Summer Vacations and Mangoes

Come April, Come May, Come June ... As soon as the summer season starts kicking in, some things that instantly would pop up in your mind, especially as a teenager (which I was some years back) are - Summer Vacations, No Schools, Only Sports - Cricket, Swimming, Sports Club, Ellisbridge Gymkhana, Karnavati Club, Lots of Movies and of-course the King of Fruits - Mangoes !!!

With the summer season going on back in India in Ahmedabad, the mangoes have already started making the rounds, with prices shooting up or going down(which is rarely seen), imports and exports increasing, be it a 7 year old child or a 70 year old elder, everyone is digging their teeth and treating themselves to the mangoes, in all sorts, mango shakes, mango rolls, mango pieces and the best of all - apdo "Keri noh Ras" ...

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As a child, I used to devour upon these mangoes all day long in the summers. Mom would specially take out more "Ras" for me so that even after lunch I can take it as a desert later in the afternoon. I remember I used to hate the threads (resa) which used to accompany the sweet ras, but still couldnt help holding back and would gobble it up. "Alphonso" the best of the best in Mangoes, and it would be almost everyone's "noor of the eye" ...

Most of us, are also fond of sucking to the mangoes, with its skin on, then creating a hole on the top and just keep on enjoying the taste of the sweetness flowing from that fruit. Then comes the turn of the big seed called "gotla" ... Gotlas were favorites for cooking with oil and some spices to be eaten as a snack. Some small kids would also get a treat of a roll called "Keri noh papad" which is made by spreading the ras on a flat pan and letting it dry in the sun.

Its been almost 4 years now since I have tasted mangoes, and its other forms. Of-course one would get the same here in the US, but no fun like sitting in a patio, on a swing, in shorts, on a warm summer afternoon, having 2-3 mangoes by your side, swinging in the warm breeze, and eating and sucking those mangoes to the fullest...NOTHING CAN BEAT IT FRIENDS !!!!

My best memory during these summer vacations would be, having Keri noh Ras, Rice, Ghee, Sunth all mixed up and eating it with Papads....And then turning the fan on at 3-4 points, letting a cool breeze flow, cover the windows with drapes, turn the TV on, lay back and just drift away in a splendid summer afternoon nap snoring away feeling satisfied as if on the Top of the World !!!

Of-course then comes the fun part in the evening, just constantly tirelessly keep on playing cricket hitting the ball all over the ground, visiting friends, going for movies, especially Drive-In, enjoying to the fullest and then come back and have pieces of mangoes again at night along with some mango thick shakes ...

Phew ! What a Life it was and What Summers Were Those !!!
Alphonso, Cricket, Ratnagiri, Tennis, Devgadh, Swimming, Kesar, Movies, Langdo, Picnics, Payri, Afternoon naps.....

I know most of you would have experienced something of the same intensity and happiness and the lucky ones are still able to do so back home.. So feel free to share your best experiences from the Summers and the Mangoes season...

Cheers

Samkit

Childhood Memories in School Picnics

Vasona Lake Park, California ...
Sunday, approximately 2.30 PM ...

The game was on ... I found myself revolving around a small circle (made out of shoes) trying to grab a handkerchief placed as if imitating a pyramidal shape and simultaneously trying to save the same from my opponent's hand too ... The idea is to score a point, either by snatching the handkerchief and running into your own territory or trying to get the opponent out if he snatches it and tries to run .... sounds familiar ???

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Of-course this sounds really simple and less tiring than the game where one catcher builds his own chain of people by getting as many people out and then runs as a team to get other free players out... As soon as the catcher gets one player out, that player gets linked as a chain to the catcher and they go hand-in-hand to make others out and join them to their chain ... Phew !! Sounds tiring especially when the chain gets about 10-12 people long and players at both the ends try to run in opposite directions as soon as they find a "bakra" (free player) ... Thats where the fun begins for the players in the middle as the gravitational force tries to play games with their hormonal bodies, trying to pull and stretch every inch of that fatness developed in opposite directions with some even managing to break the chain and tumble or get literally dragged towards one end .... LOL !!!! - The game is called "Human Chain" ....

Well, guess what, I and a lot of my friends just experienced and felt nostalgic about this games, remembering how we used to play these when we used to go out on a picnic during our school days ...

Reminiscing those school days and especially those picnics ....

Turn back in Time to Year 1990s - 95' 96' etc ... School Days !!!

No matter how bad or good the school is, no matter how much we love or hate the teachers there, no matter if you are a bright student or a dull bully of your class.... everyone would always wait for this particular one day where we can just stay away from school and get out on the field and run and play as much as we can and that too with all our school buddies.... Just as the day for the picnic would be announced, one would get busy preparing for "the" day !!!

The preparations would range a whole different set of ideas ... Boys either preparing how to take revenge upon the teachers, by harassing them to the fullest, girls preparing how to look good and how to impress the boys, boys in turn looking to fight the class monitor if he has been trying to give all a hard time, further, some so called infatuated couples even try to plan out some private 5-10 minutes chat on the picnic day, away from the eyes of everyone as this would be the best day where they don't have to worry about someone prowling to catch them, and this in turn would lead to some new ideas and courageous approaches to woo and impress one another .... At the end everyone wants to go out and have fun and make it a day worth remembering as years go by ...

And finally when one finds that its picnic day tomorrow, that very night he/she is not able to sleep due to excitement, no matter where the school authorities are taking them, they just are itching to be out there and have a gala time...

Now speaking about picnics and the place where I am from (Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India)....I personally used to hate this picnics, for a number of reasons ...

Firstly, the teachers and everyone at the school would select the same place over and over again to go for a one-day picnic, either it would be Ajwa in Baroda (Vadodara, Gujarat, India), Maudhi, Sapteshwar, SaritaUdhyan, Akshardham etc ...
Year after Year, no matter which grade are you in, you would end up going out to either of these places ONLY no matter what !!!

Secondly, they used to call us at 5.30-6.30 in the morning, sometimes in winters when its freezing outside, and then make us wait till 8.30-9.30 before loading the bus and making a move, due to which they would cut short the picnic time and in a way also cut short on the various places where we can go ...

And at the end of the day all you have in your stomach would be "Bhel", "Ugly Sandwiches", "Rasna"...
Some of us would carry home cooked delicacies, but as usual the person who carries food from home never gets a handful, its his friends who feast upon that, and of-course thats childhood friendship for them ....
Well if luckily some schools are generous enough then you do get "BatakaPauva", "Puri-Shak", "Matho" etc ... but not all of us are always that lucky, atleast I wasnt ....

But having said this, I still used to love those one-day picnics, as it gave me a lot of time to stay with my buddies, explore all kinds of mischiefs, sports, talk to as many girls I want without any restrictions from my teachers, play as many pranks as I want without the fear of getting a bad comment in my diary's last page, bring as many gadgets I want and impress others, and do as much bossism I want with the weaklings of my class !!!!
Of-course while playing I would deliberately hit my enemy in class, accidentally I would bump into people I hated the most, and cautiously used to create situations where upon I have an opportunity to talk to the girls on whom I had my childhood crushes ...lol !!! I used to get lost somewhere and thus get teachers running around trying to find me and my friends as in those days there was no other means of communication except mouth and foot !!! so shouting and running around !!! (I used to end up with a lot of complaints in my diary but those were not official as it was "PICNIC DAY" ) ....
But still, Yup, all this in one day ? WHO WOULD WANNA MISS IT !!!!

Well, while playing the same kind of games at a picnic we had just yesterday, I lived those moments from the school picnics once again, and enjoyed every bit of it ... At the end of the day the entire body aches, but it turns out to be worth enough to have that pain... And of-course the best part in yesterday's picnic was that we still had the "BHEL", "SANDWICHES" and "LOLLIPOPS".... But this time the Bhel was nicely crafted to represent the Mexican cuisine, and the Sandwiches were a great deal better as they were home made, and we got ourselves a treat of Kaju Katri and Bundi Ladoo too ....

To sum up, the childhood picnic memories, after each picnic, every year, either you end up making a lot of new enemies or you end up screwing your chances at wooing a girl to like you or vice versa, you have a lot of new friends and/or you end up starting your love story based on infatuation which might or might not succeed, and of-course if you are mischievous enough - then you become "ankho ka tara" (to be like a diamond in one's eyes) for your teachers to keep an eye on you ... lol.... and also for the girls to keep an eye on you which of-course none of us boys would mind.... and thus you rise to a new STARDOM !!!!

But all this sums of to one simple word - FUN and INNOCENCE !!!

Cheers

Samkit !!!

(With helpful inputs and ideas for the places and food during school days from : Ruchi, Jaishal, Bhoomi, Karan(Keko), Jimmy, Aarohi, Vivek P...)