Sunday, June 8, 2008

SUMMER OF 2008

It’s official. My and my elder daughter’s summer vacation ends tomorrow. Mumbai’s summer of 2008 ends the day after; the weather department has declared the arrival-date of the monsoon (give or take a few days; weather and weathermen are not very reliable). In fact, it has raining gustily for the past few days, but that's the PRE-MONSOON downpours, insist the weathermen (as if that made any difference - Wet is WET is WET).

Though I always look forward to regaining my working-mom status (being a stay-at-home mom stresses me out totally - it's too much of hard work) and spending a few hours away from my demanding duo, I also love the summer holidays.

Here are a few random reasons why:

I can spend the whole day with my daughters (a mixed blessing, though!). We eat together, I tell them stories, watch stuff together, feed them when they are busy playing, build tents for them to play house-house in, take them to the park to play, take them to the shops to shop, sit them on the kitchen counter when I'm cooking and allow them to shell eggs and stir mixtures. I so tired at the end of the day that I usually fall asleep while putting them to sleep. BUT I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!

I can have countless, endless hug-athons with my daughters.


I can ditch my contact lenses (for professional use only) for geeky glasses.

I can cook to my heart’s content (I have to: the maid goes on leave – another mixed blessing!). Out comes the cook-books, my brain goes on overdrive planning menus, shopping for the ingredients and my daughters excitedly accompany me in these culinary adventures, from the market to the kitchen-counter to the dining table.

I can gorge on mangoes and black jamuns, my fave fruits! My daughters love picking up raw mangoes which fall unheeded from the many mango trees in the neighbourhood, and I love pickling them.

From our bedroom window, I can watch (with the spouse and kids) the green hills of the
National Park come alive with the flame-red flowers of the krishnachura (gulmohar) - surely the loveliest of all summer-sights?

I can read/surf/blog past midnight without worrying about getting up early in the mornings…

…but that’s about to end. With the coming of a new season (monsoon) and a new session (at school and college), this summer is over.

16 comments:

Sayani said...

AM tagging YOU ....finally i got a book :)
You Are victim of my tag because you are a very good narrator and i learned so many things from your post ...(even tagging !!!)

its been a wonderful experience

jyotsana said...

hi sucharita summer vacations over?
i wish they could go on and on .... i just love holidays...... i never get an overdose of them.
and thnx dear u taught me to create that within the text link and tagging also ...
ya ur qn.... yes dear i belong to ur fraternity.... in the university....lecturer ...shakespearean scholor...but thts not my identity really...i m more a student of life as lady blue puts it ... or simply i am a woman.

Siddhartha said...

Tag forwarded. It was interesting. Now I am also tagged by one of our common friends. Nice. Now you have introduced me to another catchy thing (the first being blogging).

Jaquanda Rae said...

Did I thank you for tagging me? (Guess you took the bait, lol.)Thanks for the comments as always. They are very encouraging and mean a great deal. I'll be sure to check out ms. random dublin poet.

It warms my heart to hear (read) you talk about motherhood the way you do. Makes me want to be a mom. You go girl!

Jaquanda Rae said...

I found her...Random. She's like every poet I know - in pain.

Unknown said...

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

you are fantastic!!!



god bless u dear

can we exchange our link

r u ready to do?

Unknown said...

Ok if I am going to be totally honest, I don't think that my frame could handle me having a full-time cook...i would gorge...I love to eat what OTHER people cook.

I hope that when you get your cook back, you can have A LOT more self control than I would. :)

Vacations are always a great thing to look forward to, if we had them all the time, what would keep us looking ahead?

K.C. said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time being with your daughters. It is hard to explain the work at home. It is not HARD, but it is busy. It is unbelievably rewarding, but you do fall asleep while putting them to sleep. THere is no real down time. BUt is all good time.. So blessed though to have the time. So happy for you that you had such a wonderful vacation.

Thank you for your wonderful comments. It IS helping to write it out. Getting it out of my head and knowing that it is all going to be more than fine is the main thing. Knowing how happy I really am is the other. Thanks again... KC

Mystic Margarita said...

Summer vacations are so much fun! I wish I shared your enthusiasm for cooking - would have made R a very happy man! :)

Mystic Margarita said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Piscean Angel said...

I feel that the best thing abt summer ARE those lovely mangoes & succulent black jamuns. Love them too. All the best for a new season & session. Monsoons in Mumbai can be quite a trouble ... tho' as Pisceans we shudn't mind it, I guess. :-)

Sucharita Sarkar said...

Hi sayani,

will take up your tag when I take up a new book, promise!

jyotasana,
how right you are about our multiple identities!

Sidhubaba,
thanx!

jaquanda,
thanxs, too. Motherhood rocks and sucks alternately, but mostly, as the kids grow up, rocks, I think!

Rohit,

Lemme check out your blog! i'm sure it's great. Lol.

Alice,

U r right. holidays are lovely becoz they don't come too often. My cook-cum-children's nanny is back. More than her cooking, I enjoy the peace of mind she gives me, knowing that the children are in safe hands when I'm out working.

K C,
thanx and all the best, all the time.

Margarita,

I enjoy cooking only becoz of the holiday-factor. day-to-day is a chore!

Piscean Angel,

I have a huge cribsheet about mumbai monsoons, and I don't like being a fish in these dirty waters!

Nancy said...

Your summer vacation is OVER? Mine is just beginning, well, sort of. I keep forgetting about that whole equator-different-seasons-other side-of-the-world thing. How long do the monsoons last?

Summer is great in its own way, anywhere. I like watching my garden come into flower, eating chicken on the grill, drinking iced tea on the porch in the evenings, and I especially love and wait for the song of the robins. They return in March and start to sing in the dark before dawn, and long after the sun has set. A few nights ago they set a new record -- they were up and singing at 2:50 am! This only lasts through about mid-June so I savor the music while I can.

Sucharita Sarkar said...

nancy,

what a lovely evocation of summer! here monsoons last till september end (in Mumbai, that is) though it seems forever to me.

arpita said...

dear sucharita,

i simply love your blog..... it seems as if you are putting words to my thoughts.

pls keep writing often..

lol arpita

Sucharita Sarkar said...

arpita,

thanks and I also liked your blog.