Yesterday when I stepped out for my walk, I noticed the moon low in the sky, looking all juicy and whole, a pale yellow in color.  It made a pretty picture peering at me from between the leaves of the coconut tree. Was it a full moon? I debated whether to go back in and set up my camera for a shoot. But I didn’t want to abandon my walk (though people including my doctor disbelieve me when I say I walk, I DO walk and what’s more, I love my walks and dislike giving it up for any reason including my own at times poor health conditions).

There’s always next time, I consoled myself, the moon was not going to go away anywhere soon. So off I went on my walk. But on returning I did not forget to check the calendar just in case I had it wrong. To my delight, I found that the next day (today) was full moon day. The L&M and I had plans to go out in the morning, but we’d be back by lunchtime. I’d set up the tripod and take some shots the next day (today), I decided.

Off we went to a biodiversity park two hours drive away as planned, walked the path laid out between trees (the green was so green that it choked you all up and brought tears to eyes), got bitten by bloodthirsty mosquitoes, saw ducks being fed, monkeys monkeying around, butterflies, birds and then when it looked like rain, we started back. All through the return journey, made longer by roadwork going on and the deviations we were forced to take, it rained off and on. But the real deluge started when we were just a few kilometers  short of home.

Apart from the danger of potholes, there’s the tendency in parts of the city for roads to disappear beneath water and vehicles to get stranded. Once it so happened that we were at the railway station seeing off someone. While the L&M had gone off to get the car from the parking lot, one of the family members turned to me and said, “Tell him (the L&M) to turn right at the circle outside. Do NOT go to the left, water level gets high there!”

I faithfully repeated the warning to the L&M. But he being who he is, didn’t pay attention to what I said and TURNED TO THE LEFT.  I kid you not. We were well and truly trapped on a road that had water at least mid-thigh high.  Water even began seeping in through the doors of the van. Yikes! To make matters worse, the engine stalled. Double yikes! I was ready to freak out if anyone suggested that I get out and wade through it. I am not ashamed to admit, the creepy crawlies give me the heebie-jeebies.

Luckily for us, a Good Samaritan waded through the water towards us and asked if we needed a push out of the water. Phew. An angel in human form had appeared out of nowhere! We gladly accepted. He pushed our van out of the water and then asked us to pay up. Yup, these were professionals of sorts, making money out of helping people stranded. Not that I faulted them their method of making money. It’s a hard world and they were really clever to fill a need in the market, of helping people stuck in deep waters, both literally and figuratively, and make a living out of it.

Anyway, we paid up, then got the stalled engine going after many tries and sped back home. I didn’t want any such mishap happening again today, so anxiously kept an eye on the L&M navigating through the potholes and flooded roads. Not that it would do any good if I had said ‘Don’t go that way!’ because he most definitely would! Hence it is that I heaved a sigh of relief when we got to higher ground. Home and dry.

And that brings me to the evening and the intended photo-shoot of the moon. The rain had stopped by evening. But the sky remained overcast and gray. In fact it is still overcast at midnight as I write this, a veritable fortress imprisoning the moon, not letting her peep at the earth even through a cloud veil. No way the full moon could have been photographed. So I’ll have to wait for another day. For now I will leave you with some pictures of the greenery and the rain.

©Shail Mohan 2017