In the summer time

I am a proper fire sign - I love the sun. The sun makes me feel happy! I don't mind the sweat or the fatigue that comes with it. And more than the sun, I like the change to the summer season which is otherwise known as spring.

By 9 ish, the sun is high in the sky, grinning at every one mischievously. But then, though hes shining bright, his rays don't pierce the body. And the mild breeze is a perfect consort for the blazing sun. I feel so pepped up with the magic the dazzling sun and frisky wind create. It makes me all nostalgic and remember the good things of life - remember the God of small things :)

The weather makes me remember, how my sister and I used to study at this time for our last term examinations. We would be left alone in the house by mom and dad, and the whole morning we would sit in front of the TV. After a nice scrumptious lunch, we would doze off. Conscience would awaken in either of us, and we would scramble to the study table. But it would only be at the fag end of the day when mom and dad would have returned that we would step on the accelerator. Then we would both realise, how much time we wasted as a result of being lax in the morning, vow to not repeat the same mistake the next day, but end up doing just the same thing even the next day.

For the first big exam of my life - the 10th standard ICSE exam, it was this very time of the year, that I actually started studying. When folks around me were comparing how many revisions they had done, which all test papers they had completed, and what not, Sam and I would be blissfully analysing the latest SRK flick or some other utterly trivial stuff for hours at end. It was only in Feb, that God pumped some sense into the 2 idiots and we started with the old Question papers :) How we managed to read the entire course within 3rd of March is in itself a miracle. And the results of that exam are something I still put up in the academic acheivements section. :)

The spring was also the time for cupid to come flying around! When in college, we would have one hellova time teasing folks, inflating the ego of some by hooking them up with the first good looking bloke we could lay our eyes on, going to parks just to find out who are the new couples of the season and being the reporters from ground zero for the rest of the bunch and of course celebrating our singledom with a boisterous treat. And it was also the time for the spring fest, which gave the hormonally charged guys and gals of the college, more opportunities to interact with each other. Being the perfect shusheel, shaleen parivarik ladki, I used to have no seconds thoughts, but go ahead and book tickets for my home town. Come on not every day you get a college leave of 3 days + add the weekends and you get 5 days at home!! Only a moron or a committed person or a wannabe commited person would miss the chance. One time, since a friend of mine did not manage tickets to go home, I promised not to abandon her and never booked my tickets. But seeing the frenzy of the couples around, I thought I had made the wrong decision. I just sooooo wanted to be home. End result, I pulled my friend, went up to the bus terminus and got 2 tickets for my place. I did not abandon her you see. We spent 3 gorgeous days at home. It was such fun :) But then the very last year,the entire batch, unnanimously decided to stay back and get all the prizes from the bloody joons :)
That was the summer of 2004.

Phew.
And this season I am at Chennai - a place famous for the 3 seasons being summer, more summer and even more summer. But its a pleasure to see the subtle nuances even in the tropical climate that it is said to have. And 2 people are making a difference and bringing a smile on my lips everyday.

One of them is M49 uncle. Well hes the driver of the bus M49 which comes to my office. Its a public transport bus - and thats the only one I got to get to office. This uncle, is ALWAYs on time. If I am around the bus terminus from the timespan of 1010 - 1030 I am bound to hop into his bus only. I am seriously amazed at the way he keeps time inspite of driving some 20 odd kms. from the start to end point (one way) . He has a pretty stern disposition and he simply does not wait for any one. If he is a tad late in getting to the bus depot, many times I have seen, he does not even park the vehicle and get a smoke. He just simply makes a U turn and moves on. Sometimes I used to feel, he should wait for a bit more, because there might be people missing his bus by seconds. But then I thought, he has got to keep time even for the folks at the other end of the route. There might be people on the end terminus similarly planning their itinerary depending on his timing. He does not disregard that! Kudos to you sir. If I knew tamil, I would go up to you and say, You do your job dutifully to the T. You are truly an inspiration.

The other person is the lady in the gym. She too sweats along with us with a smile on her face. In the place I am currently going to, we have a new floor activity every weekday. One day its yoga, the other aerobics, on another swish ball, and so on. She makes us do every single thing every single day without making any of the slow learners feel left out. One truly feels good after the session. Thank you very much for making each day good.

There are quite some happy news pouring in from family and extended family - people getting married, people getting approvals for getting married to the person they have chosen ;) , people doing good at office, people going very good in colleges, :) These things only make the crescent come on the face. The sun is shining, things will be nothing but bright.