THE SUMMER

The Summers are here again. Peak summer has its own charm and Bryan Adams had immortalized the "Summer of 69"  in his epic song. Summers provide an excellent opportunity to shed the baggage of various kinds. On 29 May , New Delhi sizzled at 46 Degrees. The peak load was its top and soon enough the big transformer powering up the Colony bursted into massive flames. The power factor requirements had made the big transformer imbalanced and its flames sent the entire mechanism into a tail spin. The machines stopped moving and soon enough the sweat toiled bodies were out into the open with various forms of hand held fans.
                 

Back in school days, I was brought up in a small town- Rohtak. The town used to become a dust bowl during summers as the peak heat would kick up black dust storms at regular intervals. The houses of yonder were not as beefed up as they are today and it used to be a herculean exercise for the women folk to remove the dust from these open structures after the dust storm had battered the town. It was a common practice for us children to wear the traditional "Kurta - Pyjamas" made of a coarse material. Even the elders used to wear the thick material clothes as India was still struggling as a nation. This attire had many advantages and the best part was that an initial bout of sweat used to be absorbed by the cloth and then it used to maintain the body temperatures. No mosquito could penetrate this cloth's armor and greenery all around was always maintained well.

                 

 Those days we used to sleep in the open in the backyard of our houses or on the rooftops. A few buckets of water from the hand pumps used to be sprayed on the floor and then the folding beds would be laid with a "Dari" (a thin mattress without cotton) and a bed-sheet. It was a frugal arrangement which regularly gets highlighted in the Newspapers of today as influential people have started visiting Tihar. The temperatures used to start falling down as the night progressed. The tales by grandparents would enthrall us. The moon would soon be on top during its outings and one could gaze into its cold light. This light had a soothing effect on the eyes and the grand parents would say that this light is healthy for the eyes ( a 6/6 at 40+ and with endless use of screened gadgets does prove this saying!!). On moonless nights, we would gaze at countless stars and galaxies. Occasional streaking stars would make us seek secret wishes (most were for a 5 Star bar and not the Bar of today!!). As the night would engulf and temperatures dipped, the comfortable sleep would engulf us. The dog would curl under the folding bed and grunt occasionally to ward off the creatures of the night. The big Neem tree in front of the house would fill its aroma as the Sun would break out and everyone would get up afresh. A solitary rotating fan would lead the charge against the heat and the summer night would pass away peacefully.

               

The Country has since then moved on. The dust storms have reduced in my home town as more and more concrete has captured the swathes of land. No more does the sky turn black and in any case the houses are fortified and one door can shut out the entire house from the barrage of dust and dirt. These days, most of us wear shorts and vests whilst sleeping. The Air Conditioners pump out cool air all day long and we continue to move from one AC to the other. The mosquitoes have taken deadly avatars and are no more the silent victims of Quinine. They fight out the best of the chemicals and in turn leave us with dangerous variants of diseases like Dengue, Malaria and Chickengunya. The deadly chemicals turn out to be equally deadly for us too and nebulisation is a common tool for our children. Most of us find it difficult to hold our noses anytime a bit of irritant crosses our nostrils. However , we need more and more comforts as we are changing and dumping out tons of garbage.

               

This Country is moving and its population is swallowing miles to move into cities. We are gasping for infrastructure. A Colony like ours was conceptualized in early 70s and the concept was overrun in early 90s itself. We are struggling each day on thin resources and are not willing to lower our demands. Tomorrow's plans are shaping up today and they need to factor the future needs and aspirations. A plan of today must not be overrun before its successor has started taking shape. This would be gargantuan challenge for our planners.

                

No more our children hear the grand parent's stories under the night summer sky. They never see the moon and never savor its chilled moon light. The galaxies and stars only feature on the science pages. The dog does not grunt anymore as the creatures of the night do not crawl on our floors and in any case these animals have also lost their edge inside cramped homes. Modern cities await us with balconied houses-but most of us encircle the balcony into the rooms. Even if we leave the balconies- we do not venture into balconies to locate the summer night.

                

The standby portable transformer was installed within a few hours by the engineers. The power factor was balanced and the electrical current raced and powered up the rotating machines. The sweating population gave a loud cheer and the agony linked bonhomie was broken immediately. Life moved on again. Ah, Bryan Adams- You said it right - 

Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Ya - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life