Rainbox

Petrichor. "Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɪkɔːr/) is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek petra (πέτρα), meaning "stone", and īchōr (ἰχώρ), the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology". The smell of the earth after rain, gently watered and restored back to life. I was thirteen when I learnt that it has a name. Earth smelling so soulful that I would pinch the earth and eat it. I knew better but that was the effect the rain on earth would evoke in me. It would take me back to a blissful childhood at the playground of my childhood compound. The rain clouds would gather threatening and the dust blew in playful circles.  All the children would be present and accounted for at the painted concrete compound that doubled as carpark. Mothers would stand at the caged balconies wagging threatening fingers at children who refused to come in. We would stand on the narrow concrete playground and sing rain songs and wait for it to start to rain.

The ritual hardly ever varied, a) get wet under the rain and b) go home to get spanked by the moms, but it would have been worth it to feel those rain droplets on your face, that calmed the dust and brought with it petrichor.

The rain always brought us together; in our modest flat in this dusty old town of Kano. Like an unwritten law,  the electricity must go out while it rained. We grew up that way. The electricity would feel like an unwelcome intruder on a private moment. All five of us in our gloomy rain box, always without electricity, idle, bored but content.  I would sit behind the netted door of the verandah looking out longingly at the rain box that housed my friends, waiting...counting down to when the rain would stop. It would rain all through the night, gently splattering on our old fashioned louvered windows. I would sleep peacefully, next to my mother's reassuring snores. Dreaming of a freshly washed playground . Tomorrow we would draw our  'yar gala gala with charcoal all over it again . To engage in the sacred, blissfully ignorant plays of childhood.