Monday 7 April 2014

Promising days ahead

Growing up in Madras, summer heralded its arrival with flowers looking a tad worried about their survival in the heat and with even the birds reluctant to take to the skies.  Of course, the biggest hint was always those summer showers – blatantly promising a blissful and cooler summer, but we always managed to scale new, horrifying heights temperature-wise.

Amid the water shortages, power cuts and the inevitable flying tempers, there’s still something charming about summer. Could it be the endless tubs of ice cream in the freezer? The lip smacking mangoes and watermelon you find everywhere? Alright, moving away from the edible: the games that keep you completely hooked on TV?

For me, the IPL’s a blessing. I can get away with murder with my husband between 4 pm till bedtime when the games air. I can explain the need for “summer clothes” and shop before he realises too late that I already did that last month. I can douse him with a few glasses of watermelon juice and say, “Oh, if you are full, do you want something light for dinner?” Faced with the bitter choice of a conversation with me over a dinner menu and the last two crucial overs in the game, he often nods enthusiastically even for veggie salad.

Whether it’s watching Raina send the ball flying across the field in every which direction possible or watching Rafa and Djokovic fight over every single point in the French Open, you too end up picking up a bat of some kind and heading out the door. Salads and exercise: did the scales just stop groaning under my weight?

And if all that’s not enough, I can let my daughter soak merrily in her bath for an hour while I manage to do what many of us consider a luxury these days: read. It’s also the only time of the year we ever really think about getting away for the weekend. Ahem, room service and soaking in a pool all afternoon kind of makes me a better mom too.

So there you have it: good books, resorts, food, shopping and sports – summer can’t be all that bad! 

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