Chennai Blues

“Frog in the rain…”

A rude screeching sound awakes me from my reverie while I’m lying down in my room. “What the hell is that?” I ask my roommate who seems to be the originator of that noise.

“It’s only a song” he says in an injured tone.

“What song is that?”I ask incredulously.

“Uh…I think it is a famous song. Haven’t you heard it?”

I shake my head, while eying him wearily.

The rain already has me in somber moods. Coupled with his singing I could go crazy. When the rains started in Chennai I thought it would be a relief from the sweltering heat. It was, but it also brought torrential floods, muddy and slime-filled roads and overflowing sewers.

“I have never heard it before” I say. “Is it by any band? From a movie? What’s the correct tune?” I ask.

“I can’t remember whose song it is. The tune is correct though” he argues and again starts “Frog in the rain…”

“Stop!” I command.

The rains here have left us all affected in strange ways. We have become more despondent. Now we can’t go out anywhere. To eat something from the only Malayali hotel near our lodging means trudging through knee-deep dirty water. It was quite a shock from the magical scenario back in Kerala, where every rain simply invites you to drench yourself.

“What are the rest of the lines?” I ask. My roommate’s expression indicates his brain is overworking but he can’t seem to remember.

The only thing common thing between the rains here and back home is that once the rain starts the cable goes and that means no TV, the only other source of entertainment I had in my room. So here I am stuck with my roommate, staring at the ceiling with nothing to do.

“What is the song about? Do you at least remember that?” I ask exasperatedly.

“Well” he says after some considerable thought “it is about a frog in the rain.”

I sigh.

A moment of silence. My friend clears his throat. I know he is about to go for it again. Well, what the hell. I have no choice. What else to do. This time I too join in:

“Frooooog in the rain….”

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