First Rains

With the dust storm quickly subsiding, we grabbed all the mangoes we could find, and headed indoors. The rains began just a few moments later. The skies turned from a sandy color to dark blue. As it began raining harder and harder, Andy and I decided to go out on the terrace in the rain. Without power, it was sweltering hot and humid indoors; it was much cooler out in the rain. The rains came in waves. At times, it was raining so hard that it felt like we were being pelted by the rain. Other times it felt like the rain would stop for good. Meanwhile, Andy and I were having a blast in the rain. Running around the terrace dancing in the rain was a good deal of fun. I started doing push-ups I was so excited. The drainage systems being pretty poor, water piled up quick, and Andy and I were running around splashing one another, and lying down in it. Many others were out on their rooftops and nearby streets, waving at us and dancing like fools too.

Only the monkeys weren't happy for the rains. They were jumping from rooftop to rooftop, from tree to tree, trying to find shelter. A family of monkeys found the shelter they were looking for on the second story of our neighbors’ house. An overhang was protecting them from the rain, and they were content to stay there until the rain subsided, much to the regret of our neighbors. Angered that the monkeys were taking shelter in her house, our neighbor got onto the terrace of her neighbor, and started throwing bricks and mangoes at the monkeys trying to shoo them away. Andy and I found this hugely entertaining as we were running around trying to take pictures of her trying to do all she could to make the monkeys leave. Her efforts were futile of course, the monkeys too agile and too many in number (this made it infinitely funnier).

Drenched after a half hour of pure enjoyment in the rain, we dried off inside, and waited for the power to come on. The rains finally stopped as the sun set. My uncle took us around town to help pass the time, but unfortunately, even when returned, the power was not back. Instead, it was dark, and hot, and humid. Unable to read a book or get on the computer as the battery in mine needed to be charged, I tried to go to sleep. This, however, was not possible as all was doing was sweating profusely. I decided to bring a sheet up to the terrace, in hopes of falling asleep there, as it was much cooler. I awoke the next morning around 5 am to a plane taking off from the nearby Baroda airport, and luckily the power had returned.