Summer Simplicity

I'm not always such a nostalgic person, but what can I say? This heat is making my head go into a reverse overdrive. For the last week, I've been waking up early every morning to go for driving lessons. Today morning, as I waited for my instructor to bring the car around, I couldn't help but think back to all the summer vacations I used to spend going to one 'class' or the other. Yes, I was that kid. The one whose parents always found a class to send me to every break, and the one who enjoyed it as well, most of the time at least.

So after every academic year ended, and before the heat got a chance to mess with everyone's head, I was packed off to something that could utilize my endless energy (which, suspiciously enough, has disappeared now). I've spent hours every summer on supposedly learning skills like the compulsory Indian summer task- Drawing classes, Glass painting and "Dancing Classes" (sic). For those who know me, you've probably realised that that was a lot of time and money down the drain. Then I learnt the more interesting stuff like skating,theater and music. Well at least that is something that's stayed with me. 

My point through this entire tripe is that summer was the time of the year where we made our own routine. Be it going to any number of hobby classes or just waking up late and playing around the garden or yard. As children, summer had it very own charm. I'm not usually the person who says that childhood is the best part of your life and all that bull, but when it comes to the summer, the way we enjoy it as kids changes significantly as we grow up. An entire two months of waking up late, eating mangoes and running around with other kids in the society all day long cannot really be topped by anything that we do now. Certainly not with driving classes (insert sulky face here).

As difficult as people might find it to believe this, the nostalgia of summer had a distinct texture for me- the smell of mangoes, the taste of endless amounts of ice-cream, the feel of the sun on my skin and dust in my nose, and the lack of the sound of an alarm clock in the mornings. Surprisingly, if you ask me to describe how I see summer now, the texture's changed quite a bit. It now includes the blast of air from the air-conditioner, the sound of the ringtone on my cell-phone, the taste of Subway and the feel of the computer keyboard under my fingers. How did it change so much? And does it feel half as great as the earlier one? Not really. Sure, its easier, but not quite as memorable. 

Have your experiences of summer changed as you grew older? Ponder away!