Rain Memories

School reopening was also the time monoons started. One early rainy time memory is of the school near my ancestral home. There were huge trees on both sides on the way to school. Mornings though rainy were relatively brighter. By afternoon the light dimmed. It was semi-darkness in the classroom. New teachers came in and chirped pleasantly. The air had the smell of dampness- damp trees, damp earth, damp schoolbags and clothes and above all slightly damp new textbooks.
One of the first lessons in the textbook was about peacock, and it had a picture of the male bird dancing to rainclouds. It was in black and white but the image somehow merged with the feeling of the season. It fillled me with a strange happiness, not looking forward or backward, but just a feeling of experiencing the moment.