THE ENGLISH AND THE WEATHER

They joke about Englishmen always talking about the weather...It took me to get to England to realise why..Now I empathise, I also often catch myself talking about the weather...

The rains appeal to me a lot.. I remember, one of my English teachers in school, who taught me to romance the words, gave the class an excersise..She would say a word and you needed to find associations...the words would be abstract, what it rings in your mind had to be a concrete image...if she said yellow, then the person who said the egg yolk that i love to dip into in my bulls eye would get cheered while whoever said the traffic light or the sun would be smiled and tolerated...my moment of glory in class came when she said bliss...and my reply was a soak in the rain....Thats how I feel about rains...

Every time I post a status update with a mention of rain in it, my friends have started to chide me, saying 'Ohhh there she goes again with her rain talk...' And can't fault them, its true...When it thunders, the weather says things to me, when it drizzles, I feel nature is whining...when there is bright sunshine with the rains, my heart hums a merry tune...but all the pleasure stops the moment the rains turn rowdy and start to pelt heavily...I hate getting wet, hate getting dirty even more...The rain is pleasure so long as Im dry and sitting by the window, watching puddles form and little streams flow...Walking in the rain, and resembling a drenched cat is what my best buddy, Prachi loves, not me...

So...coming back to the weather...I have a theory why the English talk so much and so expansively about it...Imagine you are Peter and I'm Pam..We work in the same office, we have been meeting everyday for the past 30 years that we have worked together..you know where I live, who I live with, how I live and all that assorted crap that follows...Now there is one thing in our lives that change everyday, that give us some common topic to whine about every day...and that is..the weather..

And now imagine one more scenario...You are Jack desperately trying to open a conversation with this girl (me) you always see at the coffee shop, as you rush in and I rush out...So as you look around the room to find an excuse to talk to me, there plops out of your mouth...Hey, is this umbrella yours, and I say No...and You say, well then looks like you will sorely need one...Its going to rain badly you know..And I look at you with adoration for your intelligence and puppy love for your consideration...Deal done!!!

These are how I see scenarios develop...and when the variable is as unpredictable as the weather in England..which never bothers to play by the rules-  like it shouldnt rain more than this in autumn or that there should be two more hours of sunshine this time of the year, but darn..dont know why the Sun refuses to work the scheduled hours - it makes for memorable conversations...

If in India, the weather update, is like an unwanted tag-along to news bulletins because some sponsor promised to pay for a 5 minute slot, in UK, it should easily be the most watched segment...People ensure they catch is as they bite into their toast before deciding to pick their umbrella on their way out...I also know some who have the BBC's weather link as a bookmark on their screen...How many weather possessed Indians do you know like that?

Its raining as I write with thunder peppering the atmosphere...Reminds me of this little romantic interlude I always imagine on a night like this...

Thunder grumbled to the Sky all night...
She heard him out patiently,
Silently sending out the clouds 
Spreading them wide to muffle the argument
Now, the Sky is pensive and Thunder grumbling in his den..