Random Thought: Rainwater Harvesting

A certain gentleman of my acquaintance was talking recently about the abundance of comedy in a certain movie industry. "Where do they get all their ideas from? It's like comedy is raining from the sky, and they are standing below harvesting it."

His words were lovely, at least to me. There is a whole world of beauty, elegant yet simple, to be read in them. It's a pity that neither he nor another mutual friend who was witness to the conversation thought so as well, and he quickly recanted his remarks, thinking them to be somewhat silly.

The weather outside was a cloudy sky, light clouds that held the promise of rain, yet not so dark as to be gloomy. Rains have been expected for quite some time here, although so far the promise has not been fulfilled. Is it so surprising then, that my friend should have used an analogy that was based upon rainfall?

Dictionary Definition:
rainwater/noun
1. water fallen as rain that has not collected soluble matter from the soil and is therefore soft

Dictionary Definition:
harvest/verb
1. to gain, win, acquire, or use (a prize, product, or result of any past act, process, plan, etc.)

2. to catch, take, or remove for use

My friend happens to be from that part of my country which is struck first by the rains when the monsoon approaches, and where rains are plentiful throughout the season. I have visited those parts twice, and during the monsoons both times. Also, forget about the recent boom in the IT industry; agriculture is still very important in my country, if for no other reason than that it is a major part of our economy, and a good monsoon is synonymous with a good harvest, which for a lot of people means food on the table for the rest of the year. Crops mean prosperity, and good rains mean a good crop. That idea is imbued in each one of us, very deeply in our subconscious.

But the monsoon is short-lived, and for the rest of the year we must live in sweltering heat, which saps the earth dry. And that is where rainwater harvesting becomes important, the practice of accumulating and storing rainwater, to provide water for household use and to boost up our depleted groundwater table, especially in urban areas where water consumption is immense. In a sweet coincidence, it is also especially popular in my friend's homeland.

The human thought process is a beautiful and elegant thing; it is influenced in a very subtle and complex way by myriad factors. Something as mild as the weather can have the power to unlock deep subconscious cues about the influences on our thought process, and then bring out those cues in our language. It's marvellous to unravel one thread of thought, and see how it gets shaped by everything around us.