It is raining!!! Again!

And NOW I am impressed.  Much better this time around.  The thunder is nice and loud, the lightning bright, and rain is so thick it looks white, and loose plant material is flying everywhere.  Now this is a storm I can enjoy watching!  And jump. That thunder is LOUD!

Honestly, though, I feel bad, too.  For me, it is beautiful, cooling, and fun to experience.  I love watching thunderstorms, although as a kid I'd lay on my floor, cuddling my dog, afraid the massive walnut tree outside my bedroom window would fall in and kill me.   My dog was more fearful than me, though, so I could just pretend I was comforting her. 

But, for my driver, these storms can be a nightmare.  He told me that last night water leaked into his home.  He lives on the top floor of a two-story building.   The ground floor, I'm sure, floods, but his roof leaks.  He wanted to patch it today, but I kept him out shopping until nearly seven, and the rain started around eight-thirty.   I hope he could do it in an hour.  I hope it doesn't require time to dry.  He said it is a glue he puts in it.  It is something he must do every year, patching his roof.

His roof is made of corrugated sheet metal- four sheets of it, he told me today.  Last year, during the very first rain of the season, all four sheets blew away.  Everything in his home was ruined: TV, refrigerator, even his cell phone.  Much of their clothing blew away, too. 

It is so easy for me to smile and grin happily at the sheets of water pouring down.  I even brave the mosquitoes to watch.  I love the rain.  But now, a part of me just worries about my driver and cook.  In India, they consider themselves middle class.   They live in a one-room home, but here, it is considered middle class.   His roof still blew away. 

So what is it like for those who aren't fortunate enough to have sheet metal for a roof? Those people who have flimsy blue tarps, or are homeless?  I guess this weather is still better than freezing through a Chicago ice storm, but I can't imagine being trapped in this rain with no home.  

Wow!  The thunder is right overhead; I can see the lightning in my house. Well, not really, but it is reflecting off the kitchen wall in a way that makes me shake.  I am incredibly lucky to be in a big steel and concrete building....   I'm wimping out and shutting the balcony doors!  My husband's flight is due to land in Mumbai in just an hour.... I hope it stops soon so I can see him tonight....