Lassi, Ice-cream or Falooda?

“Meenu, please get a glass of water for Manoj,” says Amma. Manoj Mama has come to take me to Ooty! “We will go by train, Meenu. It is cold in Ooty even during summer, as it is in the hills,” he says.

Summer is the season between spring and monsoon. It is called Greeshma Ritu in Sanskrit. School has closed for the summer. My friends and I do not mind playing outside. But our parents do not like us to play in the hot sun. So we sit under the trees and eat fruits and tell stories.

Yesterday was new year's day for my family. We call it Varsha Porappu in Tamil. Why are there so many new year's days in the same year? Grandma made raw mango panna. So sweet and tangy! Jasmit's mother made lassi. So cool and creamy! Last month, Farhan's aunty made falooda for their new year. So milky and sweet-smelling!

Appa has gone to Delhi. He says it is very hot and dusty there. In earlier times, people put mats made of khus on windows and kept them wet to cool their homes. Appa wears dark glasses to shade his eyes.

He told us that he had to drink lots of nimbu pani to replace the water in his body because you sweat a lot in the heat of Delhi. He says he will bring lovely Dussehri mangoes for us from Delhi. The summer brings heat and dust but it also brings mangoes!

Do you remember the little sapling I planted in spring? It is my friend. It is growing up. It has seventeen leaves now. I water the little tree twice every day in summer.

I think it is waiting for the rain. Will it bear a fruit for me next summer?