Summer Season

Every season has its likable and disliked features and is an integral part of nature. But certainly, some people have better tolerance for certain season/s.

I like summer season the most, from childhood days. Summers are associated with long holidays to the school, a vacation at grandma’s village, results and promotion to the next class, new books, uniforms and appreciation from elders.

Our family, consisting of my parents and we three sisters and one brother would go to my grand parents’ village near Visakhapatnam almost every year. Our summers during our childhood were fun filled and memorable.

My father would drop us and go back to the city after 4 to 5 days. First, we would halt for few days at my grandfather's town house in Vishakhapatnam. We would play in the beach to our heart's content. Finally, we would go to the village which was about 159 Kms from the town. There would be my mother’s cousins and other relatives who also would be enjoying their vacation, as it was a large joint family, and we came together during summer vacation. We would be pampered to no end and would be fed with good food. There were sweet mangoes of different varieties grown in my grandpa’s own farm and could be eaten any time of the day. And there was jackfruit too. The children were left to play throughout the day as they were absolutely safe in that small village. Summer is also a season of Jasmine flowers with their exotic fragrance. In the evening we would help older ladies in plucking the flowers and making” gajras ” to put in the long plaits of hair that they commonly had. We would come back to the city just about a week before the schools reopened.

We would be given progress report cards. None of us sisters or our brother ever failed. It was about the percentage of Marks and the Rank. First few days would quickly go in buying new books and covering them and we would slowly settle into a routine. Those days having fans itself was a luxury, let alone Air Conditioners. In my grand parents’ village, where we spent most of the summer, there was no electricity for a very long time. In spite of that summer was the best season for us.

Even after I completed my education and having a family of my own, summer continued to be the favorite season of mine. I found the days are much longer and one could do a lot of activity in a day. One of the favorite memories associated with summer was of, the whole family sleeping in the open, under starlit sky trying to count the stars with children and telling stories to them.

Now at the twilight years, me and my husband still prefer summer, as one feels active and need not go through inconveniences of winter and rainy seasons. Most importantly our daughter and grandson visit us and can spend more time as he has summer holidays! Life comes to a circle. Seasons change into years, but our preferences do not change easily.

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