Rain Rain Go Away....

(Disclaimer:No No.
This is not a blog on the Mumbai Rains. I think enough has been written on it and I think that most of the writing has started becoming counter productive to the issue. The Mumbaikars
have taken this in their stride and I will let them alone for now. “aamchi Mumbai” will survive the disaster…..

This Blog actually does not apply to Mumbai and other rain affected parts of the country.
The Blog actually is on the cultural differences of the West and the East.)

I am sure all those who have done some part of their schooling in English have heard and crammed the nursery rhyme – Rain Rain Go Away….

This is taught religiously in our schools and we have recited it to umpteen times to get more “marks” or to get the accolades from others who doled out goodies onto us when we recited it (…obviously I am talking about the childhood).

Now think about this, should our country collectively recite this Poem. Should our spokespeople with God (the innocent children) be singing “Rain Rain Go Away” when most parts of Cpuintry never get enough rain. Doesn’t our agrarian economy and some of our water starved parts of the country “hope” for more rain than less…

On the contrary the poem that kids recite in Marathi says “Yere Yere paavasaa” welcoming the rain.

The stark difference in the theme of these poems is the cultural (or should I say geographical) background of their origin.

The former comes from England, where rains are a given constant and a hindrance for Little Johny’s play. (Interesting tidbit about the poem)

The latter come from the agrarian background of India where the Rain God (Indra) is the king of all Gods.

I think Rudyard Kipling was right …

East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet. BTW - This snippet is generally used in the wrong sense