Summer months as a child

Right now mercury is soaring in Mumbai, cant tolerate the heat anymore.I am avoiding goin out in daytime heat as far as possible, and spending time at home with AC on in full blast, sipping Packaged lemon drink and gulping down bowls of icecream. As I am sitting and enjoying the peaceful ambience I remember my Childhood days during hot summer months.

Summer means long vacation from school, being at home with mom dad , my elder sis n my dog Begam. We used to wake up early in morning by 5 am ( my parents being early risers, waking at 4 am on daily basis!!).Used to go for early morning walk with dad n sister, sometimes taking the unruly dog with us. Other days Dad will take us out in car in early mornings to give driving lessons to my sister. Coming back home, I used to assist my dad to pluck flowers from our garden for Puja purpose. The garden used to be full bloom with all those flowers like Tagar, Rajanigandha, Jaba, Kathchapa, Moragjhuti, Aparajita , Madhabilata, kolke n bougainvilla. It was an amazing sight, n still now, as I am sitting here, in Mumbai, in confines of my room, I can feel the sweet fragrance of all those flowers, that used to fill my heart with an amazing peace n satisfaction.

Summer months also meant assisting my sis in bathing our huge Pure Breed Alsatian dog. I used to enjoy all the commotion of filling up the buckets using hand pressed Tubewell, lathering the dog with soap, the shaking off of water n soap by the dog ( n I used to get drenched by the act), my sis screaming orders to me to keep the dog chained and pour more water on her with the tin mug...Finally the task used to get over n we used to keep Begam chained outside to dry up a bit, or else she wud jump on bed n sofa in her wet coat!!! It was real fun, I should admit.

Next we used to take bath. Mom used to fill up buckets of water for us and soak used lemon pieces in the buckets, so that the bath water would be fragranced like lemon. The cool n refreshing bath we used to take in lemon-scented water will definitely surpass the spa bath taken with essential oils in exuberantly priced spa treatment centres.
There was no AC in our times, but rooms used to be cool naturally because of nicely constructed thick walls n pure wooden thick windows. Mom used to shut all windows n doors by 11 am to block the heat. The sound of Ceiling fan ( Polar fans,yeah) revolving, in dark cool rooms used to make us feel sleepy. My favorite Pastime was retiring in my bed after lunch with a big fat story book ( yeah Bengali, definitely), reading 1 or 2 pages n then dozing off to sleep.
Evening, I will wake up with mom calling me in her sweet voice n saying ' Beler Pana ' is ready. The sweet pungent flavor of Beler shorbet will fill my heart, I will rush out of bed and mom would hand me a Tall " Kansar" Glass full of thick sweet smelling Beler Pana topped with "borof Kuchi" that mom had broken from icecubes using Her 'shil-nora'.

After that we used to loiter around in our courtyard in front of the house enjoying the cool evening breeze flowing from River Ganga,sometimes playing antakshari,sometimes playing with my dog .
I do feel at times it was nice to be a child, I miss my childhood summer days filled with fun, happiness n sweet memories.

Evening snacks

I am a Pure Bong in my heart and one thing I really miss , being away from My hometown and my state is Mouthwatering evening snacks. Nothing can compare the pleasure I used to feel while gorging on small Triangular freshly fried 'shingara's ( yeah shingara and please not samosa), stuffed with small 1 centimeter sized cubed potaoes,flavoured with chopped ginger and other spices. I used to have minimum 3 shingaras at one go and used to stare at my elder sister's plate ( since she was a slow eater n generally used to hav 1 piece , sometimes 2) and without fail I wud pick up her share and devour it with such pleasure, wow...that taste, its heavenly.

Also having 'gorom gorom alur chop' and 'beguni' with ' Muri' used to be another delicacy. Here in Mumbai, when having Vada Pav, I feel like crying, how can I explain to the Vada Pav eaters, the spicy, jhal jhal taste of 'gorom alur chop" !!!
What about all those snacks served at friends n relatives house when we used to go visiting!! The hostess, one of the numerous kakima, Pishima, jethima, will bring a plate full of assorted Mishtis like rosgolla, ledikeni, shonpapri, talshash sondesh, aam sondesh or kachagolla, along with some'nonta' kahabar like chanachur, jhuribhaja, or shingara. If u r lucky, then u can get a bowl of Ghugni or a bowl of leftover Echorer dalna from lunch. The taste of those sweets n snacks will never be compensated by any amount of Mcdonalds Burger or KFC chicken wings!!!
I hav a kaku n kakima in my hometown, very sweet natured n very affectionate. Once in a month kakima will prepare Radhabollobhi or Mug Kachuri along with kosha alur dom n will pack the whole thing in a tiffin carrier ( a must have in every Bong Home) , n kaku will lovingly carry it all the way to our residence for us to eat!! No amount of radhabollovi n alurdom I have in Big resataurants will ever match the taste of radhabollovi n alur dom prepared by kakima n delivered by kaku at our residence.

Candy my sweety pie

Candy... the name itself means a sweet treat , loved by all, yeah, thats wht my sweety pie is... my 16 month old yellow pure breed female Labrador. She is a real sweetheart, as sweet as a candy, an eyeful to watch, as naughty as a 3 yr old toddler...

In the snap above, candy is seen posin for a photo with a "Pav" bread in her mouth. One of her favorite game is retrieving a piece of 'Pav 'or a 'chapati'. She is in her happiest mood when she gets hold of a bread, runs around with it in her mouth, wagging her tail, stomping her front paws, jumping on sofa n on bed. Its an amazing sight, I am sure u all will enjoy.

candy, is my bundle of happines, my stress releiver, my time pass. I feel having a pet is the best thing in the world!!