New Delhi: As the mid April is approaching with scorching sun over our heads, it marks my third summer in Delhi. Before coming here for my college, my life in a small town of Uttar Pradesh was something completely different, especially the onset of summers that would bring a new school session with it.
However, the best part about the summers during my school days were undoubtedly the two months long summer holidays. Sure they came with hell loads of ‘holiday homework’ but who worried about that until the last week of holidays. I am sure everyone would relate to going to 'Nani ke Ghar' in summers, such a bliss! But in my case, as I already lived with my Naniji, all my cousins would come to our home to make the summer so enjoyable.
There are a lot of reasons to not like summers, like the heat and scorching sun and lots of sweat whenever you step out, even I am not a big fan of summers but it brings with it hands down the best fruit (you may think it's debatable but it’s not), the mangoes. Of course they are tasty, there is no question about that, but the versatility of this fruit never ceases to amaze me. Enjoying mangoes in all different ways, from my grandmother’s aam ki khatai, mango pickle to my mother’s special aam panna, forms a big part of my favourite summer memories. But since I moved to Delhi, having all of that all summer long is not a casual affair anymore.
While roaming on the roads in this season, you can easily spot vendors selling soda shikanji, which is great, not gonna lie. However, it couldn’t beat the home-made nimbu paani my grandmother would keep ready for me before I came back home from school. The feels you get after savouring the chilled nimbu paani as soon as you step in home from outside is just unmatched. It is so refreshing and an instant remedy for all the summer fatigue, I guarantee you.
Now that we get lost in our phones and it has taken over all other types of leisure activities, I can’t help but miss the outdoor games I used to play with my cousins and all other kids of the neighbourhood. As soon as the sun used to set, we all would get out of our homes on the streets and from there start our very own mini olympics. Games like hide and seek, pithu, three claps, stapoo and so on were such integral parts of our childhood, we couldn't go a day without them.
I hope it’s natural to feel a bit sad as I look back at these memories and all that nostalgia hits me hard. Well, we can’t escape time and it is inevitable to leave behind some things as the life proceeds but it gives me utter joy that these summer memories constitute such a big part of my childhood. Though nobody can bring the time back, I certainly wish to retain some of these activities to make these new all alone grown up summers as memorable as my childhood ones.
