Among the four seasons, Summer happens to be one of the least preferred ones; and Indian summers are known for their heat. Surprisingly, people somehow try to relate a person's imbecility or shades of madness with the Indian Summer. Madras, on the other hand, is known to have only one season - a prolonged summer characterized by differing shades of hotness (to put it in simple terms, as, hot, hotter and hottest). However the author would prefer to refer to Summer as the season from April to June, when most children in India have their vacation. Three months of vacation to start with during their childhood only to be followed by a steady decrease in the duration as they grow up.
Children would be children and the oppresiveness of the heat doesn't simply bother them. Summer hapens to be the most privileged of all the seasons for them. That is the time, when they get the longest stretch of holidays. A time of constant activity, summer camps, family trips, ice creams, banganampalli mangoes, mischief at its highest, water melons, curd rice and pickles,visit by their closest cousins, etc. Madras boasts of a beach that does the children proud during the summer. Mango, the king of fruits and one of the cherished fruits of India, is consumed in its raw form (pickles or with that pinch of salt-chilli powder) or as the ripe one during this season.
Ice-cream happens to be a favourite amongst many of us. Most families do not encourage their children to have the same during the other seasons; citing the undebatable reason of possible cold, fever, sore throat, etc. that could possibly affect their school life. The heat on the other hand makes it acceptable for the children to have ice-creams and cool drinks. There was a time when Rasna, lemon juice, etc. used to have an important place in the heart of a child. I frankly do not know, if it remains so now, or if that place has been wrongly usurped by the less healthy drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or whatever.
The evenings were spent playing cricket on the roads. Where temples were within reach, the late evening was the time for a visit to the temple. More often than not, there used to be a temple activity that used to attract a crowd in the evenings. When the children were not lost in the huge temples, they also played with their friends or they made friends rather easily with others of their own age to play hide and seek, running and catching, etc. Such simple-hearted people were the children. They believed in spending their vacations in the best possible manner. The elders kept themselves busy by discussing the germane issues of increasing price rise, increasing taxes, the sweltering heat, the water problems, the Indian politics, Coffee, the increasing mischievousness of the children, family dramas, etc. with their friends. All these with the temple activity as the background.
Sadly, all good things do come to an end. The last fortnight of May is the time for getting ready to school. This is a lovely time too for the children. They are pampered beyond limits with the new shoes, dresses, bag, lunch bag, water-bottle, books, textbooks, pens, pencils, colors, etc. Simple things like these brought these children such unlimited happiness that they would remember these occasions of pampering for an year. Surprisingly, the drudgery of school seemed to become more bearable then. It was not that the children didn't like their school or teachers or classmates. It was just that the summer, the one which most adults hate, seemed to be too precious. And compared to the precious times spent, the school and the post-summer activity unsurprisingly paled in significance and rightly looked more like a mundane way of life.
Children would be children and the oppresiveness of the heat doesn't simply bother them. Summer hapens to be the most privileged of all the seasons for them. That is the time, when they get the longest stretch of holidays. A time of constant activity, summer camps, family trips, ice creams, banganampalli mangoes, mischief at its highest, water melons, curd rice and pickles,visit by their closest cousins, etc. Madras boasts of a beach that does the children proud during the summer. Mango, the king of fruits and one of the cherished fruits of India, is consumed in its raw form (pickles or with that pinch of salt-chilli powder) or as the ripe one during this season.
Ice-cream happens to be a favourite amongst many of us. Most families do not encourage their children to have the same during the other seasons; citing the undebatable reason of possible cold, fever, sore throat, etc. that could possibly affect their school life. The heat on the other hand makes it acceptable for the children to have ice-creams and cool drinks. There was a time when Rasna, lemon juice, etc. used to have an important place in the heart of a child. I frankly do not know, if it remains so now, or if that place has been wrongly usurped by the less healthy drinks like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or whatever.
The evenings were spent playing cricket on the roads. Where temples were within reach, the late evening was the time for a visit to the temple. More often than not, there used to be a temple activity that used to attract a crowd in the evenings. When the children were not lost in the huge temples, they also played with their friends or they made friends rather easily with others of their own age to play hide and seek, running and catching, etc. Such simple-hearted people were the children. They believed in spending their vacations in the best possible manner. The elders kept themselves busy by discussing the germane issues of increasing price rise, increasing taxes, the sweltering heat, the water problems, the Indian politics, Coffee, the increasing mischievousness of the children, family dramas, etc. with their friends. All these with the temple activity as the background.
Sadly, all good things do come to an end. The last fortnight of May is the time for getting ready to school. This is a lovely time too for the children. They are pampered beyond limits with the new shoes, dresses, bag, lunch bag, water-bottle, books, textbooks, pens, pencils, colors, etc. Simple things like these brought these children such unlimited happiness that they would remember these occasions of pampering for an year. Surprisingly, the drudgery of school seemed to become more bearable then. It was not that the children didn't like their school or teachers or classmates. It was just that the summer, the one which most adults hate, seemed to be too precious. And compared to the precious times spent, the school and the post-summer activity unsurprisingly paled in significance and rightly looked more like a mundane way of life.
2 comments:
Hi..
Thats very good stuff....are you some kind of writer?Have you got any of your things published?Anyways keep writing....
Cya.
priyanka : thanks for passing by my blog. more importantly thanks for the comment and the much needed dose of encouragement. I must admit that ur comment greatly helped my delusions of being an author. :)
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