Summer Bloom 7

🥝 Kiwi Flowers

Photography Credits Go To Meenakshi Bakhshi.

Summer bloom 6

Gulmohar (Royal poinciana)

Summer Vacation

Days and dates don't matter anymore till the last day arrives, when we have to bid farewell and depart.
Everyone feels secure in the chaos of children screaming, running, laughing and sleep at night comes fast.
Time is divided between meal times only, am and pm is recognizable only by children's sleepy eyes.
Mindless gossip mixed with some serious talk  is exchanged during tea time, food becomes the primary priority for all.
Healthy food becomes non-existent, even fruits are consumed like shakes, loaded with sugar.

There is no privacy, no quiet hours, no usual tantrums of , I want to be left alone. Sounds turn into noise, noise into peels of laughter.
No reading or writing time, no grown up time, nothing but cartoons playing on T.V.
Elders get dead tired, while children have unbound energy. There are no sleepy afternoons, or nap times, everything is rolled into one crazy time slot.
There is so much to take in, so much to give, so much to share, so much to accept.

Nothing makes you feel more trustworthy than when a toddler for whom you did not exist earlier, addresses you for the first time, pulls your clothes  and asks you to take him for a walk.
Unsupervised baking experiments of children take place, when cakes are baked with salt, thinking they were using icing sugar and finally expected to be consumed with compliments.
Every other hour you are supposed to visit the park outside your home in the heat and convince children that they should stay in or else will catch some deadly disease due to the brutal heat.

In all, it is sheer madness, the madness which begins as soon as the  children enter  the grandparent's home and ends only with the goodbyes.

Summer bloom -4

Pomegranate bloom

Cherry blossoms

                                                            Painting by Katyayani Sharma

The Summer rain

Lightning flashes like swords of Gods, thunder rolls like drum beats. Gray sky turns pale pink with each strike .

Leaves upturn their faces towards the biggest show on Earth. The magic, the drama unfolds.

The parched, dry Earth waits to catch  the beads of water in its palm,  while the wind tries to sweep away the gathering gray clouds.

Lightning begins the game of hide and seek with shadows. The rain starts, one drop here, another there and suddenly a downpour.

Streamlets start flowing on the roads, commuters get drenched in seconds. No umbrellas in hands, people rush to take cover.

Puddles fill up immediately, dirt washed off, make things muddy. Pedestrians huddle under any shade they can find.

Sometimes hail accompanies, falling  from sky like white  unwrapped sugar candies. Damaging months of farmers' hardwork in minutes.

And the show suddenly stops...as abruptly as it had begun.

Winds win in blowing away the clouds, thunders move out of earshot. The Sun peaks out and lo! The rain is over.

Sun starts shining with a vengeance. The rainbow silently, colourfully tries to attract attention towards itself.

People resume their commute, dirtier than usual.  Hazards await, stray dogs shake themselves dry, inconsiderate motorist splash water as they speed.

Meanwhile, the clouds start gathering up again, defeating the force of winds. Blocking the Sun once again and the audience waits for an encore.

Summer Bloom 2

The brighter the Sun, the brighter is the fuscia. Colour intensifying with the intensity of the Sun as if sunlight flows in the veins of the bougainvillea.

Summer 5

Let's escape to a place where the water hasn't yet evaporated from the ponds, lakes and rivers.
Where bare feet can still walk on dew covered blades of grass in the mornings.

Let's go to a place where chirping birds are the only alarms in the mornings​.
Where silence wakes you up as sunlight peeping through the curtains.

Let's escape to that place where peacocks scream and dance to forecast the weather.
 Where ants predict if the rain is approaching working untethered.

 Let's go to the place where flora blooms announcing the temperature of the day.
Where sunflowers tilt towards the Sun till May.

Let's escape to a place where time is told by the length of the shadows.
Where meal times dictated by commotion at the gate by the stray dogs, going to and fro.

Let's go to a place where sparrows still exist due to lack of telephone towers.
Where people keep bird feed in bowls outside their homes with water.

Let's go to that place where people converse sitting together and not "Chat".
Where people connect through emotions and not internet.

Let's escape to the place where "web" means spiders catching dew drops like diamonds.
Where "net" means fishermen trying to catch fish near islands.

To a place where the breeze is still cool at five in the morning.
Where you wait for the day to unfold with great longing.

The first Summer rain.

Scorching Sun dries and makes brittle the leaves, Earth starts cracking up like honeycomb.
Birds fly high and low to find  just a few drops of water to quench their thirst. Stray animals find shade under the trees and in  abandoned half built houses. People  try to stay indoors to be safe from the brutal heat.

...and then the clouds are summoned,  vast expanse of sky turns grey, air turns cool, wind picks up speed. Dust swirls make small whirlwinds with dried leaves. The wind chimes start tinkling rhythmically,  trees start swaying to the music of dust filled breeze, eyes are turned towards the sky, in anticipation of that first drop.

...and when the first  drops fall and hit the dried earth, the smell of wet earth intoxicates the senses like thousand  sirens. The drops turn to a gentle shower, a drizzle. Sky makes noise to declare freedom from heat, lightning is like celebration of nature. Dust settles, plants get a well deserved wash. The roads start shining. Dogs in the neighbourhood start barking, going round and round in circles with their tongues sticking out.

People come out of the homes for no reason at all, conversations start budding. Children start dancing, screaming, getting wet, soaked, drenched. Grown ups also stretch their arms to feel the rain on their palms as if they have never touched water before.

The first shower of summer is like magic, magic which leaves us  desiring for more, to experience more, to enjoy more, to feel more, to live more .

Popsicle

The King Of Fruits!