it is a hundred degrees in shade and i feel like that kid in that ad where the sun is sucking all the juice out of him with a straw through his head..ugh,ugh,ugh.and i feel particularly aggrieved when people utter very matter of factly,that its summer,what else can you expect??to people like that i have only two things to say..a)its april people!!april!...of the beautiful months of march-and-april,of cheery blossoms,and old songs and of cool albeit slightly wild winds which seem to want to say so much...andb)uhh,i think a) said it all really..
i miss having that april..i remember it well from my childhood,when life seemed filled with infinite possibilities and so many of my dreams were waiting to come true.. just around the bend in the roads..april seemed to bring with it the whisper of a promise that it was all very close..i miss the innocence and freedom and boundless faith of those days..as much as i miss the seasons themselves..march and april progressively got hotter,the dew evaporated from my dreams,my sense of humor and imagination came to my rescue rather than a prince charming,and people say its just summer!
august too,with its rains and lightening and insanity is one of my favourite months..if the ubiquitous western disturbances do not play spoil sport one way or the other,either by coming to early,before the anticipation has built up properly or by coming to late,when anticipation has turned to disillusionment and weary relief is all you can hope to feel,the monsoons when done properly,are the best show in our part of the world......that shimmering wave of heat,which dries up the very air from your lungs....that haze arising from the cracked and parched earth,which distorts the world around it and makes it seem slightly unreal....that utter stillness of afternoons when it feels as if life itself has been defeated at last..the wilted trees,the silent birds,and the waiting...with the desperation that builds a little more each day,until it seems all you have ever done is wait and all you will ever do is wait till eternity and beyond...
and then it breaks...that morning when you wake up and know,deep in your bones that it has come.you need not look out of the window,need not step outside.you just know.and there it is....that dark,distant mass of cloud,lightening flashing in its centre,thunder rolling triumphantly,heralding the end of summer,the beginning of rains,of strenght and life.and just at the moment when the heavens open up and pour down like benediction upon you and the smell of wet earth fills all your senses,life seems filled with wonder and joy and hope again..
so i will go through this summer with the same resignation as all previous ones,with the hope not quite acknowledged lurking somewhere that it will be the prelude to a grand old monsoon, this one,that this time it will be just right..that this once my wait will not be in vain..,that the whispered promises of the april wind will come true..this time around.
