Hi All,
Having seen the worst of summers in my hometown, I don't wanna ask the cliched question to my blog dosts, as how are you doing in this summer or hows summer treating you.
The Sun shines at its best and scorches at its peak in this season. But, to me therez a brighter side of these summers in my nostalgic pages. Slipping back to those days I recollect days when mom use to literally lock us (me n my bro) up in a dark room..dark room as in a room which keeps away the hot baking light of the summer noon. Thick and dark colour curtains were chosen for summer to sheild the blaze. Since mom was also an educationist, she too had holidays in summer. It was all of us with some relatives visiting us in summers, all together get locked until the sun says bye for the day. And there comes the actual fun time that we shared indoors. Food, fun and laughter was inevitable in summers....also our tricks and trails to get out the dark room and play outside. No matter how hot it is, we loved to play outside.
Summers always came with a package of food, indoor entertainment, and power cuts. Luckily, summers in my childhood saw only evening power cuts. Had they were in the morning, I wouldn't have written this piece. The best food of the season I would call, was mangoes in all varieties...raw or ripen, we made the best of use of them. Watermelons were consumed often,which kept us cool in the noons. Palm fruits which also come in the season are yet another most consumed fruits to fight the heat. Icecream wallahs who came ringing the bell in parching sun, invited the kids from all corners to run out and grab their frozen bite. Indoor games and afternoon movies were some of the best activities which somehow made us stay inside the home. It was the best time to develop hobbies and crafts. And the evening power cuts let the ladies loose to gossip and gossip till the night slips away unknowingly, and let the kids play endless hide n seek games and enjoy group dinners.
Summers are the best time to make Pickles and condiments. The process of preparing pickles was also interesting and involved everybody in the household. That process will need an entire post for itself. The irony is that we always enjoyed many different varieties of pickles mostly in summer. Even though foods hot and spicy as such were believed to increase the heat in our bodies, we never had any issues with pickles and mangoes. Every household would churn cans of butter milk to compensate the heat rather than compromising on pickles. All other condiments were also prepared in bulk and stored till next summer. Exchange of condiments, pickles was very common.
For people who had go out there were charities which came up with road side temporary huts to serve buttermilk stored in big clay pots. This was the best drink anyone would crave for in summers. Potters had best time of the year, since their clay pots sales were rampant.The main roads and city centers were all empty and businesses almost closed down in the noon time.
End of summers brought storms and cyclones sometimes. Even they were interesting to us except for the thunderbolts which frightened us. And mom used to ask us to chant Arjuna's many names.
Be it the food or the activities or the relatives visits or the indoor games/crafts,...everything was fun and interesting. I feel that's one of the best way to beat the heat.
For all those moms, I would say, don't afford to miss the best moments of summer rather than miffing about the heat :):)
Cheers
Jyostna
Having seen the worst of summers in my hometown, I don't wanna ask the cliched question to my blog dosts, as how are you doing in this summer or hows summer treating you.
The Sun shines at its best and scorches at its peak in this season. But, to me therez a brighter side of these summers in my nostalgic pages. Slipping back to those days I recollect days when mom use to literally lock us (me n my bro) up in a dark room..dark room as in a room which keeps away the hot baking light of the summer noon. Thick and dark colour curtains were chosen for summer to sheild the blaze. Since mom was also an educationist, she too had holidays in summer. It was all of us with some relatives visiting us in summers, all together get locked until the sun says bye for the day. And there comes the actual fun time that we shared indoors. Food, fun and laughter was inevitable in summers....also our tricks and trails to get out the dark room and play outside. No matter how hot it is, we loved to play outside.
Summers always came with a package of food, indoor entertainment, and power cuts. Luckily, summers in my childhood saw only evening power cuts. Had they were in the morning, I wouldn't have written this piece. The best food of the season I would call, was mangoes in all varieties...raw or ripen, we made the best of use of them. Watermelons were consumed often,which kept us cool in the noons. Palm fruits which also come in the season are yet another most consumed fruits to fight the heat. Icecream wallahs who came ringing the bell in parching sun, invited the kids from all corners to run out and grab their frozen bite. Indoor games and afternoon movies were some of the best activities which somehow made us stay inside the home. It was the best time to develop hobbies and crafts. And the evening power cuts let the ladies loose to gossip and gossip till the night slips away unknowingly, and let the kids play endless hide n seek games and enjoy group dinners.
Summers are the best time to make Pickles and condiments. The process of preparing pickles was also interesting and involved everybody in the household. That process will need an entire post for itself. The irony is that we always enjoyed many different varieties of pickles mostly in summer. Even though foods hot and spicy as such were believed to increase the heat in our bodies, we never had any issues with pickles and mangoes. Every household would churn cans of butter milk to compensate the heat rather than compromising on pickles. All other condiments were also prepared in bulk and stored till next summer. Exchange of condiments, pickles was very common.
For people who had go out there were charities which came up with road side temporary huts to serve buttermilk stored in big clay pots. This was the best drink anyone would crave for in summers. Potters had best time of the year, since their clay pots sales were rampant.The main roads and city centers were all empty and businesses almost closed down in the noon time.
End of summers brought storms and cyclones sometimes. Even they were interesting to us except for the thunderbolts which frightened us. And mom used to ask us to chant Arjuna's many names.
Be it the food or the activities or the relatives visits or the indoor games/crafts,...everything was fun and interesting. I feel that's one of the best way to beat the heat.
For all those moms, I would say, don't afford to miss the best moments of summer rather than miffing about the heat :):)
Cheers
Jyostna
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