by Monda Mahmoud

Created on: June 20, 2009

It rained today. It rained for the first time this winter season. It was pouring rain this morning for a good 2 hours. Given Cairo's notoriously hot climate, this is quite remarkable. It also becomes the hottest topic in a blink, the talk of the entire city of almost 20 million people! Suddenly everyone is chatting about the rain, and where they were, and what happened to them, and how they got drenched. All the conversations revolve around rain. I missed it though. I didn't notice as I was home in bed feeling somewhat delirious.

Rain. Rain is beautiful. The minute my brother told me it had rained I felt good. It was a reflex action to the news of rain. I was just telling him how I woke up super late with a screaming headache - no thanks to the construction chaos going on in the building right next to my room. It's Friday people - the official weekend. I thought no work was done on Friday!I can't believe I actually missed the rain.

Back to the rain. I love rain. I never understood why people get depressed in winter when it rains, or why they hate rain and act all miserable. You get to breathe in clean, fresh air. Now that doesn't come by often in the wonderfully polluted streets of Cairo, does it? Rain gives you that. The trees and grass become green again - a really bright shade of green. Everything is fresh and crispy. So many layers of dust and dirt find their ways to the drains. Rain washes all that away, almost bringing them back to life. Have you ever noticed that it gets quiet when it rains? That ever so loud noise - from the sounds of all the cars hustling and the horns, people screaming, people shouting, music blaring, and more horns. All that noise that's become the soundtrack to our daily lives fades away in the background. There's the soft drizzly sound of rain. There's rhythm in the raindrops. Let's not forgot about dancing in the rain, or just walking under the raindrops - feeling those little drops from the sky as they come down on your face. A few precious moments you enjoy in the arms of nature, only when it rains.

Rain is divine. Rain talks to the soul. Rain inspires.

As I write this, I recall a phrase from an editor's note that I read a couple of days ago;"the second we stop bitching and start laughing is the second that life gets a little bit better."

There's a mysteriously magical quality to rain.
Rain makes me smile.
It rained today, and I am smiling.

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