Author: Opy, 友好 lernbereite Настоящие සුහදශීලී friends group, a UHHC partner organization
(The Topmost Image: Monsoon, Ashraful Arefin)
The sky is dark gray, and looms with heavy clouds, giving the message of impending rain, the first rain of the Monsoon. After a scorching summer, the rain welcomes the Monsoon, the second season among our six seasons. In our language, the season is named “Barsha”. Every season here starts with rain, and it is always rain that ends all.
In this corner of the world, every season commences with the tender touch of rain. After a sudden downpour, summer bids farewell making the way for monsoon which we welcome with open arms. The sky once veiled with dark gray clouds, after rain, transforms into stunning blue with white clouds drifting through the sky, and with rain, the autumn ends making way for late autumn. Another round of rain cools the weather signaling the arrival of winter. Followed by the refreshing shower of rain, the spring arrives bidding farewell to the winter with vibrant colors painting our little world. It’s as though the rain serves as the messenger of Mother Nature.
With heavy rain, the summer has ended while the long-waited monsoon has embraced “Charashipur,” an unfamiliar Bangladeshi village. After a flaming summer, Mother Nature has finally brought rain to nourish her children, enriching the soil with life-giving moisture. The fragrance of wet earth together with “Kadam” flowers heralds the monsoon’s arrival. Grandmothers’ tales pass through generations of the prediction of seven-day rain. According to folklore, the first seven days of Monsoon rain mirror the tears of the seven sisters’ yearning for their only one brother. Separated by their marriages, the seven sisters and their brothers reunite once a year. Yet their reunion remains elusive as their brother has already embarked on a journey to catch the biggest fish in the river for his beloved sisters. But, when he finally came back, the sisters had already departed. The first seven-day rain is the teardrops of the sisters longing for their brother. The folk legend foretells that when they finally reunite, a catastrophic flood will wash over the world.
It’s raining all the time, sometimes heavily, sometimes it’s drizzling, sometimes with thunders of lightning. The rural people have enough leisure time.
During noon time completing their household chores, the village women gather with their betel bowl and old “Sarees” along with the colorful thread beads to sew “Nakshi Katha”, a type of handmade quilts embroidered with colorful threads.
Amidst the melody of rain, the village women sew and share their happiness, their misery, their desires, their dreams, and their views while chatting and gossiping about their daily lives. As the rain continues to fall, Nakshi Kathas grow in their hands; their emotions and views merge with the colorful embroideries of the Nakshi Katha, creating unique pieces of art.
The villages’ youth, children, and teenagers have come out. The rainy air fills with their unworrying laughter, as they play football with raw pomelo fruits, jumping and puddling in the mud; they are not afraid of thunder and lightning. Their entire bodies are adorned with a layer of wet earth. Meanwhile, the young women of the village have ventured outdoors to embrace the raindrops as they drench them. No birds are seen in the sky now, they stay still in the branches of trees sheltering themselves under the green leaves.
It’s night now but it’s still raining outside. The rhythmic sound of tin roofs feels like the tune of a thousand nupur. The grandfathers have laid on the bed with their grandchildren, telling stories, ghost stories. Children are listening to the stories with precise attention while shimmering in fear of ghosts. With grandfathers’ ghost stories, the children have slept together, cuddling with each other.
It’s rain that gives life to the soil, the soil where we grow our foods. The drops of water start new lives and with rain, it causes floods that end life. So, it’s rain, the water that starts everything and it’s always rain that ends all.
（This passage is from “友好 lernbereite Настоящие සුහදශීලී friends group”, a UHHC partner organization. Edited by Peter Tian from UHHC, The picture is from the Internet. If it infringes any rights, we will delete it immediately. All the copyrights belong to the author Opy. Anyone who infringes will be held accountable by both the author and UHHC to the fullest extent.)