Thursday, June 29, 2006

Does a gloomy, rainy day make you want to....

... throw yourself off the top floor of your building?

The weather here this past week has been mostly grey, overcast and rainy. My friend was complaining about the weather while she was driving, and I was nodding away semi-attentively. And then she said something that made me sit up. She said that the suicide rate in Seattle, WA is one of the highest in the US, and that the city also happens to have rainy weather for most of the year. Apparently, the weather was so depressing that people wanted to kill themselves!

I haven't checked the veracity of either statement about Seattle, nor have I tried to find out if there exists a correlation between weather and suicide statistics. But despite the morbidity of her statement, I found myself interested in and amused by it. I asked myself, how would I feel if I looked out the window and found it raining most of the time?

The first thing I thought was that we grad students are indoors, in our labs or apartments so much that it hardly matters how the weather is outside! Then I forced myself to treat the question more seriously, and the answer was surprising. I would love it if it rained everyday! I like the smell of rain, wet grass and damp earth. I like the pitter-patter of raindrops. Rain whets the creative part of my brain, makes want to write poems and listen to music. If I knew any musical instrument, I bet I would whip it out on a rainy day!

If you are reading this, I want you to drop a comment and say: how would you feel if you looked out the window and found it raining all or most of the time?

Cheers,
Prashanth.

11 comments:

Vc said...

Vc present Saaaar..

Bangalore hasn’t been hit by the Monsoons as yet...but "how would you feel if you looked out the window and found it raining all or most of the time?"

Eeeks.. my fav God is Ra and so i would definitely feel miserable,,, but would cheer myself up by wearing all types of sweaters, cardigans..what not...getting wet is so eeeew...

of course watching the rain with a hot cup of filter coffee and Kenny G music in the background, Wheel of Time book in hand…sigh!!....hah !! Life....

Divster said...

Div present here

"how would you feel if you looked out the window and found it raining all or most of the time?"

Ever noticed that its gloomy outside just like it is right before it starts to rain..and the weather feels humid all of a sudden, and you start to miss n number of ppl whom you once knew in your life???

It's how I feel when I look out and find it raining mostly. Here the weather is gettin extremely hotter than ever and there is a gloomy 'about-to-rain' atmosphere...

Honest To GOd, I miss my MOmmy...I miss my friends..and so many of those whom i was out of touch with..rain makes me feel nostalgic..forgotten memories soar up to the surface..so much so that I asked my Dad if I can go back to India again. He said, if you want to.. then you gotta make a decision and leave within next 3 days.

Sigh.....

Anonymous said...

"how would you feel if you looked out the window and found it raining all or most of the time?" .....
I think i wudnt be able to keep myself on this side of the window .. there is something about rains that sort of sets my soul free (if that makes any sense..)there's something about watching those tiny drops dancing their way down to the earth .. someting about the way it makes the grass seem green and everything seems better all of a sudden .. i feel a song on my lips and my heart feels lighter .. a 100 times i must have stood in the light drizzle and felt that life's perfect just coz its raining .. rains make everything more beautiful .. as i write this , i realised i am smiling .. ah ! I wish it wud rain now .. so i cud watch it .. so i cud feel it .. and feel that i'm alive !

Sankar said...

I would love rain as long as I don't have to get drenched in it. It would be great to watch it from the window...

Raining all day... I am not for it. It would affect each and everyone of us...

Prashanth said...

Vc,
Ah yes, hot chocolate (not filter kapi) in hand, soft rock (not kenny g) in the background, fantasy book in hand, rain outside the window... doesn't that sound great?

Div,
Rain and nostalgia. Got it. (pulls out blue book and makes note)

Anon,
:) I know exactly what you mean. Now you're talking like me!

Sankar,
Yep, that's what I expected most ppl to say...

Artful Badger said...

Rain is highly irritating and inconvenient. A little bit in the night is ok, but not when I need to do something!

Anonymous said...

That's a rather fallacious correlation: At that rate the entire UK should have jumped off the Buckingham palace :)

Anonymous said...

I've always loved the rain, have been out and about running hair astray and barefoot in it many many a time...but then once I got a bad bout of pneumonia, and the doc told me to stay away away from the rain...so I've kept myself away, but its been a couple of yrs now and the pull is just too strong for me to keep up this detachment, so I'm getting back into lovin the rain...it really is magical...
~alraqs

Prashanth said...

Ramani,
Yeah, you're an outdoors guy. I'm the converse!

Anon,
Have you heard about the Beer and Diapers correlation? A supermarket store did some data mining on their sales records and found that the pair of items with the highest correlation were Beer and Diapers :). I guess this is something like that!

Alraqs,
That's a rather strange subject to be thinking, "Lord, lead me not into temptation..."

Unknown said...

the_Girl_from_ipanema present, and very disturbed at the very thought!

:-) like some others commented above, i absolutely LOVE getting out in the rain, getting wet, and also sitting indoors and drinking chai , making some yummy bad stuff deep fried in oil. :-)

BUT everyday? man, that would be depressing. :(

Prashanth said...

Intern,
It could rain in spring and autumn as well... and lets substitute snow for rain in winter!! So it need become a single season... but you are right about the diversity part... where would we be without it?!

TGFI,
Yummy bad stuff deep fried? LOL... perhaps that can make up for the depression!