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Yesterday I took a rickshaw to go to a neighborhood shop. While coming back it started raining and I was scrambling to protect myself in that rickshaw with a very small hood when I realized that there is no need. It’s hot and I am going home. It does not matter if I get wet and suddenly I started enjoying the rains. That’s the beauty of rainy season in India, it happens just after the summers so they are very enjoyable. |
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| The other thing I like about the rainy season in India is the street vendors roasting and selling corn cobs. I remember buying these roasted corn cobs from these street vendors and enjoying their heavenly taste. These can be roasted in your own kitchen too but these street vendors slow roast it over the charcoals, which gives it a very distinct and smoky taste. |
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| So one day, just after it finished raining, Anil went out and bought a bunch of corn cobs for us to roast and eat. I was delighted. I quickly roasted one of them and took a bite. What a disappointment! It was hard and tasteless. I left that one and tried another one. It was the same. I guess, we are spoilt. Nothing can beat the California corn. Finally I gave up. I removed all the kernels and made corn fritters and they came out yummy. My father would have been very proud of me as he used to say, “Khan kya khata hai, apna paisa”, meaning you can’t waste money. If you bought something, use it ;-). |
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Of course rains have its own side effects too – some pretty bad ones. Most roads and sidewalks become muddy and slippery. Small puddles form in every nook and corner. In our childhood, we used to quickly make paper boats and enjoy those puddles but now decades later, we look at it as a hassle. Strange, how the attitude has changed.
Rains also flood the roads, which becomes a major problem because you don’t know if there is a real pothole under that water. If you are in a small car like Hyundai Santro, this is the time you start chanting Gayatri Mantra ;-). |
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| Another thing that I remember from my childhood and the rainy season is the small red velvet mites (Velvet Mites). They used to suddenly appear everywhere and they were so much fun to play with. If you touched them, they used to pull in all their 8 legs and basically roll like a bead. We used to pick them up and put them in our own shoe box filled with dirt. The neighborhood kids used to compete for the biggest collection of velvet mites. Nowadays you don’t even see these mites. I guess they are extinct at least in the urban areas. Sad! Do you still see these velvet mites in your neighborhood? Send me a picture, if you do.
The weather is getting better. Hopefully the summers are finally over. |
Ah, the rains…
Written By: ruchi
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Aug•
24•12