The Summers That Make Me Pretty

'A wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition,' Says Google. 'Homesickness,' Says Thesaurus. 'Future,' Says Dua Lipa. 'I hate school and want to time travel to the summer of 2014,' Say I.

"Ann, what are you trying to say?"

"Nostalgia"

"Nose-Tal-Ghee-Ya?

"No, it's: Now-Stal-Jia"

....

Yeah, English is a funny language.

Hm, Nostalgia. It is a beautiful feeling. This feeling brings a teary eye while reminiscing with the smiles on our faces. This feeling brings a massive wave of memories about the past while wishing to vanish from the present. This feeling is a piece of art that reappeared to me recently; in the form of an ice gola.

Ahh, an ice gola. October has started; welcoming the cold and the runny noses. But ironically, the ice gola took me back to April. The summers spent at Hubli.

It would be bright and sunny. The sky was always in a light shade of blue. The trees were greener than ever. There would be a buzz in the homes while the streets were quiet. On those streets, the vendors would walk house to house with a ringing bell "tan tan tan", my cousins would run down for the third time that day. "I want orange and khala khatta." "I want the green color." We would all circle around to see the ice go into plastic glasses and gaze at the colored syrups being drizzled on them, hoping to be the first ones to receive their snowball. We would all go running back top to watch another movie, but all the adults had already changed the channel to the news and were talking about mythology again. So we would go to the room to make chits for another game of Treasure Hunt. Me fighting with everyone on my team about where should we hide our "Treasure" - the long-lost Cadbury Gems. While losing and being teased, our neighbor would come in, and she'd join us for the next game of hide and seek. All the hiders raced towards the balcony and kitchen. "Everyone come now! Ajji made vadas!" And before we found out who won the third game of carrom, we'd rush to the kitchen to be the first to sit next to Ajja to eat our vadas. "Anu, did you pray to God this evening? Where is your Vibhuthi?" as I slowly crept the God's room. Soon enough, all of them would be annoyed with me bugging them to take me to the park. "Anu, it is the 5th time today we are going to the park!" But I would continue being adamant and get my eldest cousin to take me there only to find the others running to join us. The brothers would push us sisters on the swing to see who would go the farthest. We would try and get the mangoes from the trees down. Sometimes we would climb the trees and my brother would end up breaking his leg. "Kho!" I would soon be learning my favorite games - kho-kho and lagoori. Having running races where I always came first (from the last). Finally, going back home to eat ice cream and count who got the most choco-chips. At 10 PM, Ajja would threaten us "If you don't sleep now, Ramgundadi will come." So, being obedient kids that we were, we would all go to the hall and tell ourselves that we will not sleep and have a night out and play truth or dare. Which was never a success because my second sister and I would have slept within an hour. The same fun and games would continue every single day.

All these happy memories came back to me in a second when I ate that ice gola. I wanted to be able to count choco chips with them again... Or catch hailstones when it rained... Perhaps, having my sisters drape in a dupatta and act as teachers again... Will my cousins bring me flowers on their cycles again...? Yes, they will. (I know to blackmail them if they don't).

But you know what I can also do? Make new memories with them! Force them to take me to the parks again. Have a different cloud to walk on while going back to the old clouds. Every single time I am on one of the clouds, there is a strange sense of calmness with true smiles. That is the feeling of Nostalgia.

So, which cloud do you love to be on? What are those memories that always transform your face into smiles? Who are those people with whom you want to create those moments again? What is your 'ice gola'? Go back to the child in you, reconnect with it and have it know that its memories are back to life!

Signed,

Ann.

P.S: Writing this blog made me realize that I should learn more synonyms for memories. And apparently, 'anamnesis' is a synonym for memory. Well, as I said, English is a funny language.