Summer Memories From My Childhood.
Summer, the season of memories.
Summertime at my place is hot. It’s like the sun was on extra fire for two months straight.
We had exams for the ending academic year in March each year.
Schools closed for the next two months, April and May. Our next academic year began only by June.
On the last day of school, you felt the joy all around. Every face you look at had a sparkle.
Oh, nothing can compare to the happiness of a kid when he anticipates something he loves.
Two months of holidays can get every kid in the school jumping with joy.
I fondly remember the summer holidays when my cousins would arrive to spend their summer with us.
If you get all my cousins in one place, you have the perfect recipe for a riot.
With the schools closed for Summer, we had extra time on hand to play every day. We were not allowed to venture into the fields in day time on hot summer days.
The hot sun limited our outdoor game time to the cooler periods in the morning and evening. That meant lesser time for our three favorites Cricket, bicycle riding, and tire racing.
If you are new to our tire racing game , let me explain.
We had a few used worn-out tires in the garage. We played a game of race with them.
We would roll the tires on the ground using a stick. You have to run with the rolling tire at your side.
We had few choices left for our playtime.
A few marbles, some board games, play indoors with our baby brother’s tricycle, or the toy car missing a rear-wheel (which one of us broke the wheel is still an ongoing argument).
We played some made-up game under the shade of a tree.
Our favorite activity in the front yard was making bullock carts from mud.
Making of the Mud Bullock-carts.
It involved mixing mud with water and making three different pieces.
A rectangular slab- to serve as the platform for the cart.
Two circular pieces- to act as wheels on either side.
We needed something to join all this. There was a handy choice.
We would separate the stick from the leaves of the coconut tree and use it.
The trick was to join the pieces to each other when the mud had dried enough to hold the shape. Not completely dry, then it would break.
You have to pass the stick through the rectangular slab to act as the axel. Make enough space to allow rotations.
The circular pieces act as the wheels. Attach the wheels to both sides.
Another longer stick attached to the front would serve as a handle.
It had to dry up and harden before we played pulling it around.
The cart would last a day or two before it broke.
The Summer Sharbat- our cardamom flavored lemonade.
The cooling drink for the hot summers at our place was a version of fresh cardamom-flavored lemonade. We call it Sharbat (aka Nimbu Sharbat).
Sharbat is prepared using crushed cardamom pods, freshly squeezed lemon, sugar, and salt.
We used water from clay pots for this. We used a clay pot for cooling drinking water in summer (Ice cubes later replaced this in later years).
We strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, Keeping the liquid and discarding the solids.
I usually got the job of crushing cardamom pods and squeezing the cut lemons. My grandmother was particular about handling the knife herself to cut the lemons.
Each of us got a large glass of Sharbat. You got extra serving if you help in making Sharbat.
We got competitive about this extra share.
You had to catch the first scent of our grandmother starting her Sharbat preparation.
The Season of Mangoes.
Summer is the season of Mangoes here. Everybody waits to relish their share of mangoes every summer.
Lots of our summer nostalgia revolve around mangoes.
We had a mango tree in our backyard. We took turns to throw stones at the tree and get some unripe mangoes.
The tangy flavor of the unripe mango with some salt and red chili powder gets us drooling even now.
We fought for the larger share while our mother would cut mangoes for us to eat.
Another summertime ritual here is making mango pickle batches for the whole year. We could get involved in cutting the mangoes only when we got a little older.
The book wrapping ritual.
We went book shopping around the end of May. We bought new books and stationery for the school starting in June.
It was exciting to wrap all our new books with the brown-colored book wrappers.
We pasted stickers on the wrapped books and wrote our names with color pens.
The book wrapping ritual was akin to gift wrapping for us!
My cousins returned to their places by the end of May. We can see them again only later for the next holidays.
Our schools open by June. We are back to school routine and get to see our school friends again. June also marks the beginning of the monsoon, the rainy season here.
Summers for me are nostalgic, end of summer makes way for new beginnings!
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