COOL MEMORIES OF SUMMER VACATION
by
Ramya Anand
- November 21, 2013
Hi all , i wanted to take you all to a trip down the memory lane to my childhood days. Thanks to those days when there were no gadgets, video games, internet and when serials and reality shows were not popular. This enabled me to enjoy a perfect vacation. I am not a person interested in sports or playing outside whole day. For me my home is my world and the three girls in the compound are my friends.
My favourite months of the year are april and may when the schools are closed. Those days our favourite game ( so called ) used to be building temple. Sound's strange isn't it ?? We will look out for a big smooth rounded stone wash it keep kumkum and turmeric. God is ready. This is because we have heard our elders saing God resides in stone if you believe. Then we used to bring cardboard pieces , leaves , twigs, gulmohar tree flowers to make a shelter for our temple. The next day we all will bring little kumkum , milk , water ,camphor, match box etc for doing puja in our temple. We will do abhishekam , tell all the slokas that we know and finally end with aarathi. Sometimes we used to build houses for dolls and decorate with flowers and leaves. The fun we had those days cannot be equated to the readymade barbie doll houses that kids are playing nowadays.
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| Summer colage |
Another important reason why i like april month is it is the season for jackfruit - my favourite one. My mom used to buy Jackfruit for tamil new year which falls on april 14th. The feeling i get when i eat the jackfruit dipped in honey is heavenly. The beautiful golden shower tree flower ( Kanikonna poo) is definitely a visual treat to the eyes.I love taking pictures of golden shower tree in its full bloom state as it gives a hope that the coming year too will be blossoming with colours. There is big golden shower tree near shivanandha colony bus stop in coimbatore which will be in its full bloom in the month of may.Recently during the onset of autumn in US the trees turned yellow which reminded me of this golden shower tree.
At the time of new year the first rain of the year will come only to increase the heat. Sometimes the rain will be accompanied by hail stones called as alankatti mazhai in tamil. This first rain is very special for us because its believed the water can be used to treat heat bums and heat rashes and the hail stones when applied over face cures pimples.
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| Autumn tree in U.S |
April-May is the season of mangoes. Though i dont have much liking for mangoes , i love eating " vadu manga" ( tender mango). My grandma used to buy these tender mangoes cut them sprinkle some salt and will give me. Curd rice with this freshly cut mangoes tastes awesome. Those days in my home we used to buy tamarind and red chillies in wholesale for an year during summer. During may first week when my mom used to put " vadam" ( rice crackers) i wil get up early to help so that I could eat vadam maavu. I relish the half-dried vadams too. In the evenings I go out with my dad to drink tender coconut juice and icereams. During weekends we used to eat " nungu" ( palmyra fruit).Coffee and tea would be replaced by cool watermelon juice.
In the second week of may the exhibition and circus shows would start in coimbatore. Enjoying different rides, eating chilly bajji , rice appalam and buying things for the next academic year ( like rubber , pencil , box, water bottle etc ) will be the highlights of exhibition. The next few days goes off in covering notebooks, binding books, stitching uniforms etc. Thus i will be recharged and ready to go to school as the vacation ends.
I wonder whether the summer classes , video games , internet , tv and world tour will deprive children from enjoying and experiencing the season and vacation as i ( we ) did!!
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