Chairs in the Rain

Credit: I saw a photograph in a friend, Balamurali's orkut album and got the idea of writing this post. He had taken that snap. Photographs do speak a thousand words!

The water on the floor of the terrace makes a rather slow swooshing sound as it flows to the corner of the terrace, thanks to the slope of the terrace. This sound is that of a slow snake moving over a muddy ground making a swoosh due to the moisture in the ground. The rain drops hit the floor like a thousand bullets right on the target. Their sound is the one dominating the scene.

Somewhere, a drop of water falls from the leaky tap right onto the floor making its own small sound. The tap knows it will never beat the rain in the amount of sound it is making - but it keeps trying.

Wait, there is a rat-a-tat too... It is the rain water falling on a metallic surface. Oh yes, there are two metallic chairs on the terrace. The chairs are stuck to one another as if they are holding hands and watching the rain...

An old lady appears from the dark door with an umbrella. She sits on one of the chairs not caring about the wet seat... In the dark of the night, when the moonlight touches the shiny tiles on the terrace, the water and the floor of the terrace shines like the surface of the moon itself.

Like an arrow that cuts through air, like a fish that pierces through water, a sound mounts itself over and above this medley of sounds. She is singing a Hindi song. It is a song of longing.

She has a melodious voice and when she sings, the sound of the rain, the water and the leaky tap seem to have faded. Like the clouds that fill the sky in no time, her song has now filled the air. The thin waves of water on the terrace slow down as the waves of her voice speed through the darkness of the night.

The night hears in silence the song of a lady while the rain drops hit the empty chair adjacent to her....