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!
Nice one
ReplyDelete