Rain, rain, come again....
We are the nation that loves rain. Sometimes we question our own need to enjoy the rainy days because in some parts of the world people hate rain, but we are those who think of rain as lucky. We grow up with the belief that praying on a rainy day takes our prayers straight to Allah and brings us luck. We have rainy day foods and love indulging in them.
Rain to Pakistanis means pakora party and jalebis with ice cream. Rain to us is the day we play cricket outside. We are probably the only nation that doesn't believe in keeping umbrellas for rainy days because "Hey!" we love rain.
The question still remains, why is it that we love rain? It is after all pretty inconvenient. The traffic gets worse than normal. The roads are full of water. Drainage has never been a big concern of our government so we cant even blame them. Alas we still love rain and it is a carried forward love that we encourage our children to enjoy as well.
The difference in Pakistanis and their feelings attached to rain as compared to other nations of the world stems from certain factors. I believe the first and major reason for our love of rain is that we mostly have monsoon rains which are hot weather rains. So by the time it rains in monsoon the heat is so intense that those first drops of water are a blessing and relief for everyone and that is where our strong feelings stem from. Secondly our summers are long, hot, tiring and terribly extreme so any sign of even a temporary easing off of weather makes the stem grow and appreciation for any rain makes us grateful.
It's not just the summer rains its the winter rains as well. When the fog gets so bad that you can't even see your fingers, the rain falls as a blessing and makes the growing roots stronger and our feelings more intense. When the winters are waning off and you know it is going to get hot soon the rain brings a little more of the chillier weather thereby our thanks to the Almighty for the relief.
Thus we love our rains, our pakoras and jalebis, our rainy drives and coffee, the gupshup (gossip) and delight we share. It's all part of the package. It's one of our great joys with life therefore we continue to pray rain, rain, come again.
Rain to Pakistanis means pakora party and jalebis with ice cream. Rain to us is the day we play cricket outside. We are probably the only nation that doesn't believe in keeping umbrellas for rainy days because "Hey!" we love rain.
The question still remains, why is it that we love rain? It is after all pretty inconvenient. The traffic gets worse than normal. The roads are full of water. Drainage has never been a big concern of our government so we cant even blame them. Alas we still love rain and it is a carried forward love that we encourage our children to enjoy as well.
The difference in Pakistanis and their feelings attached to rain as compared to other nations of the world stems from certain factors. I believe the first and major reason for our love of rain is that we mostly have monsoon rains which are hot weather rains. So by the time it rains in monsoon the heat is so intense that those first drops of water are a blessing and relief for everyone and that is where our strong feelings stem from. Secondly our summers are long, hot, tiring and terribly extreme so any sign of even a temporary easing off of weather makes the stem grow and appreciation for any rain makes us grateful.
It's not just the summer rains its the winter rains as well. When the fog gets so bad that you can't even see your fingers, the rain falls as a blessing and makes the growing roots stronger and our feelings more intense. When the winters are waning off and you know it is going to get hot soon the rain brings a little more of the chillier weather thereby our thanks to the Almighty for the relief.
Thus we love our rains, our pakoras and jalebis, our rainy drives and coffee, the gupshup (gossip) and delight we share. It's all part of the package. It's one of our great joys with life therefore we continue to pray rain, rain, come again.
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