Maavichiguru tinagaanee…koyila palikenaa…”
(Soon equally she eats the tender buds of mango, the koel sings...)
The famous Telugu vocal of yester years, stirs my soul. I lay languidly on the couch, entranced past times the number the vocal has on me. I drift dreamily into the idyllic days of my childhood…summertime. Coming from i of the hottest places inward India, Vijayawada, I don’t accept whatsoever memories of discomfort the estrus had on us children. With the temperature hovering or thus 45 – 49 degrees, it was pretty slow to succumb to a estrus stroke. Sans ACs, sans mutual frigidness drinks inward the refrigerator, the summertime opor-garai passed amidst fun, frolic as well as 2 months of absolute bliss. But thankfully my granny ever had a vessel total of buttermilk as well as kids were encouraged to drinkable a lot of it. It was that business office of our lives when nosotros were living inward our ancestral house, the headquarters of our menage unit of measurement network. We would await frontwards amongst virtually a painful impatience for the annual exams to larn over as well as the opor-garai to start.
Watching the mango trees inward our yard larn through their seasonal changes was fascinating. The fragrance of the flowers inward total bloom assured us that summertime was ‘just circular the corner’. The heady essence of the flowers inward the air would larn out us pining for summertime holidays as well as amongst it the mangoes. The flowers finally gave agency to tiny buds of greenish tender mangoes for which nosotros fought amongst equal fervor along amongst the greedy parrots as well as the ‘innocent’ squirrels. The elders’ repeated warnings against eating the tender mangoes, seldom had whatsoever number on our potent conclusion to consume them. These episodes were presently followed past times sore throats as well as coughs as well as would temporarily brand us ‘repent’ our arrogance. But a span of days inward bed, nosotros were upward i time to a greater extent than lazing or thus inward the estrus of the summertime afternoon nether the mango tree.
The ascension temperature likewise brought amongst it the most eagerly-awaited summertime action – making pickles. My fondest retentiveness of pickle-making was watching the men as well as women inward the menage unit of measurement bring together the procedure amongst peachy excitement. My grandmother, the caput of the menage unit of measurement (and the keeper of the hole-and-corner menage unit of measurement pickle recipes), would brand a few quick calls to the local grocer for the required spices (chili, mustard, fenugreek) as well as the mango vendor to banking firm check whether the raw mangoes accept finally arrived inward the market. While the men were involved inward the to a greater extent than laborious activities of plucking the mangoes, washing as well as skillfully cutting them into surprisingly similar sizes, the women got busy amongst the drying, grinding, criterion as well as mixing of the spices amongst the cutting mangoes as well as petroleum amongst precision. And finally it was fourth dimension to taste. First the fresh pickle was mixed amongst the correct amount of hot, steaming rice, amongst a generous amount of ghee added to it. The rice was thus blended uniformly taking attention that each grain of rice is good coated amongst the ruby-red pickle earlier it was ready for tasting. We would experience amused watching the adults estimate each mouthful amongst a groan or a grunt as well as comical expressions of rolling upward their half-open eyes or twisting their mouths 360 degrees earlier they proclaimed whether their drive was successful or not.
While the grown-ups were busy amongst the seasonal activities of making pickles, papads as well as desiccated vegetables, nosotros kids would brand cunning plots to bag salted mango pieces from the terrace, where they were set out on transparent plastic sheets for drying. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 span of successful attempts would growth our greed for to a greater extent than as well as i of us would autumn prey to the ire of the gear upward or my grandmother. But much to our delight, after a few ‘scolds’ from both the women, nosotros would halt upward getting a handful of mango pieces equally a double treat. Years afterward my grandmother confessed proudly that the joy of making pickles wouldn’t accept been equally memorable if at that spot were no mischievous children hovering over you.
Summer opor-garai brought habitation a bunch of cousins from other parts of the country. There was a soundless agreement betwixt the boys’ gang as well as the girls’ grouping to rest away from each other’s mischief. While the boys tried difficult to ignore the girls, they would finally give inward to our jollier as well as to a greater extent than entertaining activities that nosotros indulged inward amongst our constant innovative games. One pop pastime was to whip upward interesting ‘recipes’ inward our miniature cooking set (we had a box-full of these). We would brand plans fifty-fifty earlier the firstly of the opor-garai to collect a footling coin as well as stock upward on ingredients such equally love as well as phutana dal acre sugar, rice, as well as dal were supplied reluctantly past times our mom. And the magical element to anything nosotros whipped upward was the proficient quondam infant mangoes. The boys, noticing that playing amongst us was to a greater extent than profitable, would live eager to aid us as well as sometimes were employed to bag materials from the kitchen for our gourmet cooking. The resultant of all this excitement was when nosotros had to sense of savor our concoction. While most times nosotros ended upward amongst a fabulously tasty preparation, on the rare occasions when the cooking indeed horribly went wrong, nosotros would each attempt to desperately gulp downwards the retch that threatened to fall out.
Sleeping on the terrace was some other exciting business office of the vacation. With the flooring of the terrace heated upward during the solar daytime plenty to fry an egg, nosotros would attempt to cool it downwards amongst buckets of H2O poured on the floor. The hot reason steamed amongst the affect of cool H2O as well as soon, amongst a few bucketfuls more, the flooring was ready to live used for our post-dinner activities. Dinner at 7:00 was presently followed past times setting the phase for our mini-theatre. The older kids inward the gang ever got to select the themes as well as plots of our plays. Then they would carefully attain upward one's withdraw heed who would play which character. With a few finally infinitesimal alterations, nosotros were ready amongst our parts as well as thus went the eve amidst squeals of laughter.
Now far far away from those times, summertime all the same tickles me amongst the same eagerness as well as pleasance it ever did. With 2 daughters at home, the excitement that summertime opor-garai brings amongst it has non changed at all. Our pretend plays as well as fun times amongst cousins are forthwith replaced past times my kids’ summertime camps, slumber overs amongst friends as well as a constant current of summertime parties. I relive the moments of my childhood amongst the same childish fervor.
As I gaze out of the window enjoying the cacophony of the squirrels, koels as well as the chattering parrots perched on a thick branch of a mango tree, I couldn’t aid abide by a quick mischievous wink past times the koel, singing what I idea was
“Gunnamaamidi kommameeda…”
(On the branch of a ripe mango tree…a pop as well as quondam Telugu cinema song)
P. Jyoti Kiran
Lecturer inward English
Goa