Do you have any special memories that were created during the monsoons? We invited Get Ahead readers to share their romantic monsoon memories with us, and we have been flooded with responses. As part of an ongoing series, we present three stories we received.
It was the monsoon of 2004. We were studying at NIIT, Preet Vihar Centre (Delhi) in the late evening batch -- 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. I would propose to her 100 times daily but she gave just one reply: "You are my best friend only." I still loved her.
One night, due to very heavy rain her father could not come to pick her up so one of my friends and I decided to drop her home because it was around 10:30 already. She sat on my scooter. I felt very lucky that the girl I love was sitting just behind me. Because it was a very romantic monsoon night, midway, I once again proposed to her but she remained silent. She gripped my shirt tightly, her way of telling me the way to her home since it was the first time I was going that way.
As we drove, I held her hand. She did not object this time. We were about to reach her home. She invited me to come inside but I said, "I'll have to go because it's already late." I once again proposed to her. This time she smiled and replied "You are mad Rohit!" I said "Yes, I am, but in your love." By then her father reached us and invited me to come inside since we were wet and it was raining heavily.
She introduced me to her mom, brother, father and sister. After staying 30 minutes with them and borrowing her brother's clothes, I was ready to leave. We came down together, I held her hand in mine, she kept her head on my shoulder and told me that she would never forget that night.
I started my scooter by saying once again: "I love you", and I got the reply: "I love you too."
I still love her from the core of my heart and she feels the same about me. We are now husband and wife, with two sons. We still keep our sweet memories like the greeting cards and gifts that we have given to each other.
Till date we both of us remember that barsaat ki raat, that was the best monsoon ever!
-- Rohit
I was driving back home after slogging through my office hours. I was on my bike with little droplets of rain all over me. I still can remember the second I called her up and asked if we could go out for dinner. It was an immediate YES! I picked her up from her office and we had a good candle-lit dinner. She never knew that the romance was just about to start.
When we headed out after our dinner, there was a light drizzle. We strolled the quiet calm streets in Chetpet, Chennai. It was 11pm and she was supposed to board a bus for her office tour by 1am. We walked, spoke a lot on whatever we saw on the road and we entered a tree-covered road when it started raining heavily. The street lights gave the romantic effect with a light blinking as we set off on the mile-long stretch.
She slowly slid her hand and grasped mine. As we walked hand-in-hand she told me that it was the best evening of her life. I gently caught her fingertip, rolled her (salsa-style), her wet hair hitting my face gently as I gripped her and gave her a long kiss. She then hugged me hard and said "I Love You" and that's when I realised two things -- we were standing in the middle of the road, romancing each other and even before proposing to her, we had kissed. That I call 'rain hypnotised', so with a meak guilty voice said 'me too love you'.
She didn't realise much as she was still in the monsoon blues. I carried her in my arms for a stretch, I wish I could have made that road a mile longer but she was on the heavier side, so I was quite glad that I was able to do a little stretch atleast.
It was the best night I ever had in my life. I experienced the romance side of my life as she messaged me a zillion 'I love you's that day. I was so happy, I kept saying 'I Love you' out loud as I rode my bike back home. Who cared? It was 2 in the night.
-- Raks Iyer, Chennai
This topic has been done to death, I know. Every second person has something to say about this season. There are tons of anecdotes written, shared, published about the importance of rains in the life of a common man.
Movies and novels all over the world depict this downpour as per the situation. Sometimes the downpour is taken as a backdrop for some spine-chilling murder scene and at other times it is switched to bring out the freshness of teenage romances.
Speaking of teenage romances, I now remember my own perfect monsoon.
I was in the city of Mumbai, which is a coastal area in the state of Maharashtra. The monsoon is usually harsh in these parts of India. The rain comes crashing down with such volume and speed that it is usually a matter of seconds before you are completely drenched.
Umbrellas are useless; since you are usually wet by the time you open them. If by any stroke of luck you already have it open, the winds will blow it away anyway.
And so in a season like this, my old school friend came visiting. To be frank it wasn't me she had come for, it was her shippie* boyfriend she had come to see off.
They decided on a place and time to meet but there was only a slight problem. Her boyfriend had to get his friend along and so he wanted my friend to also get a friend along. It was kind of a double date where the second one was a blind date.
The next 1 hour was spent in convincing me about the benefits of a blind date. The convincing was just an act of respect from her since we both knew that she would force and drag me anyway to her party.
On my part the reluctance was only the fear that I would be spending the next few hours hooked to some dramatically boring guy in such a romantic climate. And I know the guy would be boring because my luck has never surprised me before and it was not about to start now (I thought).
So I dragged myself half heartedly to this double date.
When we reached there, the skies had opened up and we could see the sun. But it was not harsh in its intensity, giving a clear and cool climate.
My friend's boyfriend and his friend had already reached there and they came forward to meet us as we came out of our car.
Initially I did not even want to look at his friend. I just greeted him and started to get my things out from the car. My friend and her boyfriend were already holding hands and whispering something into each others ears.
His friend came forward and offered a 'Hello'. That was the time I looked at him and I was stumped; for want of a better word.
I was floored. Brown curly hair, medium height, amber eyes, and a pleasant smiling face. I couldn't have asked for a better date. Surprisingly, his behaviour matched his good looks. He was attentive, thoughtful, charming, chivalrous and not gay.
We took long walks down the beach road and were so engrossed; it was hard to believe that this was our first date. As the day progressed, it did nothing to break this beautiful dream. And just when I thought that it couldn't get better, it started pouring.
We were drenched and ran for shelter towards a small sea side cafe.
There, sitting by the huge glass windows, I saw the raindrops meet the sea. There was a huge white rain curtain by our side, hot coffee on the table and a perfect date in front.
I never physically met that guy ever after that, but I meet him during each monsoon, as the rains start and form a white curtain with his eyes looking into mine.
* Shippie: Slang for a guy who is employed with the merchant navy
-- Salos, Pune
Share your monsoon memories with us -- we want to hear all about your romantic rainy liasons and experiences. Write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in (subject line: 'Monsoon Romance') with your monsoon memories. Include your name, age and hometown (those who prefer to keep their identities private may do so) and tell us your love story -- the most interesting ones will be published right here on rediff.com.
