Though summer is an uncomfortable season, there are some specialities that it offers to people living in the villages.
As soon as the final exams were over, our minds would be ready for the vacation. Though the days were sunny and hot, we did not end our enjoyment in a flood of sweat. I remember that the holidays were meant only for spending time with grandparents. So, all our cousins staying in cities would come to our village to have a memorable vacation.
Sometimes, we used to celebrate the days like a festival.
As soon as we hear the ring of the ice vehicle, we would rush out and surround the ice man like honeybees. The chaos, the laughter and the giggles echo only “ice, ice, ice”.
Summer is special also for ice apples, which we get only during the season. A cluster of ice apples would be bought, and we, a group of family members, would devour them. And then we would make the palm fruit roller toy (Nungu Vandi in Tamil), which was made out of the leftover ice apples.
It gave us pride to roll the contraption on the road as if we were driving a new car.
And the sweetest part of summer is always the mango.
There is nothing special about it; everyone can get it, but getting it directly from the tree is a luscious prospect. As said, stolen mangoes is even more delicious.
We deemed it a fortune to eat the mangoes tasted by birds and squirrels.
It’s still a refreshing memory of friends swimming in the wells or pond nearby. Some will learn to swim, and others will enjoy pushing others to the well.
Thus, by eating ice bars, stealing mangoes, driving palm fruit rollers, swimming and pushing others to swim, the summer vacation came to an end, but lives on in our hearts.
The summer days were cherished in spite of the heat and dust.
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