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Summer is here, scorching and burning.
Houston does have its share of hot and humid days and I love it.
And that is the best thing about living in Houston, you get to
enjoy the hot humid days… it takes me back to the growing up
years in India when summers meant time off school, time to be
free and time to catch up with friends and the latest
best-sellers! There are such wonderful memories associated with
summer - enjoying sweet, red watermelon and having a seed
spitting competition while sitting in the backyard, the mud-pies
baked under the hot sun as kids, the imaginary trips to lands
unknown on the enormous outdoor swing with numerous cousins and
relatives, the peaceful afternoon siesta, the cool cucumbers,
the vacations and the thrill of visiting new places, the visits
to the library to pile up with books, summer camps, computer
lessons, watching cartoon on TV, ah! The pleasures of childhood
and summer are never-ending.
Probably the best part of summer are the
mornings, the air cool and the world silent, waking up to the
sounds of nature. The first thing I used to do was to sit in the
front yard or the balcony and take a look at the outside world.
At 6 a.m. most of the world was still asleep and silent. In the
small corner I called home, there wasn’t a major road close
enough to disrupt the peace of the summer morning and there I
sat smelling the intoxicating scent of pichipoo wafting in and
half listening to the Suprabadam playing somewhere… there over
in the house at the yonder, I could see Mrs G cleaning her front
yard and drawing an intricate pattern with rice flour… I used to
sit there admiring the ease that which she went about the task
at hand and there was the paper guy with his perfect aim, The
Hindu and Dinamalar flutter straight to the front yard and I
would hear the rustle of the papers being opened. I would look
at the paper lying in the front yard and bother the least about
the world’s happenings and just enjoy the morning as the silence
quickly fading away. I would hear voices
discussing the merits and demerits of studying abroad and look up
to see old-timers briskly walking and getting their daily
exercise. And there came the tring trings from the bell in the
milkman’s bicycle, ladies cluttering around talking and gossiping
about everything in the two minutes they get to spare as they
bought fresh milk… if I pay attention I would hear about Shailu
being sick all night or Geeta’s success in USA or how exciting the
mega soap opera on Sun TV was… Beep! Beep! Beep!
Beep! and that’s the alarm... …hmmm the smell of freshly brewed
filter coffee in the air… Mr P trying to start his Bajaj Super,
kick, kick and then a roar as the engine came to life… Someone
would turn the radio on loud and I would hear the Akashvani news,
the smell of exotic delicacies concocted in the kitchens would
rise in the air, breakfasts and lunch being cooked, packed, more
scooters and mopeds would come alive, giggling kids waving off
moms and dads to work…amma kaai kaai, kaai venuma!! And that would
be the vegetable vendor at the door… debating over valakai and
pudalangai, complaining over the rising cost of veggies,
bargaining for freebies, konjam kothamalli, karuveppilai podu and
again silence. The sun would be up and I would
head inside the house a smile on my face, summer mornings are just
the best! Today, in Houston the summers are hot
and I open the patio doors at 6 a.m. hoping to enjoy the summer
mornings, the air would cool with promises of a hot day ahead but
the sounds are just in my head. I heard the screeching tyres and
blaring sirens from the ambulances but I missed the voices, the
smells I had always associated with summer morning. Nothing ever
comes close to the feeling of summer mornings at home. But summer
does put a spring in my step, and as I walk to work, the world
seems so much better coz it is summer…the slight humid wind on my
face, the bright sun, the green leaves, the smell of flowers in
the air… Summer is here! - V
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