Discovered Feelings!

Summer season is very special to many of us. Discounting the heat, we have many other good things to brood over. As my memory reels back, the summer season would actually begin with the Morning School sessions. These sessions lasted only for 3 hours a day. You are home by 11:00 am and there you go attacking the games and hobbies. On the note of our annual exams, the tension and heat would have increased significantly, bogging us down. However, the afternoon on the last day of our exams is treated really special and I can claim it to be coolest in the hottest season. No prizes for guess work! The summer vacation has started!!

I used to visit my native place in coastal Andhra with a beach nearby and lots and lots of coconut trees surrounding my place. Around 40 days of my vacation is definitely spent with my grandparents. I will not burden you with the details of my vacation; here are some memorable crumbs:

• Story Time – I adore my grandparent’s creativity to cook up the bedtime stories. The stories touch based the Indian morals and ethics in a very interactive fashion. The victory of good over evil was deciphered in all the characters of their imagination.


• Mango – The only season to offer the juicy and sweet mangoes. A rich source of Vitamins A & C. It is inevitable to resist mangoes unless you are diabetic.


• Grammar and Mathematics Lessons – My Grandpa is a retd. Headmaster and he ensured to brush up our basics during the vacation. As an incentive to our efforts, he would either take us for a boat ride or a movie.


• Movie Marathon – I remember watching at least one newly released movie every day. It is easier to commute and get tickets in towns, when compared to our Multiplexed system.


• Mango Pickle – Any Andhrite’s ever-favorite pickle prepared from raw mangoes. Did you know that it is a good medicine for cold and cough?


• Board Games – Snakes & Ladders, Carroms, Chinese Chekkars, Ashta-Chamma to quote a few. We were restricted to the bedroom between 12:00 to 3:00 because of the boiling heat. The only way to beat the boredom was indoor gaming!


• Jasmines – The smell is simply heavenly and soothes your mind! I am always thankful to God for this wonderful aromatic gift!


• Mango Jelly – The native tongue calls it “Taandra”, made out of mango pulp and jaggery. The mixture is spread out on plain surfaced bamboo mats in multiple layers, dried well to the Sun and cut in to rectangular pieces. The taste is incredible and you are certain to have more than 2 pieces at once!


• Hobby Hugging - Yes, it was the best time to paint, sing, dance, and read! I miss all this fantastic and productive leisure now!


• Toddy Palm Seeds – The seeds taste similar to tender coconut and can be had from the fruit.


• Starry nights – I can claim the nights to be the most beautiful in spite of the constant power cuts! We slept on the terrace watching the stars. The surrounding coconut trees were an irreplaceable source of nice wind and the star-studded sky was something I cannot describe. The experience doubled if it was a full-moon day!


• Vadiyaalu – Prepared out of rice and sabudaana! I love flicking the raw and semi-dried cakes from the terrace :)

Nostalgic???I must say..they were the best days of my life!