Friday, April 27, 2012

Childhood Summer

How Sweet I roamed from field to field, and tasted all the summer’s pride”. That was William Blake’s quote on summer !
Summer does bring in a lot of sweet memories for everyone. During School days, Summer Holidays are no doubt the most enjoyed period. Now that Its been almost 15 years that I finished school, those summer days are unerasable from my mind. Here I sit back to rewind those childhood summer days.

Remember doing those last minute brush ups in the first few weeks in March - the feverish exam season? Ah, It was a pleasure to write those exams in a calm classroom near a big shady neem tree, listening to cuckoo’s cooing J . Well there were few exams I had dozed off because of burning the mid night oil the previous night for sake of preparations. However, irrespective of how I had given the subject papers, bad or worse, on the last day of the exam I used to rejoice with friends. We used to gather in an ice cream shop to eat softy (Cone ice cream which used to cost just rs.5) or in a juice shop to taste the juicy cool lemon.

Summer means playing with water. Taking bath in chilled water several times a day is something everyone does. Dipped till neck in a big bronze container with chilled water, we used to become bathroom poets..where lovely creative poems unfold from our minds till our moms come screaming to us seeing us waste water!




Summer means playing ...lots-  Hide and seek, catch me, treaure hunt, housie housie, carom, chess, card games, shuttle, badminton, at times cricket too ! Summer also means breaking neighbours glass windows & doors and bearing their grunts and scoldings.

Summer means eating Maavadu / Vadumaangai ( small little mangoes soaked in salty, spicy juice), Yummy Vadagams, Delicious mango varieties like Imampasand, Banganappalli, alphonsa etc., Extremely cool watermelons, Cucumber, Buttermilk.

Summer means trying to escape from the soaring temperature in all possible ways. These days to ward off the heat we have Airconditioners, Air coolers and there are chemicals that are painted on terrace floors that prevent heat. These are expensive and quite unhealthy too. Those days at the onset of summer, many homes get their roof over terrace made of dried coconut leaves and bamboo sticks termed in tamil as “Pandhal”. One can even sit under this pandhal at mid noon and still don’t feel the heat. Something very natural and the best.

Summer means sweet smelling air. The summer breeze carries with it the smell of neem flowers and neem leaves. What a delight it is to and relax under a big shady neem tree or a banyan tree!!!

Summer means traveling to cooler locations, a visit to granny's home, Listen to her stories and a stroll with grandpa….

Summer also means writing the answers for the exam question papers, attending tuitions, preparing for competitive exams and so on…ooof…which were too boring!

What do Summer Holidays mean to you ?   Pour your replies. Set the Summer nostalgia In. Kick start the Super Summer!

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