Mazhai Kaalam - a thundery thought to sribble

The dark clouds, the falling rain, the splashes from the puddles and the water droplets on everything from leaves, petals, flowers and the grass. The thunder and lightning accompanying the rain. A beautiful rainbow after it has poured out with a bit of sunshine. WOW !!! What a beauty to look at them !!!

Mazhai sollumbodhe it brings in a kind of relaxation.Oru kaila suda suda bajji/bonda/samosa apron innoru kaila tea. Wah kya mast majaa. Idhellam saptutu oru long drive in a car. This is the way I would like to enjoy the rain. (I am sure I will have maximum number of votes).

But when ever it has poured down I have forced my husband to go out for a long drive whether he likes it or not. Its really enjoying and fun. That too, for the roads here any one can enjoy driving.

But in Bangalore when ever it rains it is either the drainage overflowing on the main roads (Bannerghatta Rd,Bangalore where I used to work) or a huge traffic jam with a lot of delays that makes people irritating or the usual power cuts.

I don’t think the rains have yielded any similar iconic shots in Tamil cinema but we do have our share of memorable rain songs.

I don't know exactly why I love these songs, may be because I they are shot in rain.

Oho Megam Vandhadhe… from Mouna Raagam and Vaan Megam… from Punnagai Mannan were a couple of songs that have been picturised very beautifully in rain with the cute actress Revathi.
All time favourite Idhayathai Thirudaadhe. How can one forget "Aathaadi Ammaadi thEn mottu dhaan" (as well as all the romantic songs in that movie).

Ilaiyaraja’s back ground music played in the movie Idhayathai Thirudaathey as important a part as Girija’s cuteness, Manirathnam’s screenplay and P.C.Sriram’s cinematography.

Apart from white sarees, the other thing associated with rain in Tamil movies is tragedy. I guess the logic is that when a man is down, getting wet is the worst thing that can happen to him! So we’ve had several movies (Mugavari is one that comes to mind mainly because the scene stood as very ridiculous in the otherwise realistic movie) where sadness is immediately followed by thunder and rain, so that the wet hero can launch into a pathos song.

I guess Thakita Thadhimi… from Salangai Oli would be another example, though that was probably one of the few cases where the rain was actually used to convey visually, something very beautiful.

Rain has become such an integral part that I don’t think there will be no kid singing Rain Rain Go Away… any time soon :-)