"When The Rain Came to Meet me"– *A Rain Journal*

It was raining. It wasn’t supposed to. I mean, it wasn’t the rainy season. It doesn’t even rain in that season. But it ‘was’ – UNEXPECTEDLY.
I rushed to the balcony. This being an off-seasonal downpour, by default becomes all the more special, than usual; it demanded admiration! And that was what I was doing exactly – ‘Admiring it’!
                                                                 *********

                                                                   PART-I
I Love The Rain. I always did (The beneficial, Blessed rain of course)(Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah!). Right since I was a child. And not just admiring it from a distance, but actually being IN IT; embracing it with open arms; greeting it; soaking in it.

 

 

I remember when we used to come here, to India, our native country, from Saudi Arabia, during our annual vacations; it would be ‘The Rainy Season’. All excited we would drench ourselves in heavy downpour, irrespective of some of our elders shouting at us to come inside. Rain was our FRIEND. It was here, to come and play with us. Irrespective of how the poem of “Rain, rain go away. Come again, another day. Little Johnny wants to play...” goes, I think our little hearts believed otherwise. So, we wouldn't want the rain to go away, in order to play, unlike "Little Johnny". But instead, it’s IN the rain, that we’d want to PLAY, and that’s what we would do. On the deck of the house, we’d block the drain hole, and the water would fill up to the ankle (or a little more perhaps). We’d splash water around, at each other and everywhere, we’d jump in it; we’d sit in it and get all dirty and play; the shower pouring hard on us. The Shakespeare’s “Water, water, everywhere...” seems like an APT term. 

Afterwards, we’d take a hot bath, get into dry clothes and enjoy hot cups of black tea, accompanied by hot bhajjies (famous Indian tea-time snack-made of flour & onions, potatoes, etc & deep-fried- and a preferred delicacy and comfort food during rains) at times...mmmmm.....,whilst enjoying the weather and the ongoing downpour.

Here, in India, it’s a common sight especially during the rainy seasons for kids to be seen enjoying & playing in the rain, during the school days. But in the place that I grew up (Riyadh, KSA), it rarely used to rain; and rarer still during our school days (during non-holidays). I remember  one such rare day, specifically. I was in my Xth std and the clouds had not only decided (By His Will) to pour on us ‘out of the blue’ (quite literally!), but also had apparently decided to do so (By His Will) exactly durin’ our lunch break! NOW THAT’S PERFECT TIMING! (Isn’t it?) (SUBHAN ALLAH!)

[ PIC: By the way, 'those blue hues' in the pic depict : the rain, the 'Out of The Blue' Perfect timing, and our school unfirom, which were those 'exact' shades of blue! (IISRians, did you notice?!) *wink* ]

Imagine our ecstasy! (read: the whole school’s aka all the girl students comprising of about 5 to 6 thousand girls!) The entire lot of girls, save a few, rushed into the playground, enjoying the ‘PERFECT TIMING’, getting all wet, going all crazy. What a sight it was! It’s still etched in my mind clearly & always will be! (And I’m sure same is the case with my fellow childhood cum school friends) (In shaa Allah!) The principal, vice-principal & the peon stood shouting at us from the entrance of the grounds, but in vain. We were having the time of our lives! (Mashaa Allah) In the end, they had no choice, but to step into the grounds and get wet themselves, in order to chase us all out of the grounds and to make us go back into our classrooms. We definitely gave them a tough time, doing that! (lolz!) But I’m sure that none of us can ever forget that day. (In shaa Allah) It will always remain SPECIAL ! (Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah!)

There’s yet another specific day that I remember. It was one of the last days of high school (I was studying in India by then). Our final board exams were going on then. We had just stepped out of our exam halls, when the rain drops sweetly greeted us. It was paying us a ‘surprise-visit’. Our school bus was parked farther away down the road, from our exam centre. So, my school-mates, decided to shield themselves with examination pads over their heads, hurrying towards our bus. They didn’t want to get all wet and fall sick during the exam time. As for me, on the other hand, well I had sub-consciously decided otherwise! I let my lips smile with the sweet sudden change in the weather; I let my head chuck the thought of exams, I let myself get wet in the rain; I let my feet take slower steps and make the already long walk deliberately wayyy more longer. And so, when I finally reached the bus (taking my own sweet time ofcourse *wink*), I ended up being teased by my schoolmates and compared to some specific movie actress in some rainy movie sequence, because of my ‘wet look’ and soaked appearance! (lolz!)
 

Once, in college, during the rainy days, I remember our college campus was flooded with much more than ‘ankle-deep’ water, due to a heavy downpour. The classes for the day were over and while the entire college was busy figuring out their way and paddling through the water, my friends and I were busy bringing to life the kids inside us. We stood on the steps of the college porch, tearing papers from our notebooks and making paper boats and going ‘boating’. (Some passer-by students turned on-lookers! lolz!). "Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream..." To imagine, it seemed like a sweet li’l river was flowing through our college that day, dotted here and there with the tiny li’l paper boats that we were leaving in it to make their way!

When in college, I remember clearly how my mom used to force me to carry an umbrella during the rainy season, and how I would reluctantly agree, and how eventually the umbrella would be ‘demoted’ (by me, ofcourse) to be nothing more than ‘an extra weight in my back-pack’!

While waiting at the bus stop when returning home from college, others would either be under their umbrellas or under the roof of the bus stop. I on the other hand, would be standing alongside the ‘umbrella-holders’ on the side of the road (not under the bus-stop roof), waiting for the bus, drenching in the rain, sans the umbrella (but OFCOURSE!), which by the way would be taking a nap in my back-pack, which (my back pack, that is) would in turn be sitting atop the footpath under the roof of the bus-stop, safely away from the rain! *grinnn*

On my way home, from my neighbourhood bus-stop, I would walk merrily, hopping alongside nature’s tune, breathing in its aura, watching the leaves rustle and get wet...soaking it all IN! (quite literally too!) (Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah!)
 
But then, I didn’t know, that things were about to change...Or probably, they had already; only I didn’t know (then)!  - In time, I would know eventually, By His Will.                                                  
                                                                               **************

                                                        ~PART – II~

“I want to go get wet in the rain!”, I would often exclaim to my mother. I meant it, but unlike before, would never do it. It had been ages since I had gotten myself drenched in a nice playful rain. Instead, all I would do was, stretch my hands from across my balcony and try to feel the rain on my outstretched palms, drop by drop.

I was sick those days. A mild fever had become part of my daily routine and the touch of water on my skin, would often make me shiver.

Going back to the day I initially started writing this ‘write up/post’ with – *THAT DAY* – well, let me start over:

Yes, "It was raining. It wasn’t supposed to. I mean, it wasn’t the rainy season. It doesn’t even rain in that season. But it ‘was’ – UNEXPECTEDLY.
I rushed to the balcony. This being an off-seasonal downpour, by default becomes all the more special, than usual; it demanded admiration! And that was what I was doing exactly – ‘Admiring it’! "

I stood watching the rain from my balcony. The direction of the rain was straight, non-angular. The un-fulfilled craving, the un-fulfilled wish of going out to meet the rain, getting drenched in it, was alive (as usual) within me!
 
A while later, I left the balcony, walked into my bedroom and stood near the window. By now, The rain was falling down fast, but not too fast; slow, but not too slow. The rhythm was just PERFECT (By His Will). And in the moment that I had walked from the balcony to my bedroom, the direction of the rain had all of a sudden miraculously changed, I noticed. It was no longer straight. Instead, the rain became angled, in the direction of my bedroom window.

As I stood by the window, I saw the raindrops come in through it and greet me. Through the grill of the open window they came in. I felt the lovely cool spray on my face. I felt each drop of rain on my skin, gently touch, softly kiss, as if each drop was saying: “So what if you can’t come and meet us? We’ve come to meet you! To play with you! To make you smile. To sprinkle happiness. To ‘shower’ happiness.” When each drop touched my skin, it was as if they sweetly caressed me and I could hear them say to me, soothingly: “You’ll be better soon. He’s listening. He’s taking care. He’s taking care of Y.O.U. Have Faith in Him. In shaa Allah.”

SUBHAN ALLAH! It was Beautifully REASSURING – in a way that my words can never quite express, even after writing this entire post on ‘it’!
“HE IS GOING TO MAKE ME BETTER SOON! HE IS TAKING CARE! In shaa Allah!”
(Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah! For everything!)

I Smiled. A thought had occurred to me. I had just been painting the previous day. I had been trying out a new technique, a new style, quite different from my usual genre. I had decided to go light-hearted, just have fun and play with a splash of colours. I wanted to capture exactly the same elements in regards to my theme too. “Colours of The Rain”, I call it. That’s right, I had been painting The Rain!

It was pure fate, His Will, I thought. It had just been the previous day when I was trying to capture in paint, the light-heartedness, the joy, the fun, the love and the colours of it all, and today it was all being ‘PAINTED’ by HIM, The 'Perfect Artist', The Creator, in front of my eyes – PICTURE PERFECTLY! (Alhamdulilah! Mashaa Allah!)
                                                              *********
There are so many such little beautiful moments that we are blessed with, By His Grace in our everyday life. How many times doesn’t the nature give us His Signs, By His Will? How many times doesn’t He send Signs to us, for us? How many times doesn’t He give us Signs filled with optimism, hope, love and faith?

How many times don’t we sub-consciously make these wishes, (apart from our bigger wishes); for it to rain; for it not to rain, so that we reach office/school/college in time, to be able to catch an auto easily, for the traffic to clear, for the teacher not to take a test, for the ..... and the list goes on and on infinitely; to each his own!

How He listens to our most feeblest of wishes and prayers, will always be beyond our understanding! Subhan Allah! But we on the other hand, so many a times are much too busy in our hectic schedules, too self-absorbed, too insensitive, too so-called ‘practical’ and pessimistic, too ungrateful, to even notice or enjoy the Blessings and to be Grateful to Him! And are likewise, to even have Faith that when He can be so Kind to take care of our most feeblest of our sub-conscious wishes, desires and prayers, then He is definitely listening to our more important, hugest and deepest of wishes and prayers and fulfills them too, In shaa Allah!

                                                            *********          
As for ‘that’ day, it continued to rain with His Will, Subhan Allah, till my heart was content, till my insides were filled to the brim with its essence, till a huge smile was etched across my face, till my heart was moistened and the raindrops had managed to make little tiny streams within

my heart, cooling it soothingly and overflowing with exuberating warmth, all at the same time, till the HOPE within was freshened, till  the LOVE within had blossomed, till the roots of FAITH within had strengthened, till.....till I forgot for how long I stood staring out the window, mesmerized...

‘That day’, will always remain extra special for me, because unlike the other special rainy days that are etched in my mind for the fun I had in going out to meet the rain, this one got etched for  the exact opposite reason. Something I never knew would ever happen. For, when I wasn’t in a state to go out and meet the rain, with His Will, it was kind enough of the rain to come and meet me. ‘That day’ for me, will always be the day  ‘WHEN THE RAIN CAME TO MEET ME’!
Subhan Allah! Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah! Allahu Akbar!
 

I’ve been longing to finish this post/article for quite sometime now and with His Will now seems the moment. It’s the eve of Ramadan (it was unexpectedly announced just sometime ago; quiet late into the evening) . The FEELING’S already IN THE AIR!  And as I am penning down the last words of this article standing in my balcony, I can hear the familiar tune of the ‘visitors’ ‘dropping by’ yet again. It’s been raining beautifully. The monsoon seems to have set in. Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah! May it be a Beneficial One! Ameen!
I stretch my hand across the balcony railings and feel the rain. I Smile. WE MEET AGAIN.
Alhamdulilah! Masha’Allah!

                                                                        ****************************

When at a time of need, many others bid farewell and deserted me, the rain was there. It would visit me often and stay a while, for me, to make my Dua’a. A precious time to make a dua’a (supplication), when the dua’as would be answered In shaa Allah, according to a Hadith(Prophet Muhammad's (SAW) sayings); as many of you would know. How Kind of The Rain. How Kind of His Mercy. By His Will. Subhan Allah! Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah!

Rain (beneficial rain) for me, denotes Allah’s Mercy. His 'SHOWER OF MERCY', quite literally! And yes, I love to soak in His Mercy.

As for me, one day, I’ll be that girl again, who’ll be able to run out to meet the (good)rain, whenever I want to, with The Will of Allah. We’ll play together. We’re old friends, you see! The rain and I.

And then, maybe they’ll be a third. Another old friend, yet to meet. And I’ll introduce him to my rain-y friend too. And then, maybe we’ll all play together – a reunion of sorts!
 

We’ll soak beautifully in His Mercy.
My Soulmate and I.
(In shaa Allah)

(Subhan Allah! Alhamdulillah! Mashaa Allah la quwwata illah billah! BarakAllahu lii wa lakum! Allahu Akbar! La ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu minazzalimeen. La ilaha illallah. For everything...)
-Nida Arshi Naqeeb
(His slave, your sis)


Pics courtesy: The Internet - google, respective photographers & anonymous
Edited by: Inspiration Point!