Aavakai and Rasaalu

Thanks to my mother-in-law's sister - I have an abundance of fresh pickles this summer 6 varieties!! - and the rasaalu variety of mangoes to boot!! This is my favourite type of mangoes - and I have been having my heart's content since 3 days!! And the pickles packaging was superb! All neatly packed in similar bottles and even labeled - no work except taking it from my father in law and putting them on the shelf!!

Spring joy

These days, the days are longer, we need the fan again, we can open the windows a wee bit and sleep, the cold slowly melts away and in short, summer is in preview :) And suddenly my heart feels joyous for a few moments every day at some time or the other because it reminds me of Indian summers and my childhood, of mangoes, of hot days, of sleeping with the air cooler on, just on the bare floor, of morning schools, of summer vacation, all day laziness and what else not. Summer always brings me joy, unconditional and pure. Every day, I am snatching some moments of pure happiness from life, thanks to the sun. Very apt, we named our son after the sun ;)

Rain rain ...

Today, the rains washed Bangalore. Wind swept everything out. We were braving a nice little storm to get to Indiranagar, only to figure that all the arteries there were blocked because of trees that got uprooted. It was a sight to be seen! Healthy, green, huge trees, just uprooted and lying across the street. And on 100ft road, there was a sea. When will we learn to manage rain water better :( Its such a pity to see so much water just standing and stagnating on the road when it can be drained back into the earth to enhance the water table.

On the plus side the weather is super cool. All that heat can nearly be forgotten when you step outside.

BESCOM as usual is very prompt and there has been no power ever since we reached home. Not sure when it went out. So keeping fingers crossed that they be kind enough to restore it before the UPS conks out on us.

We accomplished some key tasks today though. I am happy for that..

Hallelujah!

Prelogue: As I was writing this post the power to the wireless went phut, and when I hit Publish button is when I realized that it no longer worked. Turns out my $100 APC power adaptor just went kaput and I had to replace it with another APC power adaptor (luckily which we bought in spare when moving back to India). And the BESCOM guys have woken up from their snoozes and realized their call of duty and now we have no power. (Actually I did hear the transformer outside doing one more blast when the power went out, so they are probably still snoozing)

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It is raining. Last couple days the rains had graced all of Bangalore except us. Our area got a few minutes of drizzle and that was it. Nights and early mornings were as sweaty as ever.

But today the skies have opened up and the thunder is so loud that the baby is wading out of his sleep because of the tremendous noise. And it is raining!!!!!

I just heard a tremendous blasty noise outside like some transformer was struck by lightning. And even in the house there were two such loud "phut"s. The power supply seems to be on, so I am hoping all is well. 

Hallelujah!!

Blasted heat!

Don't know about fellow Bangaloreans but last night was horrible. The night, unlike typical summer nights, never cooled off and the whole night we spent tossing and turning and unable to sleep properly for the heat. And this morning, it prompted us to get out for that walk much sooner at 6.45 but still we came home all sweaty and my hair felt like I just washed it. Yuck! So much heat I have never felt on a summer night. Summer days yes, not nights. And Rohan kept waking up for the heat :(

Maybe its time to ditch that green thing and buy an AC? Sigh!

ToI carried a piece on the main page saying yesterday was the hottest day ever. They forgot to add, hottest night to the equation.

Today a HUGE cloud is looming large and black. Hopefully it rains cats and dogs and we can all have some fun now.

Exams Done!

It is that time of year again. Heat beats down on you. Children start having morning schools and eventually summer vacation.

Our colony kids are finishing exams one after the other. One of the last ones gets done tomorrow. Every time I see kids wishing each other Happy Holidays, my heart does a jig! I am truly happy for them. Summer vacation is the best time of year! And when it is June and they slowly start to go to school one after the other I feel really sorry that summer is over.

It all starts with morning schools. Damn the heat in which you have to get home. All I can remember is that the school days were short. You go at 8, come back by 12. Every day is a half day for a full two weeks at least. Can anything get better than that? Yes. The raw mangoes sold on the bandi outside school. I used to love those days when  could buy a raw mango with salt and chilli powder mix sprinkled in it and eat it in the school bus after spending just four hours in school. Of course, no lunch box, you get home and eat. I used to listen to my favourite songs of the time and day and finish homework soon and it would still be only 3 :D Time for Swabhimaan during some of my adolescent years. Of course it all meant only one thing, that exams were just around the corner, but who cares about those.

Unluckily for me, I was born in April and somehow or the other, it would always be Maths exam on that day and inadvertently I'd do bad and get scolded by my Dad. Then mom would say since it is my birthday he shouldn't scold me. So after a couple years, I figured it was best if I had Maths on my birthday. Of course this also meant I never got to distribute chocolates and enjoy wearing a civil dress for one whole school day. Ever in my life.

Summer vacation. What can I say? Mangoes, Heat, Rasna, Ice and water. Heat, ability to sleep on the bare floor with no need for anything like sheets and rugs. Turn on the cooler. Sleep right in front of it on the floor in the afternoons after just hogging on a couple of rasalu mangoes. Shower at 11 AM or even later if the fancy caught, with cold water!

We also used to stay over at grand mom's place or aunt's place. My aunt used to live in LIC quarters and we used to religiously go up, me, my sis and my cousins, to the terrace, pour a bucket of water on designated sleeping spot, come down and have dinner (which would invariably be mixed and served in morsels direct to the mouth :D), and go back up with bedding, by this time, the hot terrace would have cooled down because of the water and be all set for us to lie down. Talk till we fell asleep looking at the sky.

Pure bliss!

Ah, the routine I love~

Just finished dinner followed by 3-4 slices of an extremely delicious "Banginapally" mango! Yumm! I love Indian summers. If its summer, it better be Indian :D Been having mangoes post dinner pretty often these days. Having them with curd rice is another highlight.

Of course the Indian summer and Rasna go hand in hand. They got this new format for lazy fellows like me, the new Rasna "powder". No more mixing that concentrate with huge amounts of sugar and water. Just add two spoons to water and mix. It tastes exactly the same and I love it. Been having it every evening after coming home, along with something that Subhash's mom dishes up for me by the time I get back. Love living with family!!

I always regret having missed out on living with parents while working. Man, that must be such a cool life. Not having to do anything, mom is around to take care of everything, you just got to haul yourself off the bed each morning and get to work and get back thats it. No strings attached. No cooking, no cleaning, no running a house. Just lend a helping hand and thats it. I envy my colleagues who are just out of college, have always lived in the same city and are so familiar with the place. And have college/school/old friends around the city. I wish my first job was in Hyd too. Its like the best of both worlds. Having fun just like in college minus the studies part ;) How much better can that get :))

Right now just loving the summer and the mangoes that come with it. Truly better late than later :D