by Swetha Ramachandran
[box]Little games, some books, writing and melons – these were only some of the reasons why Swetha Ramachandran looked forward to her summer vacations as a school-goer. Read on to find out the joys of summer in her words.[/box]It is yet again that time of the year when the sun saps off all your energy with its scorching rays, mangoes and melons rain all over, cotton rules your wardrobe, colourful umbrellas dot the street and schools and colleges close down for the most awaited summer holidays!
I always looked forward to the summer season as a kid because of the two whole months of holiday break that I used to get from school. Those two months would seem like a lifetime as everything used to be done according to my whims and fancies. My day would begin at 9 am and before I would have another good look at the clock it would be well past noon. I would spend my time over a book or sit with a notepad in hand, letting my imagination run riot with the help of my verses. Otherwise, there were always good movies to be watched, a lot of unused white sheets to be painted and sketched upon, dainty little dolls to be dressed up with bits and pieces of cloth and a cartload of games to be played with enthusiastic grandmothers and kindred sisters!
The games played would usually be board games or some ingenious ones invented in an attempt to get rid of boredom. But there is a unique happiness associated with playing those board games at home where you fondly fight with your opponent. Games like ‘pallanguzhi’, ‘dhayam’ and ‘paramapadham’ that ruled every south Indian kid’s world once are slowly dying today. These wonderful games were introduced to me by my grandmother who is a pro at it! A hand drawn maze of little boxes over a slate, ‘dhayam’ is played with a ‘dhayakattai’ – a two-pieced dice that is made out of copper – along with coins for moving around the boxes. The ‘kattus’ and ‘vettus’ (terminology used when one player proceeds further and outwits the other, respectively) decide who the winner is!
‘Pallanguzhi’ is yet another interesting game that involves a specially designed two-sided wooden board with six hollow pockets on each side. These pockets or ‘kuzhis’ (as they are called in Tamil) are filled with ‘chozhis’ (little shells).
These ‘chozhis’ carry the game forward, the winner being the one with the most number of them.
And when it comes to books, it can truly be agreed that books are indeed man’s best friends. There is nothing as enjoyable as holding a book in your hand, getting lost in its pages, empathizing with the character and letting the eyes drink in the beauty of every printed letter on the page. Can anything ever compensate for this?!
Summer vacation also used to be the time when food, for once, could be consumed hot after a year full of cold lunch boxes at school. Since this season brings those golden yellow, succulent mangoes to the market, not a week would pass without this fruit finding a place in the kitchen. It would either be made into thick, slurpy milk shakes or eaten the typical way by tearing at the skin and then diving for the cunningly delicious and juicy insides. Different varieties of those mangoes would decorate the roadside carts like piled up sunbeams and they still continue to be a distinct feature of summers in Chennai!
Accompanying the mangoes would be the melons. The musk melons and water melons would tempt everyone with their distinct and fruity smell wafting through the summer breeze. A chilled cup of these fruits with a pinch of sugar would often do for a noon snack.
Looking back, I realize my summer vacations were days of fun, frolic and happiness. There would always be a trip to a hill resort in order to escape the famed Chennai heat for a couple of days; I would enthusiastically buy new stationery for the next year at school and feel refreshed and rejuvenated. These vacations of my childhood have always held a special place in my heart and would continue to do so; for, these were the times when I started to experience the joy of reading and writing and build on my imagination and creativity.
Undoubtedly summer comprises of the hottest months of the year when temperatures soar to unexpected levels and everybody around hurls abuses at the sun! But to me it will be a season that I excitedly wait for, in order to live through two picture perfect months, at least as long as I am a student!
Pic : a6u571n -http://www.flickr.com/photos/a6u571n/
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