Adadaa Mazhai daa adai mazhai daa

Mazhai, ManVaasanai and Molaga Bajji

Laila's hovering around Chennai. The new cyclone strangely named as Laila puts up a thick cloud cover. No rain yet, till late in the evening. One thing that I missed in Singapore is heavy rain and a thing called 'Man Vasanai', sounds filmy but its one of those things that takes atleast 4 months of stark dryness and a gentle rain to raise that aroma around the town. Singapore has rain but almost every day. These cyclone ladies have some affinity for Nagapattinam or further south towards SL. Its been a year since my granny passed away. She was from Nagapattinam, the famous cyclone magnet. The illustrations about the heavy rain she witnessed were records of life from that era.

“Life comes to a stand still when there is an outbreak of rain. A fishing village with an iconic church facing the sea has its huts flooded. The clay which forms the base of the hut transforms into buckets holding sea water. Fishing has stopped before the rain has started and may be paralysed for 2 weeks or more. Temples and churches become humble abodes of hordes of villagers. The rain drops are heavy and decieves to form thick shiny silver strings towards heaven. These temporary settlement are not perfect shelter neither. These acts seem to remind people what are the most essential things of life. Amongst cries for people gone missing the genuine care for each other enables people to see through another cyclone.”

The first time I thought that she was exaggerating. Slowly I got to see glimpses of what might have been a terrible situation to be in. Having born in Chennai, with radio and Television. Rain is fun and heavy rain is unheard of. Oldies talk about hailstorms (Aalangatti mazhai), in Chennai, really !!. The first time i got to visit a hut house was in 1997-98, to visit my classmate's house. The house was only the size of an average drawing room but had a television, a pedestal fan and a cot. It housed a family of 5 and an infant. The sea was just 50-80 m away from those huts. My memories painted a quick picture of the yesteryears with those houses. We went passs a nearby temple which is ill-managed with a thick coat of sea-algae. I don't think prayers are offered anymore there and the last time I went to that temple was to witness distribution of rice and clothes after a heavy rain. The ration card's color decided the kilograms of rice to be distributed and the entire village was there to oversee the operations. Therefore rain, especially cyclone and now tsunami are big stories to be told about for sea-side dwellers like me.

Now, I am enjoying a light breeze with some Samosa&Sundal. I rewind myself to my yesteryears of summer rain: paper boats and games on the road. With motorcycles, traffic these; you can't have any sort of game these a days in the roads. So much have moved on and I understand that a generation has rolled over and I am in the middle of that process. Scooby Do/ Dexter/Tom&Jerry have given way to Pokemon/PowerRangers/Avatar(AirBender). I can't really appreciate these content is more proof that the ball is set in motion.

Now with a gentle drizzle, but a thick cloud cover I ride through my neighbourhood.

Stop 1: Molagaa Bhajji / Whats with Rain and Molagaa Bhajji I dono, they seem to be a wonderful pair. Molagaa Bhajji seems to have married Marina Beach nevertheless Mazhai and Molaga Bhajji make a good couple any time.

Stop2: Samosa Sundal / Traditionally the eateries pour sundal cooked as a semi gravy over smashed samosas and they make a lip smacking combination. Bought some and on my way back home, I rode slowly through one of the quieter areas to enjoy the drizzle.

The drum roll of heavy rain eludes as of now but the rain songs have started in the radios. Let me sit back and enjoy those songs from the present and past to take me to some cherished memories.