick with moisture that you can barely breathe, dark clouds angrily gathering troops, a sky suddenly dark, looms closer to the earth and the surroundings hushed, setting the stage for the show to begin. The first rain falls and immediately the smell of rain and moist soil fills the nostrils (Tamil has the perfect word to describe this smell...."Mannvaasanai"). The downpour continues as mists of moisture rise through the canopy of vegetation. Thunder rumbles and lightning crashes all around as the rain reaches a crescendo. Visibility is negligible but brilliant flashes of lightning illuminate occasionally. In this lighting, everything looks sinister and hair stands up on the nape of the neck. Just as suddenly as the downpour started, the rain winds down to drops and finally stops. The earth is sated and plumped with moisture, so much that the trees drip the excess from their extremities. The clouds move on to saturate elsewhere and sunshine peeks through their retreat, as though seeking permission to come out. The slanted rays stream through the canopy and bathe the scene in their light, diffused by the residual mist.....everything is languorous as if after a satisfying meal followed by a long siesta.


I recently attended a chorus presentation at my kid's school where there was a simple, yet effective demonstration following a song about rain (forget what the song was). Imagine about fifty kids doing the following: first they randomly snap their finger, first slowly and then increase the intensity and speed (to show the first drops), then they rub their palms together rapidly (to show steady rain coming down in sheets), then they pat both palms rapidly and loudly on their thighs (for the downpour), then back to rubbing palms together, followed by the finger snaps, this time decreasing to silence. It was the most beautiful thing that I have heard in a while.


Beauty abounds in nature....be it in the sound of raindrops or in the purity of children reproducing the same at the school gym for an audience of proud parents. We just have to still our minds enough to enjoy  it.