WE MUST ALL BE BLAMED FOR MAN-MADE DISASTER

Remember the Novembers and Decembers of our childhood when rain meant rain-holidays and walking home slowly, our uniforms soaking wet, lingering more often than we should have, to do rainy-day things.

- K SRILATA

We were children of the 1970s and this was Madras, not Chennai. To us, rain meant joy—pure and clear.

I remember the boys fishing in the swirl of rainwater pools. I remember how fascinated I was by their skill and deftness. I remember floating paper boats with the other girls in rain puddles. For some reason, mine always capsized whereas my best friend's didn't. I never did learn to float paper boats so they didn't capsize or fish in rainwater pools. But that was alright. I knew a rain that was different and a city that did rainy-day time differently.