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The delight of the immersed experience of our reality would not be possible without the mystery brought by constant change, ever more so typified by the change of seasons. Seasons give new hope and usher in the remoulding of our thoughts to attune to new beginnings. Summers though, hold a special place in my life.
Summer is a long forgotten renaissance of the spirit, to go back to and recollect, especially after it ends. Summers brought with them a sense of glory and fulfilment. I always enjoyed the summers, especially as a child because it meant no school, vacations with the family, and endless time to spend playing football, cricket and other games with the kids in the area, binge-watching television, playing computer games and blasting my favourite music on my CD stereo system.
My memory shifts back to the some of my most memorable summers back in college. In 2009, it was a one month trip to Europe where we were exposed to European culture, their lifestyle and their history. A summer well spent in enthralling wandering, roaming the cobblestone streets of Le Europa in a haze of wine, beer and shots of local alcohol, leaving us in a daze of intoxicated merrymaking and discovery.
Another one in 2011 was when a few of my friends had subject backlogs to clear in college. We became closer as friends, had tiny barbeque scenes on our penthouse terrace and the DeeTee(pub) nights were more of a close-knit and personal thing. And of course, the preliminary mind-expanding experiences on the shores of Goa and on the terrace. Those were summers I would never forget. Summers that I would always long to recreate. Those were the summers of soul searching. Those were the summers that cleansed the old and brought in the new and breathed a renewed lust for life into our hearts and changed our perception forever.
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Later when I had to go back to college to clear exams after all my friends graduated in the summers of 2014 and 2015, I made it a point to go and revisit Gokarna a few times on my own, a place where I found a lot of peace. It was beautiful and serene. And I would leave with a heavy heart because of how much peace that little coastal town brought to me. As that line by Led Zeppelin goes, “My shangri-la beneath the summer moon, I will return again.
But I also hated summers because they showed me what life would be like outside the constructs of human society. Life outside the systems that we’re forced to abide by.
That’s why I have a love-hate relationship with summers because they always showed me what life would be like if we were free to do anything we wanted. Summers were freedom. Freedom to do as we pleased. Freedom to bask and bathe in the tropical weather and live a life as close to the heart as we desired. Summers were what I wanted life to be like. Summers were the times I looked forward to. Summers were golden. Summers were freedom.
