I Love How We Can't Control The Weather

Three nights before finals, I impulsively pack my entire bookshelf up into boxes.

Two boxes are journals and books that I wrote.

Six are filled up with books I didn’t. I separate & label the boxes with fancy stickers, even though that’s silly because I plan to unpack them all at once. But whenever I start to feel out of control (even slightly) I focus on controlling whatever I can, and on this starless night it's shoeboxes and sharpies

Around 2 a.m. I look outside and the rain is pouring. I’m not certain how long it’s been doing that for. My best guess is a couple of hours since the streets are overflowing as water unapologetically enters everywhere, and the wet cement now glistens under the moonlight.

I’ve never been in Pune in the middle of a rainstorm but in theory I think it’d be wonderful. I like to be in cities that are shut down by the rain, or perhaps snow— that let you stay inside where it’s warm and innocuous and calm.

 I so intensely crave that calmness, that ineffable inner peace undisturbed by external rainstorms

I like that we can’t control the weather

We can control our careers and our routines and our diets and to an extent, even our personal relationships. We can plan everything down to a perfectly functioning equation that maximises pleasure and eliminates pain, but we cannot dare to stop precipitation.

We can’t stop storm clouds from forming. We can’t even stop a high wind. And there's no way we can stop a rainstorm. 

And I think that’s a perfect metaphor for life because no matter how infallible all our plans are, there’s almost always going to be storms pausing us. Storms we will have no other choice but to dance in and pause awhile. Courage, to me, is when you let it pause you and drench in the rain, but don't let it stop you. Play on.

I like this nasty weather because it reminds me of just how human we all are.

We can solve so many greater problems with the blink of an eye these days and yet one of the most frantic cities in the world can be shut down by rain.

Even Pune is not above the elements

Which makes me feel like it’s okay for me to not be, either

At least every once in a while.

At least on nights like tonight, with boxes piled around me as I breathe in the earthly petrichor scent slowly filling up the room. And listen to the quiet instrumental music thrumming through my phone as the rain— curls gracefully into a peaceful, quiet protest on the sidewalks...