Yesterday

yesterday's rain brought back memories from another night
its about time i gave it attention..though im not sure the intensity would be understood..

i forgot my umbrella in the office yesterday evening
and this story has nothing to do with it...though loosing it helped me feel a moment gone..
i was in the cab, while the evening poured its frustrated fury on Kolkata..
the cab boy was a little nervous as he spoke of how he would go back home in such a calamity....
even the wipers on the windscreen were failing to do their job
i spoke to him...to keep his fears distracted....
and i remembered....that night i had wished ..someone was there......

those days i was in ahmedabad, and working 3 jobs at a time,nid, cfm in delhi and for anirudh.i had just moved into a penthouse..dirt cheap rent....had painted it myself that had cost me a night...hand dipped in menthol balm.
monsoons had been just a few days old...
that day it rained heavy ...
i come back home to find a part of my kitchen floating...water slowly moving into the sleeping area, which was also my working area those days
i tracked down the leak....a switch board on my kitchen wall....
the kitchen wall was in the direct path of the torrent....with almost no shed over the window
i hardly had any arrangement to take care of the leak....

and this is what i did...
first i set few cooking pans and 'dekchis' to hold the dripping water....
put 3 old dresses...to stop water from flowing around on the floor....
i walked out onto the terrace, in the rain, my weapons...a few polythene bags , nails and a hammer.....
yes, i tried fixing a piece of polythene on the other side of the wall , on which water was pouring,to at least wade off water to another direction.....

miracle...it worked...or was it desperation....

i put some brown tape across the switch board.....
that nite was peaceful.....

next day:

i bought some 10mtrs of plastic sheet.....

by the time i was home that day...the winds were very strong and it was pouring pretty bad....
i carried the sheet out to cover the outside wall...tried climbing the tank above the kitchen....went dizzy.....came down all shaking....
a little thought....
i collected as many bricks as possible....
i had a whole bag of cement...which had gone rock hard in the rain the day before...
climed the window...to reach the shed...every time picking a brick and placing above the shed....
then opened the plastic sheet....
the wind was so hard that keeping control was very difficult u can trust me....
hanging onto the window by one hand and plastic in another..i dont know how i managed to place it under the bricks....
then locked the rest of the plastic on the floor with more bricks...and a bagful of solid cement.....i had to roll it down onto the sheet, with all my might.( try it sometime..ull know what im talking abt)

that covered the wall on which the switchboard was..as well as the terrace door....keeping out chances of any water seeping in again...

i hadnt realised how strong the wind was....till the bricks on the top of the shed fell.....i needed to put more weight.....i needed to get out again in the rain....
and as i stepped out again...i reailsed there was trouble.....it was lightning
right above my terrace....all around...it looked fiercly beautiful....but i had to do what i had to....
i probably will never be able to explain what it felt.......
i was scared......alone...in the rain...fixing the leak and praying.....thats not the way i should be dying..i had thouht then......
somehow i finished my job....

that night i wish someone was there...
this i felt again...when the taxi left me half a km away from home....and i was drenched in the rickshaw....
i couldnt be brave that night.....may such nights never come ....for anyone...