Badli ki Baarish

I was making a cup of tea in the morning to soothe myself when to give me company came the light drizzling from the benevolent skies and a gentle breeze that stroked the wind chimes to perfect the setting with their delightful tinkling. I soaked up the beauty that everyday life brings in and which we so easily miss. The skies in a second turned demanding and started pouring; were they perturbed or just having a drunken party, I wondered! My mom was frantically collecting clothes off the verandah and told me- ‘yeh badli ki baarish bhi na!’I enquired what is badli; I only knew of it as of the oldest villages in Delhi and that too after taking the benign help of the Google god. But seems moms know things beyond what Google can search!

‘Badli’ is also called ‘Bhadon’ which forms the latter half of the rainy season. The defining trait of this season is sudden changes in the skies from sunny to extremely cloudy and rains in a matter of minutes. Means if you are out thanking for a sunny day to go shopping to Lajpat Nagar or Sarojini, chances are you might have to change your plans even before you can apply your sunscreen! Yes, that’s ‘badli’ which brings out the most important aspect of Nature which it relentlessly tries to tell us- ‘Everything changes.’ It’s just that sometimes the change can be a little drastic and demanding like this season’s rains. We can either fret or fume being stranded on a street over the sudden change of sky god’s mood or think of getting drenched and enjoying a strong cup of coffee once back home. Life brought me this sudden change too and in my ignorance I chose to fret. Am I any wiser now? I hope so; only ‘badli’ will tell J

Then amongst the wise ones are people who ever so willingly in their quest of new experiences want to challenge the lesser gods with their spirit of seeking fun and adventure. If you happen to be one of them; here’s wishing you a wiser heart and a playful spirit if despite the Rain gods you want to make a killer bargain at Sarojini or Lajpat nagar market next time. Just armour yourself with a raincoat and shop till you drop!

Love Always!