Sunshine Rain

Gently pattering rain made the sound pitter-patter on my roof. I remember the poetry we had learned in our initial years of innocence. I held a hot mug of coffee in my hand staring into the slow and synchronized fall of the rain drops.

The silence that surrounded me felt like paradise after a long time. I enjoyed the sip of hot coffee while I saw the glorious sun peep out of the dark clouds. Sun shine made the raindrops look like diamonds falling from heaven. The scene was so picturesque that I had the instant urge to capture it with my Nikon.

I rushed inside and rummaged through my bag until I found what I was searching. I came outside and focused my camera lens. The view was perfect, absolutely fantastic! All the trees and plant that surrounded my cottage was glistening with the slight sunshine along with the dark clouds slightly showering away on their way somewhere.
My grandmother always told us a story about a wolf. A lonesome wolf was cursed for his wrong deeds. The wolf prayed long and hard to free himself of the curse of living alone forever. His prayers were answered and he was told that he would find his companion only when the sun shined and it rained simultaneously. Innocently we would ask our grandmother if the wolf ever found his companion. Her answer always mesmerized me. She would ask us to close our eyes, hear the thunder rumbling somewhere far and then the happy howls of two wolves that finally united even now when the sun shone while it rained.

My cousins who listened intently would enact each word and claimed that they could hear the happy howls of the wolves. I would shut my eyes hard and concentrate but I would never hear anything other than the rhythmic fall of rain. Once I cried through out the day and asked my grandmother why I was unable to hear them while all others could. She replied in a wise and sagacious manner. She said, “Open your heart child, just open your heart.”

With this thought in mind I captured the perfect scene. But when I slowly moved the camera away from my face I realized I was no more standing on my veranda. I was surrounded by thicket and it was still drizzling. I could hear the thunder rumble in partially blue sky. At the same time sun was shining down on me amidst the few dark clouds. Suddenly I see two wolves, prancing emerge through the thicket. Their eyes looked happy and content. They stopped just at a distance of ten feet away from me. They look up at the sky while the rain gleamed on their shiny golden coat. They let out a shrill howl. The sound almost shook me entirely. I was shivering from head to toe. The joy in their eyes could not be missed, even to a human like me. They left together, leaving me wondering if all this was real. But it was because I was wet and I still held the camera in my hand.

I quickly found my way back to the cottage. It was a small cottage where I spend most of my childhood summer with my grandmother. I could not believe what I had just witnessed. Had I finally opened my heart? I had seen the nature’s magic without any expectations. I felt my heart free of beliefs I held from life. Just this simple tale and a small out of the world experience made me realize the importance of living the moment. I learnt to take in any moment with an open heart.

I still have that day’s perfect picture framed next to my bedside. A constant reminder to keep my heart and mind open to all possibilities.