It was just another morning of a regular rainy season in Mumbai when I woke up at 6 am to see off my father going to Bhopal for work. It was cloudy and dull with some drizzle but everything looked peaceful.
I lazed around till about 7 am and then got out of bed to get ready for school. By around 8 am, when I was ready to leave home, I realized that it had been raining heavily for quite some time now. When I looked out of the kitchen window, I watched trees swaying and the drains has begun to overflow. Should I go to school at all? But then I had to go because it was internal assignment day. And I was a student who had never skipped school. So I set out much to my mothers reluctance.
As I walked towards the main street, I saw a big traffic jam at the junction. I could barely see anything as it was now pouring badly. I waited for the signal to show the walk sign, keeping my raincoat cap from pulling off, wiping my spectacles again and again. On days like these, I wished I could see clearly without my eye glasses. It was only a ten minute walk to my school but the rain was getting worse by the minute. By now, my school uniform was all wet under my raincoat and I had begun to feel cold. I would usually walk quickly down the lane occasionally stopping by House No 3 in the lane to spend some time with the owners pet dog. When I reached their gate, I saw that their fence and the front side of the house had been damaged because a tree fell on their fence and on their house. I was beginning to get scared now as there was knee-deep water in front of me. I struggled to wade through the dirty water and somehow reached my school gate, only to have the worst experience of my life. A school student fell into an open drain outside my school gate right in front of my eyes. She just slipped away in front of her mother. But before I could react, the school watchman who was helping students standing outside pulled her up.
I was in tears now, and I wanted to go home to my mother. I dragged myself to the gate and asked the watchman to help me. They had closed the school for the day. I was taken to the staff room and given hot tea and something to eat. My mother was informed that I was safe in school and that they would keep all students here till the rain subsided. My teachers did their best to make us comfortable, although they too were drenched, shivering, and scared too. They had left their families and children at home, just to make sure we would be fine.
It stopped raining late in the evening and when my mother came to pick me, I was the happiest person on the planet to see her. We went home and on our way I met Percy, the pet dog from House No 3. They had decided to temporarily shift to another location and they were all safe. Back home, I was treated with my favourite dishes for dinner and was tucked into bed with some medicines for the slight cold and fever I got because of being in the rain for long. As I lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, I realized that I could have avoided the misadventure by thinking about the situation and staying indoors for the day. I was blinded by my stubbornness to not bend according to the situation. I learnt my lesson. Sometimes it is better to bend than to break.
