Jasmines,i can smell them, the season is here, i remember home, mom must be going to the terrace every evening to pluck a big basket of these flowers, and then she will make a big gajra and next morning cut them into equal portions and take them to office to give them to her friends, and then watermelons, i can see them all the places and i remember some adv about a refrigerator which has such a nice big portion of melon when opened,i don't know why but i always remember the ad:)Sugarcane juice and reminds me of my college in Hyd, my colleague always sent the attender to bring ganne ka ras for everyone all summer, the staff room was stuffy,small and only one fan but every afternoon after classes we used to close the windows and switch off the lights,draw the curtains and make the room semi dark and talk,talk and talk.And one such afternoons we would just hop on to the two bikes,two on each and go eat hot mirchi bajjis and samosa ragda and cool off with dahi wada, in 100rs finish stuffing ourselves and come back to talk more.
And on the last day of college while breaking for holidays used to go to each dept and wish them happy holidays, walking under the trees covering our heads with dupattas or an occassional colorful umbrellas we just forgot it was hot,or we enjoyed the hot summer in our own way may be.
At home amma used to water the plants in the evening,she says it would give some cool breeze,and till 11am we just keep the doors open, and go on to the terrace to pour water to cool it a bit and then put the mattress and lie down to count the stars, we always did it,till the coconut trees would add up to the idle chatter with their gentle ruffling of the leaves, and then some time in the night we drifted off to sleep. And when there were power cuts,i used to sing,yeah,show all my knowledge to my brother, who when in good mood would tolerate my extremely bad rendering of "Utte sabke kada,dekho rampam pum, aji aise geet gaya karo" or "Lakdi ki kaati,kaati pe godha.."
Summer starts with Ugadi" the telugu new year and mom would pluck the new green mango from the garden, the mango leaves tied to the entrance,the banana leaves used to have lunch on the festivities are from our own garden and amma always watered the plants saying its too hot and she would n let them wither away.The garden is always green,any season,with some flower or fruit,someone knocking the gate for either mangoes or coconuts or banana leafs on festivities or functions, someone or the other early morning plucking the flowers near the gate to take them to the temple, mom would be putting rangoli at that time the chatter would start instantly only applyig breaks when both the parties remember that they need to cook and rush to office.. I used to carry a water bottle and an umbrella with me all the time:) fun it was,to have a umbrella and it was always same bus with same couple of friends from same colony and at times same seat also,and those unlucky souls who never got a seat to sit would handover their bags or stuff to us, and we used to gladly accept such from strangers also..it was all so simple,life...The world which i left behind is still same, mom still does all of it, the ex colleagues still have all the fun, but now i just get an sms as i got one today "We missed you" Well, i miss it all too but then when i mentioned it to mom she just smiled. According to her i still will get the mangoes delivered here,i still get to have the jasmines when i go home later this month, i can still meet the old colleagues when i am there,i can still sleep on the terrace and count the stars and can have my lunch in the banana leaf when i go home,What matters is i need to appreciate such simple pleasures and i can have fun forever... Well,mom thats what i will do for my life, never forget good times so when i meet such times again i always will be able to just start off where i left and can enjoy it all, isn't it? Life is truly simple and beautiful,It takes us a while to understand and appreciate it all.
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