So, finally the worst time of the year seems to be over. Winter has crept up slowly. One can feel it in the slowly drying up skin and the early morning chill.
A very big relief after the depressing last few months. It rained relentlessly, continuously, non-stop, pitter-patter, pitter-patter it went on day and night. Every time there were signs of rain, I felt miserable, with an overwhelming feeling of frustration. I hated the very prospect of rain.
It is not as though I did not enjoy the rains in my time. Just like anyone, I too have stories of getting excited like a peacock at the first sign of rains, stories of standing in the rain with closed eyes, face pointed heavenwards, feeling the cold raindrops hitting the face, and jumping in joy.
Stories of making paper boats of different sizes and floating them in the stream of rain water flowing in front of the house. Stories of jumping in the puddle of rainwater and screaming in glee as the water sprayed on everyone around. Stories of stretching out hands and letting the raindrops fall from the slanting shades.
Even during the growing years, I too have stories of sitting by the window, watching the raindrops hit the puddle of muddy water that slowly formed. Invariably, someone would say “it is time for Pakoda and Chai, and soon plates of hot Pakoda (onions dipped in batter and deep fried) would pass around followed by steaming cups of Chai.
But one thing about rains that always intrigued me was the strong, sweet, heady, powerful aroma that emanated when the first drops of rains hit the soil. I had a kind of fascination for that smell. I always wondered what caused it. If only I had nurtured that intrigue, the curiosity and fascination, perhaps I could have got a PhD for it. And that is exactly what two Australian scientists, Isabel Joy Bear and R. G. Thomas, did.
In 1964, the two scientists started the study of rain’s aroma with an article in Nature Journal titled “Nature of Agrillaceous Odor”. To explain the phenomena, they coined the term “petrichor” by combining two Greek words “petra (stone)” and “ichor (the blood of gods in ancient myth)”.
This is what the two scientists determined based on their study and research (Nature of Agrillaceous Odor):
One of the main causes of this distinctive smell is a blend of oils secreted by some plants during arid periods. When a rainstorm comes after a drought, compounds from the oils—which accumulate over time in dry rocks and soil—are mixed and released into the air. They also observed that the oils inhibit seed germination and speculated that plants produce them to limit competition for scarce water supplies during dry times.These airborne oils combine with other compounds to produce the smell. In moist, forested areas in particular, a common substance is geosmin, a chemical produced by a soil-dwelling bacteria known as actinomycetes. The bacteria secrete the compound when they produce spores, then the force of rain landing on the ground sends these spores up into the air, and the moist air conveys the chemical into our noses.
Whatever may be the reason for the Petrichor, I have always enjoyed that heady pleasant smell. I enjoyed it most while I lived in the middle east for over thirty years. I used to look forward to the rains. During the early years of my stay there, I used to be quite surprised at the rains in a Gulf country. Because, before I went to the middle east, I heard stories of sheikhs from various middle eastern countries coming to Bombay just to sit on the patio of their hotel suites and enjoy looking at the rains.
That sense of expectation for rains vanished once I returned back home four years ago. Now, I just hate the prospect of the monsoon. The first thing that one feels when it starts to rain is the unbearable stench from the street, smell of dirt, garbage and sewage. Within minutes, the street becomes like a river of rain water mixed with dirt and lucre flowing out of sewage manholes.
The situation is the same everywhere in the city. Wherever you go, you can see blocked sewage pipes and effluents from the sewage pipes overflowing onto the streets and roads. The under-prepared sewage infrastructure, built over 40 years ago, heaves under the burden of the explosion of multi complexes, super speciality hospitals, malls, and other business structures that were allowed to be built without any improvements to the overburdened sewage system.
The civic workers try their best to clear the mess but the challenge is too much for the understaffed and under equipped teams. I really feel very sorry for these people who carry out their work, drenched in rain and filth of the city.
I really miss the excitement of the rainy season, especially the magical Petrichor. I believe there are Perfumeries in a place called “Kannauj” in Uttar Pradesh, who capture the fragrance of Petrichor in bottles, using a century old process of “trapping the lush fresh smell of the first rain in a bottle". The perfume is called “Mitti Attar”. Perhaps, it was meant for people like me who miss the heady fragrance so much (Mitti Attar, Kannauj, UP).
I often wondered how people in countries where it rained most part of the year, managed themselves. I have heard that people become sad and depressed when it rains continuously and the sky gets grey with overcast clouds.
I spent three days in London with my family, visiting places of tourist interest, accompanied by a tour guide. We carried umbrellas wherever we went because we were advised that the weather of London was quite unpredictable. It was true. It would be a beautiful sunny day one moment and the next moment it would start raining.
We spent two additional days on our own taking the underground rail and the red bus, hunting down the places we always wanted to visit, Notting Hill (famous for Julia Roberts & Hugh Grant movie), Abbey Road (remember Beatles zebra crossing album cover!) and all those famous places we knew from playing the game of Monopoly.
We really enjoyed our trip to The Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park across the Thames River. The walk across the clean pathways and the lush green lawns was wonderful and exciting even though there was a light drizzle. The whole place looked beautiful with greenery all around. I didn’t mind the rain at all. Of course, when you don’t have to put up with the smell of overflowing gutters and with such beautiful scenery all around, who can complain!
Anyway, coming back closer home, I hope we have seen the last of the wretched rains until next year. Now, the winter is here. Onward to the best time of the year, the cool winter chill and above all, to the Christmas season.
It is time to clean up the mess created by the rains and to spruce up the house, clearing up of the sticky moss all around the house, drying out the moistness in furniture and around the house, drying out the mustiness in the wardrobes, and washing up the clothes left wet and sticky, especially the dark colored clothes.
Soon it will be time to put up the Christmas tree, and hang the silver bells, buntings, streamers, stockings, Santa with his Sledge & his Reindeers, and the lovely, poetic, sacred greetings to friends and family and above all the Hosannas and Praises to The King.
Pandemic or no pandemic, nothing or no one can stop me from enjoying the most important of festivals ever, the “Blessed Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ”.
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