Rainbows and elephants

As usual, whenever I come to India, I immediately notice the following changes every day;

-      From cereals and sandwiches to idli, dosa and appam

-      My waking-up-in-the-morning-timing from 8 in Riyadh to 9 in Cochin

-      My confusion with Malayalam words increases by 10 per cent

Also, the landscape affects me sometimes. I mean, when you look at Riyadh down from a plane, you see deserts and buildings with few trees and not a single river. But when I look at Kerala from a plane, all that I can see is green. Trees, bushes, herbs, shrubs, saplings and sometimes a snake-like river twisting itself and a spot on it indicating a bridge.

Why am I talking about the landscape so much? You may ask. That is because a week back I was able to see a beautiful rainbow from the terrace of our flat, which is the 9^th floor. And even better, my cousins were there to see it with me.

I, Savithri, Shanku and Kunjunni were standing there with the breeze slapping our faces gently. We stared at the rainbow which looked so beautiful. And just behind it, another one could be faintly seen.

There was only one half of the rainbow and we started to wish there could be the other half too. And a few minutes later, the other half emerged from the other side of the cloud. It looked like the rainbow had impaled the cloud! We were so happy and joyful and all of us snapped some pictures.

For me, a rainbow had been something I had only heard of and seen in pictures. Seeing it right in front of me was totally new. I knew this was something I would never forget- my first rainbow. And even if I forget how it looked like, I can always still brag!

We can also hear the ringing of some bells gently in India if we are sitting around doing nothing or something. At first it sounds far-away and gentle. This it becomes closer and louder. That is always when we rush to the window in time to see an elephant, either on its way or back from the temple. Seeing an elephant in a temple is a common sight. Seeing it being bathed, fed and do its business is also a sight in the temple! Elephants are always present when there are festivals in the temple and such because the temples are big, spacious and open. There can be 10 elephants or sometimes even more.