When summer was a baby people welcomed him with splayed arms.
You see! He has a warmth which his brother winter lacked. Though his sister
Lady spring was in full bloom, they all say 'Zomer is zimply zuperb'
When summer creeps in throwing cherubic smiles, kids shower
him with those bright coloured tit-bit
sized papers which read LWD- Last working day. kids run after him with holiday
spirit and parents run happy homes with happier hearts. Phew! who needs (thread)
mills and (antihypertensive) pills anymore? Summer is here!
Yummy mummies treat summer with delicacies like bottled Rasna
and Neembu sharbhat. He wanders the
meadows to pick out the most exotic fruits like Ice apples (Munjulu) and Madras
thorns (seema chintakayalu). Kids dish out handfuls of Jamuns (Indian
blackberry or Neredu) and Jujubes (Red dates or Regu pallu). They brawl over
their tender palm shoots (Tegalu) and chill over a cup of ice-cream. water
melons, musk melons, papayas and pineapples. What not! He carries a basket of goodies
to food lovers delight.
Well! I did not quiet forget the mango. She is deeply and
madly in love with summer. when people tell her she is sour for the young
summer she turns a sick green face at them and thrusts her tongue between her
teeth. One day when she is all ripe and juicy he will be smitten by her
sweetness and that day isn't far off she thinks.
With summer around gully cricketers roar and their sixers
soar. Of course! One should not complain about broken windows and prickly rashes.
Power cuts neither mute the croaking toads nor the cracking Antakshari's. Music
is in the very air. Summer drives the lazy butts to beaches with warmer water
and cooler drinks, shorter skirts with larger sun glasses. Life is never
better.
Sleeping under the star lit sky summer dreams of his crush Jasmine.
But the elite Jasmine has no eyes for the uncouth summer. Troubled by his teen
pangs summer tries to look "kool". Sharaab replaces sharbath. Jamuns
and jujubies perish. Burgers and pizzas flourish. Conditioned to the air
conditioners, he ditches the cricket pitch and picks up a joystick.
He morphosed in to this angry young man who hammers away the
keys of his P.C. 70 grands in pocket, I
pad, I pod, I fone...but no calls from friends. Brand new BMW but no long
rides. Summer blazes. No vacations, no pillow fights, no Antaksharis, no dumb
charades. Summer is no longer fun.
A bereaved summer stumbles upon Mango over a social network. She
is indeed ripe and juicy, though she looks all pricey. Summer chuckled to
himself thinking all that he needs to charm her is to be himself "Zimply Zomer". Indeed his
first love is priceless.