June rains in New York

Call me crazy but I love the rain. I love the fresh dewy feeling the streets have, the crispness in the air, and the smell of wet mud. I love that the trees are a fresher brighter green and the city and street lights twinkle with more reflective shiny-ness. In some cultures it’s considered good luck when it rains on a special occasion – a blessing from above. For me, it’s remembering my childhood. I grew up in Bombay (when it was still called Bombay, not Mumbai), and the monsoon season brought with it 3 months of rain from June through August. June rains were special. It meant the start of a new school year – new books, new rain boots, a new school uniform, and shiny new brown paper covers on our school books. The monsoon sky colored itself turquoise, purple, orange, cyan and lilac. And if you were really lucky, each monsoon season brought a day of torrential rains so you got rained in, which meant a no-school day! And a no-school day meant that everyone wore their best rain gear and went downstairs to play. Sometimes, I still like to play in the New York rain.