The early morning in August 9 was really wet! The little
ford on the side of our house gurgled continuously. The water bird came early and was sitting on
the verge of the ford in anticipation of the fish coming in the gushing
waters. The sky’s portent was for
impending rain.
The internet had said ‘Namasthe’ the day before. Every time it happened when the rain
hardened. Once the net goes of the next
item on the list is the TV which went off along with last evening’s severe
thunder which was followed by heavy rain.
The heavy rain was continued on to the early morning with light rain and
occasional spurt of heavy down pours.
However, the rain had stopped in the morning. So the day break was good !
At day break the electricity had returned. But that has not helped the TV transmissions
which was still missing. The news the
day before were not good as several parts of Kerala was under water and more of
rain was pouring in. This had created
anxiety to run to the TV to find out the latest hoping to hear the situation is
improving. Instead, our own TV has
become detached now. A check up on the
telephones said the boosting towers do not have enough strength or no strength
at all. Now the picture is complete with
the rain restarting. The rain started with
precision at 9 am as if a worker comes on the morning and starting work..!
All are well that ends well.
This is a time to think and return to the old times. The books left to read, the news paper which
has come of all odds bringing the news around all are to be taken up now.
There are two books collected from the Thrissur Public
Library, ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’and
the Úprooting the Pumpkin’ both new books which have been selected as they are
new books and new prints. Both smelled
good and delicious to the say the least!
The new prints have a fragrance of the ghee in the ink they use coupled
with the freshness of the paper. All
make it mesmerising as one think of the childhood textbooks, which were bought
at the beginning of the new classes. In
those days, once the new book is in hand, first thing done was opening it for
the beauty of the print and then smelling it to see the fragrance they
brought. Then they were covered with good
calendar papers or brown paper with great love as they are to be used all
through the year! Once that is done,
then labelling is an art, either putting up small bits of white paper with the
name, class, subject and name of school etc. ware neatly written in the best of
hand possible. These label slips are
pasted with great care either on the top right corner or in the centre. All these details are again repeated in the
first inner page top right again, for fear, if ever the front cover is not seen
or lost, then the book should have some details on the inner side.
Many a times, no body else looked at it except the original
user, but all of us got a feeling of doing it to the full required extent by
doing all that. The books generally were
handled with great care and kept without any contact with water or other dirt
regardless of the rain and other situations.
One may get wet in rain or slanting winds but not the books. That was the care we gave in those days. The books smelled good and remained fresh may
be till the middle of the year and slowly they lost the feel of freshness and
the fragrance of the newness through constant opening and closing which is a
must in deep studies. But nonetheless,
they remained clean and neat by the upkeep.
Now that the new gadgets have come, books, book-reading and writing has
become scant. Even people go for a song
or write up on the G-phone, instead of reading from a book or a sheet of paper
with the song duly copy written.
Now the situation is suddenly reminding one to return to the
times of old, as all the phones and TV are put to no use by the flood like
situation and incessant rains. The
gurgle of the ford and the caressing rain with its drumming on the tin roof on
the shed all make musical orchestra. All other sounds are off as electricity has
failed ! There are umpteen number of reports in the only newspaper available in
the morning, which means it will be a while when the power returned to activate
the TV or any other sound making instruments.
In these circumstances, one can only read or write as one wished,
nothing else! The roads and bylanes also
get water puddles and at times overflowing water which is a must watch and
drive or drivers in the rain. The one
things missing of course is the sound of the frogs which used to be in plenty
and making music in the times of old.
Where have they disappeared all on a sudden we don’t know.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the floods of last year and
the sudden spurt in rain and fury of the wind gusts have made all to wonder
whether the flood itself has decided to return on the exact date! We all hoped it is not so, but only a
reminder. We are all now waiting for the
weather to improve and the weatherman to tell us all will be well soon.
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