Rain Ragas

Beneath the banyan tree, a woman sat singing ragas—her voice supple and resonant, carrying songs that beckoned the monsoon. The land lay parched, the sky bare of promise, and people draped in thin cottons gathered beneath the scorching sun, their brown skins burnished by heat.

Her ragas rippled through the blazing afternoon, offered to the gods of sky and wind. As the notes rose and fell, the people remembered summers when the earth had been mercifully drenched—when rain arrived unannounced, generous, redemptive. Children lingered by the dried temple pond, imagining the cool days when they splashed in its waters, rested in the shade of rocks, or sat laughing with mango juice staining their hands and faces.

The singer sang on—songs of longing and praise.

Oh rain,
long-awaited boon of the heavens,
bringer of joy to the earth and solace to its people.
Come with thunder and lightning,
soak our brown skins with delight.

I invoke you in the name of the barren soil,
the emptied rivers and lakes,
the animals and birds,
the silent trees and the waiting people.

The songs spoke of relief—of blazing afternoons softened by the first drops, of warm earth releasing its ancient scent, of trees adorned like brides in fresh jewels. For the rain, incense was burned and prayers chanted; for the rain, hopes endured. The land and its people waited.

Then, suddenly, the wind stirred.

Trees swayed under its urgency, and grey clouds rose, bruising the sky with the promise of release. The air thickened. The first drops fell—tentative, then assured—and soon the rain poured down in abundance. Thunder cracked. Lightning split the heavens.

The drought had ended.

The city rejoiced as rain washed over open hands and uplifted faces. Children danced and screamed with delight as water drenched their bodies, laughter ringing through the downpour. The earth drank deeply. The people surrendered joyfully.

And beneath the banyan tree, soaked and smiling, the singer continued—still humming the strains of Megh Malhar.