‘F.I.V’ Positive in Mumbai Rains!!!!

Everything I know about Mumbai stalls to the very fact of heavy rain it gets during the season. I was visiting the city for a few days. It rained and rained. And not for a few hours, no, some scattered showers to dampen Mumbai’s otherwise sunny humid afternoons. It rained all day. Remember the night is not to be spared at all. I did not see a single ray of sun for nearly forty eight hours. I spent awake, each moment characterized by long, dramatic looks out of the window and a growing sense of discontent. I like the sun. I didn’t realize just how much until I had lost it, naturally. It’s a frank look at what I did during those interior hours, which I’m now happy to say can be summed up: just nothing. And it was glorious.
As they say Mumbai never sleeps. If my time here has proven anything, it’s that everyone is arguably insane, rushing from one destination to another with barely an opportunity to breathe. That’s the nature of a city, I guess, and it’s a sad reality of life that the average Mumbaikar handles as best as they can: running, moving, surviving, until the inevitable occurs. The trains come to a halt, waters outpouring, thousands marooned from daily routine. The sleep debt will accumulate, mounting higher and higher as the day progresses, and then that average Mumbaikar will drop into bed after half a day of straight snoozing. They’ll catch up over the next few days, dazed, but powerless to do anything other than what the city demands: Move. Keep moving, keep working, keep pushing yourself to your limits until everything comes crashing down.
I’m not trying to pick on the citizens of this city, honestly. The exhaustion I see all around is not unique to this dot on the map, though I’d like to think it is, as anyone ensnared by the endless need to be productive can probably agree. The worst part, I think, has nothing to do with the burnout. I’m concerned, instead, by what comes after the slow dawning guilt and regret over all of those ‘wasted’ hours. I felt like I was stuck inside, killing time I didn’t want to kill, as the rain pattered merrily. I could feel the restlessness growing. Below it, I felt the regret coming on even stronger, the little voice whispering “you just wasted an entire day!” in my ear. It wasn’t pleasant. You don’t have to be productive all the time. But what about those days that it rains?
The first half of my rainy day went a little like this:  
1. Peer out the window. Bemoan the lack of sun.                                        2. Stretch myself to drink-in plenty of tea.
3. Turning into Mr. Grumpy Pants, whenever I don’t get any sun.
The biggest hurdle, I think, was my inability to do anything. I wanted to be walking, to be exploring the city, to go to coffee shop and crank out some of the work I’ve been pushing off. I’d spent the day, hammering out words like nobody’s business, but I didn’t want to stop just because the sky had decided to be a gloomy jerk.
I realized, I was dosed with F.I.V – ‘Freedom Injected Virus’. Was that a chance?? It was awesome. That’s not hard to accept, I bet, based on my own experience here a few years ago, the day when it rained fleshy. Holiday declared all around, moving with friends in the street filled with three foot high liquid, to have a cup of tea to near by tea-stall. I watched TV all day and let myself do every single thing that I know is not at all that productive. I sit quietly, do nothing, rain comes and the grass grows by itself.
Recharge against the Burnout…
There must be time to reignite — time to recharge. That might be a few straight nights of sleep, for our resident Mumbaikars, or it might be a day doing absolutely nothing of value as the rain streaks down the glass.
The point, in any case, is simple. You need time to recharge. You need time to rekindle the fires — creative or otherwise — that keeps you moving, and you need to realize that what gets you going won’t always be the most productive thing you could be doing. Most importantly, though?  
You need to stop feeling guilty.
You need to enjoy the occasional mindless romp. 
You need to enjoy sleeping in, for once, instead of lurching out of bed to do more work. You need to remember how productive you are; most days of the week (provided that you actually are). Where there’s burnout, there needs to be a chance to recharge. And whatever form that might take, you need to enjoy it, because otherwise you’ll force yourself back into the cycle of productivity feeling even worse than before.

 











It comes down to balance, in the end. Only you know how to tip the scales, but don’t forget that you’re the one in control of weights. As always, keep it simple. And try not to beat yourself up for the occasional moment of mindless entertainment, would you?
You might need it more than you think!!!!!!!!!!!