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4th October 1998

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I say 'love ya rain'

When in kindergarten many moons ago I refused to obey my teacher's orders when she asked me to sing 'Rain Rain go away come again another day'. All because I loved the rains. She punished me and I was sure at that time and even now that my teacher who is about 60 years now, had some score to settle with the rains.

Rain is romantic, Rain is lovely, Rain is movement, Rain is about getting wet. Remember the songs? - 'Singing in the Rain', listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, and many others. It is beautiful to sing and dance in the rains. Some curse the rains. But the world will be cursed if we have no rains. No food, no green, flowers, birds and bees. What about the most colourful rainbow we see with the falling rains? No one can forget the days. He or she played with paper boats. I still remember the joy of my paper boat overtaking my brother's in the rain waters flowing down the drains. The drains were not so dirty then.

With rain comes the wet look. What else do you except? We all love the wet look even though most of us refuse to admit it.

The world went crazy with the wet looks of Bridgitte Bardot and Ursula Andress, (better known as Ursula Undress) D.H. Lawrence didn't live to see sexy Sylvia Kristel dancing nude in the rain in the cinematic creation of "Lady Chatterly's Lover".

He would have gone mad. Rain did the tricks. No Indian movie is complete without a scene in the rain. Indian film lovers still remember the sultry Zeenat Aman dancing in the rain (she wore no undergarment) in 'Satyam Sivam Sundaram' created by the great Raj Kapoor.

Be it Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu, Madhuri Dixit, cat's-eyed Aishwarya Rai. They have all danced or cried in the rain. Even the film 'Fire' had rain. The so called elite in India hold rain parties. They either party in God sent rain or create artificial rain.

One has to attend the parties in good clothes and let the rains do the rest. Colombo should try it out. The rain parties are more fun than Panduru parties. Dr. G.L. Pieris please take note. Maligawatte will be a good place to host it. Good old Siddhalepa will sponsor it as Rains and Colds are good buddies.

It is raining cats and dogs in Delhi and flowers are blooming. The roads are getting cleaned and muddy. Pot holes and manholes are getting filled up and people falling into them.

People wade through water-logged streets to catch buses. Vehicles stop half way with wearing down batteries. Highly made up women see their lipstick and other pasteups washed away. People see reality and I say 'love ya rain'.

The cobblers are in 'big business'. Umbrellas and rain coats are out. I see the Eskimos of Delhi. It is colourful. Blue, black and blue, red, gold and blue maroon, green and orange. The speeding vehicles splash me with water.

The starry hotel guards refuse entry to my all Indian auto rickshaw and I walk a long distance in search of hospitality in pain but rain. I too get the wet look. Vipers on my spectacles don't work. I fall into holes and come out bathed in holy water down Delhi's Janpath Road. The street walker becomes a mover and a shaker.

Rains have caused floods in some areas. Sonia Gandhi tours the flood affected areas. People scream 'Soniaji please save us from floods and rains". They even carry placards well organised by the Congress publicity pundits.

Poor men and women, they don't realise that if Sonia comes to power it will be goodbye for chapatis and naans. It will be pizza and marcaroni time. Anyway Soniaji says Mama Mia and thank the rains.

The officials usual cry 'we need rains to create more electricity' sounds familiar? But people become powerless in their homes. Kama Sutra sales drop, family planners have more work.

The population booms.

Candle sellers too are in big business. My rain plays havoc. At Delhi's Sarojini Nagar I hear the Evergay Elton John sing 'Candle in the Wind' and I get blown mine in the wind (with apologies to Bob Dylan) in New Delhi. But still refuses to sing 'Rain Rain go away come again another day'.

Stop over: Met J. N. Dixit when he came to launch his new book 'Fifty Years of Indian Foreign Policy'. The ceremony was postponed but he found the time for the street walker. He said late R. Premadasa loved him so much that when he visited Sri Lanka with former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao as India's Foreign Secretary, Premadasa questioned: "You again?" However Dixit's answer: "Yes Sir. But I am taking the next plane back home tomorrow", had pleased the then President.

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