The mercury is really soaring here in Nagpur now, A kindly March has yielded to a fierce April. It’s the time of year one has come to hate the most! The stifling heat ruins everything…Morning walks, evening parties and everything in between!
But there was a time, long ago, when summer meant wild excitement and a million things to look forward to…most importantly, it meant holidays from school! The season however, used to start with something we had come to dread… The ‘Anti-collera and typhoid shot’!
Dr Ahuja, the family physician would come home carrying his portmantoe bag full. He would then proceed to take out a frightening-looking injection. Our backsides would then be jabbed, and for the next couple of days, we would be down with a red swelling on our butts and a mild fever.
But it’s the price we had to pay to be allowed to go swimming in the club pool! The pool had no filtration plant then, and the water used to be a bright chutney green in colour with inches of moss on the floor of the pool! But we loved it nonetheless, spending hours swimming and having water fights.
The club was a second home during the summer vacations, After swimming, we could order a ‘snack of the day’ or a ‘hand churned ice cream’( never both). Sometimes a screen was put up on the lawn and cartoons or a movie were screened.
Summer meant mangoes! And we would so look forward to the prized Alphanoses that came home in baskets, buried in hay! As well as the Kacha green ones we could get free from the trees of Byramji Town. Another favourite was Sugar-cane juice! Sweet and chilled we used to buy a glass while cycling home from school for 50 paise a glass. If we were rich, we would venture into ‘Ras Kunj’ the fancy juice shop in Sadar that still exists, and order the giant-sized glass for 75 paise.
The day the huge dessert-cooler was installed in the house was another cause for celebration. With its huge GEC exhaust and modern wood wool pads! The cooler was a heaven-sent apparatus that managed to cool the entire house, and the sweet smell of the wood wool permeated everywhere.
Dinshaw’s ice cream shop opposite the Liberty cinema was an after-dinner attraction. Sam uncle behind the counter, always smiling, took our orders and we sat outside the shop and licked our cones. Liberty cinema was a ‘matinee’ destination, we would cycle there, buy our Upper-stall tickets and samosas in the intervals. As teenage crushes kicked in, the seats next to ‘current sweethearts’ were much coveted.
It was also a time for ‘Night spends’ as cousins and friends came for sleepovers. What fun it was to stay up late and sneak into the kitchen for a ‘Midnight Snack’. There were also pillow fights and card games like ‘Ekka pe chaar and Bluff. A personal favourite was ‘Nak Tipki’ where the loser got hit on the nose with the playing cards! Of course, there was Monopoly (we all wanted to buy ‘Mayfair’). Today one’s sketchy knowledge of London is all because we played that game. Then there was Ludo, carrom, indoor cricket, dumb charades and so many more!
Shiraz (Gimi) uncle would be outside our gate at 6.30am every morning to pick us up for cricket nets. We loved him despite his harsh punishments..“ Ghelch*dia, take two rounds of the ground for dropping that catch”. But he always treated us to cold coffees and sambar vada afterwards at Coffee House!
When the rains came, the city breathed a sigh of relief! But we were inconsolable, it meant getting new uniforms (hated them), School bags, new books, and rain coats! And grudgingly, unenthusiatically, heading back to school. It was then, all tuition, homework and lectures from teachers and parents for underperforming!
Makes one depressed even today to think of that time of ‘summer ending’…And I think I need a ‘quick one’ to ease the pain! Thank God, I’m old enough now, not to have to sneak into my Dad’s bar to steal some ‘Blue Riband Gin’ to make that drink.
# bits of beauty everywhere (#BOBE)
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