Indra's Arrows

If you’re reading this blog, you probably know me. You probably also know that I’m not a very sentimental person. Furthermore, you’ll probably hate me a little for not taking a camera to India. Yeah, yeah, I know, it seems inconceivable that I would travel to a different country and not have a camera. Pictures just aren’t important to me. Memories, more so. I hope that my friends and family can understand that.

Today was one of those days where everybody I know wishes I had a camera here. It started by raining last night and continuing throughout the day. All day. No stopping. Monsoon is coming, everybody! Today, there wasn’t a lot of rain, but it just went on forever. It was impossible to get dry. By about 4 in the afternoon, the rain let up as the other Americans and I walked home from the college.

One of the MSU students, Liz, excitedly called us all up to the balcony. It was awesome. The sun was just beginning to peek out from behind the receding rain clouds. I wrote about a similar topic a few months ago, but today was different. Twelve hours of rain did wonders to Palampur’s panorama. The mountains displayed a fresh coat of perfectly white snow in the distance, and the nearby hills were an incredibly deep shade of green. The sun wasn’t too bright, but somehow that made the contrast even more visible. To compliment the colors on the environment, there were two – count ‘em, two – gorgeous rainbows opposite to the setting sun. The Hindi word for it is indradhanush. Indra is the rain god, and dhanush means “arrow.” Cool!

I’ve never seen rainbows so bright. I’ve never seen so much deep color. Wade was napping, but I went down and gently woke him up. In response to his grumbles, I said that the sky, hills and mountains were clearer than I’ve seen them in the 5 months that I’ve been here. That got him up, reluctantly. He wasn’t happy about me interrupting his beauty sleep, but at least he got to see the gorgeous landscape. Too bad he’s colorblind. Sorry, Wade!

I bet you’re wondering if I wish I had a camera now. Well… no. Sorry. I still like my memories. However, if you’re lucky, you might be able to see some later on Wade’s blog at wadeji.tumblr.com.