Yearly summer musings
Summer is here. In a very, "you cannot ignore me" way. I hate bombay summers. The humidity , the sweat, and the sun that tries to pierce a hole through my skin and get under it. No fun!
I think with age, one's intolerance increases. I do not recollect ever disliking any seasons as a child, summer in particular.
Apart from the fact that it was vacations, there were a lot more associated to summer...
-Waking up in the morning enjoying the last cool breezes before the sun bore down...
- Enjoy that summery smell- hay heating up, and the leaves drying out.
-Shifting with the shadows , sitting guard over the drying vathal/ kondattam's, and blaming the birds for the one's that get eaten in the process..
- expertly catching the mangoes that dad used to drop down from the top most branches.
- Walk 3 km to the river to take a bath. That river, where one has to lie down horizontally to wet the torso.
- Catch fish with towels, put them in horlicks bottles and get them home as pets.
- Bury the poor fishes the next day in a grave dug by all cousins, and decorated them with flowers. Mourn for the fish one day, and get back catching more fish that evening:-)
- Look forward to the day the palm fruits get harvested, chill them, eat them, and catch a cold.
- Feed all visiting cousins tonnes of jackfruit and realize their stomach could not handle it!
- Fight for the space on the cool black floor on a summer afternoon.
- Wind up on the favourite mango tree with a book, and the radio for company. A raw mango with salt and chilli powder on the side. Bliss!
- Compete with mom to make the longest strand of jasmine in the evening...
- Lying down under the clear starry sky and listen to all the elders talking, the dog trying to push us off the cot periodically.
- Tracking the clouds, predicting rains and waiting for them eagerly!
I wonder what happened to summer, my summer? I wonder if anyone anywhere is having so much fun during summer anymore?
I hope someday, my son understands what summer meant to me.
9 comments:
though my summer vacations were fun, yours sounds like one out of a book!
Wish I could enjoy such a summer now!
World has changed. It has less in it to enjoy; like we used to in our childhood.
The post took me back to my annual summer vacations, a routine that went unchanged for more than 15 years, spent in this wonderful place called Thiruvilwamala. Thank you for rekindling those wonderful memories.
:) I'd swap all my 29 summers for yours! you make it sound like a book - and I waaant!
Such wonderful summers!!
I also spent some summers with my cousins and aunts in Kerala.And I am one of the city kind whose stomach could not handle jackfruit :)
That stirred a few memories here too. I guess that was the age when perspiration flowing down one's dress did not matter, and I also suppose it was less hot then than now.
I do see kids having fun, here and there, when I go to the village. Maybe they still do what we used to.
30+ is the time when the aches and pains get hold of us, eh? :)
Niv: My vacations were storybook stuff. Only, i realized it much later:-)
Anon: true, that!
Pradeep: I am rekindling my memories too and hoping the kid will ahve 10% of the experiences i did. Did you say Thiruvilwamala? We shall chat.
NM: Nice to see you surface, happy Belated b'day. I wish i could have one more of those summers- i'll promise to take you along.
Bubble : Hmm...they were magical times no?
Jean: No, kids in villages do not have the summer we did.30 plus is when realization hits i guess:-)
i just luved reading this post..though based in b'lore..all summer vacations were in kerala..thrissur interiors (chelakara) n also shoranur..i just had done most of it n not t entire activities of t list..nowadays my neice n nephew..they have hardly done any such activities wht me or my elder cousin sisters have done.. :(
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