Adventures of Raghu - Monsoon "wild"life!

Meera sat on the verandah of Raghu’s ground floor inspecting the garden in front. There was a light drizzle that she was enjoying as she watched a few earthworms curling around in the garden soil. They were little creepy crawly things and Meera picked up a small stick lying on the ground to gently lift one of them up. “Hey mister earthworm, enjoying the rains are we?” spoke Meera playfully to the earthworm. Raghu’s mother was working in the kitchen, watching the whole scene with some amusement. As she heard Meera speak she said, “Yes Meera they are enjoying the rains, but they are also a huge help to us in the garden here.

Earthworms are a sign of healthy soil and they help increase the nutritive value of the soil. So earthworms are some of our favourite rainy season guests in the garden!”

“Wow aunti, I didn’t know that” said Meera, as she put the earthworm back down and her eyes moved to a leaf on which a caterpillar was lazing around. “Aunti look a caterpillar on that leaf!” shouted Meera. Raghu’s mother and Meera tip toed to the leaf to look at the spectacular caterpillar that had come out on this beautiful rainy day.

As Meera ran back to the verandah, Raghu’s mother shouted – “Watch your step Meera! There is a small snail right next to the verandah stairs!” Meera looked to find a snail trudging its way around the staircase. “It’s back almost looks like a sea shell!” laughed Meera.

Busy in their excursions, Raghu’s mother and Meera didn’t notice as Raghu had walked into the garden to join them. “Come here you two, look at these tiny little things here that sort of look like caterpillars.” Meera and Raghu’s mother came over to see little pretty worm shaped creatures with many many legs. “These are millipedes Raghu!” said his mother.

As they were busy in their findings the rain grew stronger and all three ran back towards the verandah to get cover. They sat for some time watching the rain silently as Raghu’s mother went to the kitchen to do some work. Some time later she returned with hot pakoras and tea!

“Wow aunti! You’re the best!” shouted Meera happily. “Yes mother! What could be better than hot chai and pakoras on a rainy afternoon!” said Raghu. They laughed and talked until the rains stopped and the sky began to clear.

Evening had set in and sun had come up for a last glimpse before setting. “Mother can we go out and play for sometime?” said Raghu. “Sure, be home before its dark though” said Raghu's mother. As Raghu and Meera went outside towards the park, Meera looked up and shrieked. “Raghu look up!!! It’s a rainbow!” Raghu looked up and both of them gazed at the newly formed rainbow with awe. They then proceeded to the park merrily singing and jumping over puddles.

The rainy season had a charm of its own. Everything seemed brighter, people seemed friendlier, the weather happier and life more beautiful. There was so much to enjoy and love about the rains!

Adventures of Raghu - the gift of water!

“Mother!!!” shouted Raghu from the bathroom in the midst of his morning bath. “Yes dear! What is it?” replied his mother from downstairs. “The water in the tap has stopped and I’m in the middle of my bath mother! Can you please get me a spare bucket of water?” His mother frowned – “This water shortage is giving us such a hard time. It’s the peak of summer and there isn’t even enough water to take a bath in” said Raghu’s mother to herself as she gave Raghu a bucket of water that she had filled and kept the previous day.

“Here you go. Use it preciously Raghu, we’ve run out of water.”

The sun was scorching outside, summer was on it’s way out but the rains that everyone was eagerly looking forward to had just not arrived yet. Water scarcity had taken over the town and everyone was using each drop of water rather conservatively.

It was a Sunday and after spending the morning playing his favorite computer games, Raghu was sitting to study in his room after lunch. All of a sudden his eyes moved towards his window as he saw darkness setting in. He went near his window to see grey clouds covering the sky. “Oh my god!!” cried out Raghu happily, “I think it’s finally going to rain!!!!”

As Raghu opened his window and took his hand out to feel whether the drizzle had started, the first drop of rain hit Raghu’s rain parched skin.

Raghu smiled, it was here, the long awaited drought was finally over!!! Raghu quickly phoned Meera – “Meera come over, its going to rain real hard, let’s play outside on my terrace!!!”

A few drops slowly took on momentum, as within a few minutes it was heavily pouring. Initially the coolness of the rain could not be felt as each object emitted the fire it carried from the past summer. Slowly it however cooled down and everywhere one looked you could see kids, adults, animals enjoying the long- awaited monsoon showers. Even the plants and trees seemed to be laughing as the rain washed off their dusty, tired leaves. As Meera came over, she and Raghu went onto the terrace to dance in the rain and splash water in the puddles.

“Just put your head up and feel the droplets on your face Meera, it’s so much fun” shouted Raghu. It was a big celebration.

Just as they were playing, Raghu and Meera noticed Raghu’s mother had brought out a few big buckets and put them out on the terrace to fill with water. “This will serve us for at least two days. We can use it for bathing, washing and toiletries” said Raghu's mother. “Mother that’s a great idea!!!” shouted Raghu.

“Hey Raghu, let’s find out how to get a big water tanker to put outside your house to collect the water that leaks out of the drainage.

 We can collect and store the rain water there and you can use it for so many different purposes around the house. I’ve read it’s called rain water harvesting.” Raghu laughed. “Meera, you can find something interesting to make out of everything! I think it’s a great idea though!”Both the kids decided they would work on this project once the rain stopped so that they could store rain water to use for day to day activities for the rest of the rainy season.

For now they were however just enjoying the smell of wet earth, the rain falling on their bodies and the beginning of the beautiful, thunderous monsoon season!

Adventures of Raghu - nature "clicks"

School had just begun. Dev had gone back to his home in Calicut, while Meera and Raghu were back to their usual school routine. Raghu was back to biking to school through the village and forest. He had not met his cobra friend, Rasiya, during the summer and one day saw him lazing on the branch of a tree on his way back from school. “How have you been Rasiya?” said Raghu excited to see his friend after a long time. “I’m fine Raghu, just napping after my lunch. Are you back to school now?” said Rasiya lazily. “Yes Rasiya, and our Science teacher announced a photo contest today.

She told us to go to outdoor areas around our house and take photos from nature. The best ones win a prize! I’m so excited and want to take the coolest photo ever! Will you help me Rasiya?”

With half closed eyes, Rasiya looked up towards Raghu – “Sure, what do you want me to do?” “Rasiya, can I take your photo on the tree? It would blow my teachers and classmates minds to see a snap of a cobra lazing on the tree!! I would love to see their faces!” laughed Raghu.

The usually wise Rasiya replied thoughtfully – “Raghu, I feel you should go explore around and see if you find anything intriguing and truly inspiring around your house, rather than just take a photo to show off. Go look around your backyard, the nearby village, you’ll find so many things you’d never have noticed.” Raghu realized what Rasiya was saying was true and biked off home after saying goodbye.

Once home, Raghu went to his backyard. He had to look around more, really see what all there was in his backyard. He found bugs and insects he had never seen before, there was a ladybug perched on the leaf just sitting in the sun,

an ant moving around busily carrying a tiny load like it meant the world to it, leaves lay on the ground in different patterns, coloured in all shades of green and even hints of different colours, twigs with multiple textures, the long and beautiful branches of the banyan tree. He carefully took each photo, kept the ones he liked and deleted the rest. They were good, but he had to explore more.

“Mother, I’ll be back” said Raghu, as he head towards the nearby village and forest.  On his way he found a flock of birds sitting on the tree, a young mother bird was feeding her baby birds in the nest.

There in the little lake was a man giving a herd of buffaloes their bath,

there were the beautiful paddy fields with the farmers singing and working in them, and there were the monkeys jumping around from branch to branch. He had seen all this before, but he had never really taken the time to stand and observe how totally vibrant and alive each animal, insect, tree, plant was.

As evening started to approach, Raghu tiredly walked back home. There was a high boulder near the tiny village pond on which he sat watching the sky. The sun was setting and he still had a lot of work to do for tomorrow. He had taken many photos and now had the task of choosing the best ones among them. As he sat watching the sunset, he was overtaken by the beauty of the setting sun. The shades of reds, oranges and yellows had mapped the entire sky, while the tone had been set by the chirping birds. Had he never paid attention to a sunset before? So fully involved in that moment of watching the sunset he became that he later realized he had forgotten to take its photograph. As Raghu walked back home he smiled, he realized he was taking back much more than just photos with him.