Just About Everything

With the March sun getting brighter every day, there is no running away from summer. Summer is here to stay. Come to think of it, on the bright side of this bright Saturday morning, summer actually brings wonderful memories from my childhood days. Oh how I used to wait for the summer vacations! That was the longest break, and the best part of summer vacations was, I did not have to study course books. I could indulge in story books! Summer vacations were sheer enjoyment; books, movies, music galore! I don't think the summer heat ever bothered me or any of us. Our focus was to have some real fun, and fun we had. The only thing that bothered me about summer vacations were the afternoons, as a child I was never fond of afternoons, that's because I had to have an elaborate meal that included rice and fish. I remember never ever liking rice or fish. My parents felt that rice once a day is a must but to me having to eat rice was a punishment. I waited for evenings because snacks ...

How green is my village! We were invited for lunch to one of my dad's cousin's place, they live very close by. The food was yummy.There was kalai dal, postor bara,potol and aloo bhaja, and a very nice mixed vegetable. For non- vegetarians there was mutton as well.My husband loved the food. Something about the taste of vegetatbles, somehow they really taste very good. It never tastes that good when we make it at home:( We went for a walk in the evening. The Ganges flows very close to the village, it took us around half an hour to reach it. The walk was very rejuvinating, we walked through mango orchards. I did not realize there were so many varieties of mangoes in Malda alone, i knew there were many, I have grown up having varieties of mangoes, but the list is endless! Here is a list of mangoes available in Malda, this is certainly not exhaustive, there are many-many more types/varieties of mangoes that are available in Malda: Langra Gopalbhog Khirsapat Phojli Mis...

Summers usually are not the best of seasons in India.Where i live, it is hot and humid and the sun shines with such brightness that one feels one might get burnt in seconds. But there is a gem that i really-really wait for in this season....Mangoes Almost everything becomes bearable because of mangoes. Yes, such is my passion for this fruit! I almost feel like the guy in the ad for Maaza.But, truly speaking nothing can replace mangoes. There is so much variety of mangoes to choose from in India. I remember spending almost all our summer vacations in our ancestral home in our village in Malda, West Bengal.The mango orchards in our village, infact in that region, produce some excellent varieties of mangoes. I used to skip breakfast and lunch too (sometimes...if i was allowed to) 'casue I wanted to feast on mangoes.I used to implore to my mom to not force me to have the usual lunch, all i wanted was to indulge in mangoes. After all I could indulge myself this way only once a year! Not...