There was no possibility of taking a walk that day

There used to be a book I owned as a child with the title '101 things to do on a rainy day'. I used to love rainy days. Rain meant that there was no pressure to go outdoors, no expectation that I should be out somewhere engaged in some other more vigorous or seemingly more exciting activity. Rain meant that I was meant to stay home, ensconced in a velvet arm chair, or breathing in a Tchaikovsky symphony while creating frangrances in the perfumerie otherwise known as the kitchen. I love home; I love being at home. For a person like me, rain meant a sudden liberation from any expectation to be someone apart from who I truly was.

Rain, furthermore, is sensory pleasure. There is the chattering of the window-teeth from the pre-rain wind, and its whiny howl; the whispered, yet insistent rush of raindrop-sheets; the inconsiderate yet non-negotiable, authoritarian thunder shouts which would wake me up at night; the toad and cricket chorus rehearsals which would stretch long after the rain has ended. Rain was cool- that mattered because Singapore is usually warm. To a child, it was the closest we ever got to snow.

I eventually lost the book- it was leant to a school friend with whom I probably lost contact- but I vaguely recollect a few project-suggestions: Growing carrot tops, magic tricks, maybe making my own newsletter. Rain meant, and still means rainy-day projects. Rain still means the same to me now. How can it mean any different when the child who once was me, is still me?

Yet, children grow. Rain attained its fair share of associations and connotations for me.

rain: blue, cold, wet, grey, clouds, damp, disappointment, defered walks, dull...

Then think of all the moods that are associated with rain, which, coincidentally, rhymes with pain. Reason told me that this was not without sense; yet while ten-year old me might have been disappointed that rain could not embody happier sentiments, her grown-up counterpart now knows that pain and its associated emotions need not have to exist without sunshine and joy.

rain: water, growth, life, dewdrops, rainbow...

The rainy moments in life, too, can yield its spots of beauty and joy. Rain on, then, and let the rainy moments bring growth and life.