We just celebrated Gudhi Padwa! The Hindu New Year marks the onset of spring season. In India, spring is closely followed by summer. And before you know it, mercury soon starts soaring. The weather gets sultry, near the coastal areas while interior regions feel the brunt of higher temperatures. Yet, summer season happens to be the most awaited season. Reason? Read on.
Apart from the regular reasons like – end of school, forthcoming long vacation, visits to new locations or meeting cousins, the season also marks the entry of special fruits into the market. Where most of the fruits and vegetables are now available throughout the year, tangy raw mangoes, sweet and juicy family of melons, the small yet satisfying fruit Litchi and last but not the least, the king of fruits – Mangoes, mark their entry only in the summer season. Apart from fruits, the lady of the house starts her preparations for making annual stocks of papads, achars, takku, chunda, sakharamba (home-made mango jam), moramba, etc. Wasn’t it fun eating “kacha papads” while pretending to check if they had dried, licking some chunda in pretence of checking the melted sugar? The list is endless. Many items remain common pan India, though are named differently.
I used to love devouring “kairi” spiced with red chilly powder and laced with black salt. Mouth watering? Definitely! Freshly prepared “Takku” and “pickled mangoes” add spice and flavor to a normal everyday meal. I remember eating pieces of “marinated kairi” before they got immersed in spicy, mouth watering pickle masala. Sakharamba and chapatti are easily the best snack time option. It does away with the need for fancy snacks. Agree? With availability of aamras, all the vegetables easily take the back seat and almost every day becomes special with aamras puri or aamras chapatti. Freshly prepared aamrakhand (mango flavored shrikhand), mango milkshake, mango ice-cream, mango dolly often make dinner times exciting and special.
Owing to vacations, children often play for long hours and in sun. Scorching sun can cause stomachaches, indigestion, diarrhea, etc. High temperatures also cause an aversion to food. The easiest way around this is to keep handy the seasonal energy drink – Kairi panha (a sweet drink made from raw mango pulp and jaggery or sugar) or watermelon juice. Both are have high levels of sugar and act as instant sources energy. Taak or chaas – plain or masala, mattha or sweet, either way remains the age old coolant. Add asafetida and sugar to watery buttermilk and it is sure to ease indigestion – something from “aaji’s batwa”.
Summers are enchanting. It has its own way of sending happy vibes in the air. Hence, summer is the season of fun. Food. Friends. Family. Eating and bonding. Living together and laughing.
