“The First Monsoon”

Gurgaon’s skylines are dotted with dark clouds ominous yet pleasing. Baby Geney squeals at the sight of the dark clouds, roar of the clouds, and crackles in a coded language, “daddy, this is my first monsoon with you.” Amidst the squeals and cackles of Baby Geney, I jog my memory, and the time travel takes me to the Monsoon. The roles have reversed, I was the one squealing and screaming at the sight of the dark thunder clouds with silver streaks, the deafening thunder clouds, the stompings in the puddles of muddy water, and the breathtaking green cover of Ranchi's flora and fauna. It could have been straight out of the picturesque post cards that we so often come across. Today as I stand in the balcony of our house with baby Geney in my arms, I cannot but reminisce about that beautiful day in Ranchi and how much joy it gave to me. This is the first monsoon of her life with both M and me and an enthralling one! The six monsoons before with M and the seventh with both of them have been joyous. The emotions of each year gone by are vivid and etched in our minds.

The rain gathers momentum, and skies are opening their heart out satiating the parched land beneath. Geney lunges forward and springs forward as I hold firm and wonder If she wants to break free just as the rain droplets. She is gathering strength and is growing by the day, and communicating to us her needs, moods, and affection. I have started to miss her early phase when she was an infant unable to do anything except feed on her mother. The days and nights are moving faster than I had thought and this is unsettling for me.
The rain gods seem to be angry as the rains are accompanied with lightening and deafening thunderstorms. Geney’s facial expressions suggest that she is startled not fearful, amazed not shocked. Now that is what I call “fearless” slowly but surely, we are able to decipher her expressions. Her enigmatic expressions are no longer beyond complete comprehension, but she can still confound us with her antics! Baby Geney will see many more such monsoons, but we will never forget her first one with us. When she grows up, she will see what Daddy wrote on her first monsoon and will comprehend how precious she is to us!
Geney is bristling with energy and on seeing M approach lunges towards her. M will take her in the lap and babble. It is her exclusive time with M. Geney, her mouth open and lips formed like a circle, is talking to her mother in the Babylonian lingua but then you don’t need words to understand emotions. The baby and mother’s relation are symbiotic, and I am not the last person to realize this. As the rain comes to a halt, the clouds wither away, the grey turns into amber, and a beautiful rainbow stretches across the horizon, the birds fly away to their nests, and baby Geney cackles in her mother’s lap, the glorious evening is coming to an end and so is our Geney’s first evening of the Monsoon. It was beautiful just like M&G are!

Thank you for such a wonderful spectacle!