Well, Gulzar sa’ab wrote these lines to evoke some other emotions in us but I’m using this title because I’m evoked by the weather to write this blog. The mercury has gone north wildly making life really terrible!
The last time I spent summer in my hometown was way back in 1997 when I’d just given the exams of my 10th grade. And I must say that was the last time I enjoyed the summer.
Then….
Morning: The day started at 5 when we used to wake up without any alarm to go to cricket ground. Playing 3-4 matches and sweating around was our way of saying good morning to the world. And yes, none of us has eaten anything yet.
Late morning to Noon: After 3 hours of cricket, a glass of milk to soothe the anger of my mom. It was now time for some swimming in Narmada for 3-4 hours. There was a special way in which we used to swim. We would go 150-200 meters upstream through the sidewalk and then jump from there and swim downstream with the flow. We would do this for at least 8-10 times!
Afternoon: There was a very beautiful park in our colony that was the ideal place for spending the whole afternoon. Carom and cards were the games, which we played in the park which involved heated discussions over the strategies for the inter-colony cricket match in the evening. Juices, sodas and ice creams were so much fun during the afternoons.
Evening: Again, 2-2.5 hours of cricket. But the evening cricket was competitive and it involved money. One match could have anything between 20 to 100 Rs riding on it. And if we won, we would go for “pani-puris” and “bhel-puris” to celebrate our victory!
Night to midnight: It was the badminton time in the night. And this was something about which every guy used to think the whole day in the back of his mind as this was that part of the day which involved spending time with gals;) Its so funny that we thought that a perfect back-hand shot would impress the gals! And hey, it sure did most of the times;)
From 5 in the morning to midnight, those were the days when we didn’t even know the word “exhaustion”. And this was the routine for more than 2 months.
And now…
I wake up every morning at 7 not because I’ve something to do or somewhere to go but because its time for scheduled power cut and I can’t sleep anymore. Then I spend next few hours deciding whether to go to Narmada for swimming or not. I go for swimming anyway, once or twice a week. I spend whole afternoon watching movies or IMT videos or FRIENDS on my Macbook . If someone’s keeping the score, I just completed all 10 seasons of Friends again (even I don’t remember the number of times I’ve watched it completely and of course Chandler is my favorite). I don’t even step out of my home the whole day. It’s only in newspaper that I read how hot it was yesterday. Only worthy thing I do in whole day is the after dinner walk with Tanu (my childhood buddy). And what’s amazing is that I don’t think even once about my new job and the new place I’m going to in few weeks! I anyway go to a new place to restart everything every two years.
Aren’t our days supposed to be more productive and meaningful, as we grow older? But it’s the other way round for me. And I’m sure it is not this way only for me but for many of us. Not only just summers but everything was different during our childhood. The “Jiya Jale, Jaan Jale” is not only because of weather. It’s also because of the way the whole meaning of summer has got changed. It used to be my favorite season once but now I wish everyday that Sun god get some beating from rain god soon.
Anyway, I got a chance to make my summer memorable but that was not to be that way and now I’ll surely make my winter memorable.
The last time I spent summer in my hometown was way back in 1997 when I’d just given the exams of my 10th grade. And I must say that was the last time I enjoyed the summer.
Then….
Morning: The day started at 5 when we used to wake up without any alarm to go to cricket ground. Playing 3-4 matches and sweating around was our way of saying good morning to the world. And yes, none of us has eaten anything yet.
Late morning to Noon: After 3 hours of cricket, a glass of milk to soothe the anger of my mom. It was now time for some swimming in Narmada for 3-4 hours. There was a special way in which we used to swim. We would go 150-200 meters upstream through the sidewalk and then jump from there and swim downstream with the flow. We would do this for at least 8-10 times!
Afternoon: There was a very beautiful park in our colony that was the ideal place for spending the whole afternoon. Carom and cards were the games, which we played in the park which involved heated discussions over the strategies for the inter-colony cricket match in the evening. Juices, sodas and ice creams were so much fun during the afternoons.
Evening: Again, 2-2.5 hours of cricket. But the evening cricket was competitive and it involved money. One match could have anything between 20 to 100 Rs riding on it. And if we won, we would go for “pani-puris” and “bhel-puris” to celebrate our victory!
Night to midnight: It was the badminton time in the night. And this was something about which every guy used to think the whole day in the back of his mind as this was that part of the day which involved spending time with gals;) Its so funny that we thought that a perfect back-hand shot would impress the gals! And hey, it sure did most of the times;)
From 5 in the morning to midnight, those were the days when we didn’t even know the word “exhaustion”. And this was the routine for more than 2 months.
And now…
I wake up every morning at 7 not because I’ve something to do or somewhere to go but because its time for scheduled power cut and I can’t sleep anymore. Then I spend next few hours deciding whether to go to Narmada for swimming or not. I go for swimming anyway, once or twice a week. I spend whole afternoon watching movies or IMT videos or FRIENDS on my Macbook . If someone’s keeping the score, I just completed all 10 seasons of Friends again (even I don’t remember the number of times I’ve watched it completely and of course Chandler is my favorite). I don’t even step out of my home the whole day. It’s only in newspaper that I read how hot it was yesterday. Only worthy thing I do in whole day is the after dinner walk with Tanu (my childhood buddy). And what’s amazing is that I don’t think even once about my new job and the new place I’m going to in few weeks! I anyway go to a new place to restart everything every two years.
Aren’t our days supposed to be more productive and meaningful, as we grow older? But it’s the other way round for me. And I’m sure it is not this way only for me but for many of us. Not only just summers but everything was different during our childhood. The “Jiya Jale, Jaan Jale” is not only because of weather. It’s also because of the way the whole meaning of summer has got changed. It used to be my favorite season once but now I wish everyday that Sun god get some beating from rain god soon.
Anyway, I got a chance to make my summer memorable but that was not to be that way and now I’ll surely make my winter memorable.
PS- Barely 4 months back, I was enjoying the snowfall in Manali and now I'm enjoying(?) summers! But the following video always comes to my rescue:
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