Summer over the years

Greetings! It’s summer time in the norther hemisphere of the world and where I come from, it seems to me that Karma’s chosen weapon of attack is the wretched heat of the afternoon sun! The only silver lining in plain sight is that the heat is a wonderful excuse to stay indoors; buried inside an air conditioned room and use ‘that dratted mobile phone’ of mine all day long. 

Until recently, my sister was hell bent on attending badminton classes during summer. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am wholly in favour of physical activity and that sort of thing, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn't glad when my mum firmly forbid any sweat- inducing activity from fear of our suffering bouts of prickly heat.

The heat has been toying with my mood, too. I’m not the most cheerful of people and I admit grudgingly that my family is always at the receiving end of my mood swings. The smallest of things seem to be irritating me this summer: the fact that each morning I wake up to the realisation that I have a tuition of some sort in less than an hour, the fact that the heat is severely restricting movement outdoors and the fact that owing to renovations at home, it’s been AGES since I lazed around in my natural habitat; aka my room. 

A few days ago, I decided to spend some time with a friend at a bookstore.  Since I am a self-confessed literature addict, another thing that has been nagging me this summer is the complete absence of good books to read. Usually, I read three books at a time and know which ones are next on the list to devour. However, of late, I seem to have reached a dead end. My mind is stagnant and I feel like I’m running out of authors to discover. Thankfully, I have this friend with whom I discuss new fictional worlds to invade and explore, which is why we decided to spend a lovely afternoon amidst a pile of books.

The moment I stepped into this book store, however, I knew I was on the threshold of a trip down memory lane. (pardon the cliche, but I don’t think the English language is equipped with words more appropriate to describe that ‘deja vu’ I experienced at the moment!) My mind was transported to a few summers ago and an earlier visit to this book store, flashed before me. That’s when it hit me: over the years, the things that kept me occupied, the activities that helped me kill time during the months of April and May were changing. And these changes were happening so rapidly that day by day, it seems like it’s how it’s always been. But when I look back in time and reflect, I realise that it’s all changed, and I never saw that change coming. 

When I was ten or eleven, my vision of an ideal summer was completing the self-set mission of finishing as many of Enid Blyton’s book series as possible. I used to feel like I had come a long way from wrinkling my nose at the very idea of reading about a girls’ boarding school (aka Malory Towers and St. Claires’) or an adventure hungry troupe of friends (aka Secret Seven, Famous Five and The Five Find Outers) to establishing unbreakable relationships with these characters that I had come to love. 

I must say, though, one of the most compelling intrigues of Blyton books is that she excelled at describing food. Although I am a vegetarian (except for the occasional egg) I simply could not stop drooling when I read of ham sandwiches, tinned salmon, or slices of bacon fried perfectly and served with coffee! How I envied the midnight feasts and the picnics the children in the books enjoyed so often!  (I’m sure any Enid Blyton reader will smile and agree with me, if not about anything else!) 

Which is what got me thinking: Exactly WHEN did I put down Enid Blyton to read something else? Was it the time I started reading Nancy Drew? Or was it when I discovered the stroke of brilliance that is PG Wodehouse ? In fact, could it have been the time I began enjoying a good book about murder? Because I feel that when I stopped reading Blyton voraciously, I broke out of a cosy bubble where everything always turned out right at the end of the day. 

That day, I felt it was time to set right a wrong. I made my way through fancy titles such as ‘young adult’ and ‘teenage romance’ (which in, my opinion, are nothing short of garbage) to the shelf atop which hung the board ‘ENID BLYTON’ and selected a couple of books to purchase. The ecstasy that passed through my veins at that moment was electrifying. I know this sounds a tad dramatic, but for a hard core Enid Blyton fan, it marked the perfect end to a visit to the book store! 

So long, then! I mustn't keep those books waiting any longer!