Summer
Summer in India means the months of May, June, July and sometimes even August. When I was in school in India, we had summer break or summer vacations as we call it, and almost everybody went to their native villages. It is usually a periodic escape from the urban atmosphere for families, towards gathering as a large family in one's own native village. Usually during such gatherings, family members herded cattle, worked on their farmlands, played games in the evenings, had all their meals together, and slept on bedsheets under an open sky on the terrace at night. Waking up to the sweet smell of ripe mangoes early in the morning and trying to beat your cousins in mango-eating competitions surely made core memories. On returning to school after summer break, I would get to hear all sorts of such memorable moments from my friends who visited their nani-ghar (maternal grandmother's house) or dadi-ghar (paternal grandmother's house). I was born and brought up in the city. So wer...