Summer, My Mistress and My Wife
It is that time of the year when I have to let go of my mistress and return to my wife.
Not many in society accept my relationship with my mistress, yet they happily accept my relationship with my wife.
Why the double standards?
Confused?
Let me clear your doubts later, lads.
Summer is a blessing in disguise.
You start to notice sweat slowly sprouting from the back of your neck while being a couch potato. It gathers into tiny puddles on your forearms when you ride your bike in the afternoon. It leaves its traces as a slightly curved horizontal line above your pot belly during your evening walk.
Ever since my childhood in Salem, I have been a summer boy.
Playing in the afternoon sun was a must.
The moment I finish my lunch or thrown into the dustbin on some days. I would rush off to play catch and catch in the school grounds.
There were no worries about tanning. No worries about sweating before the afternoon class.
The solution was simple.
Dip your head under the tap water, wipe your face, and walk back into class refreshed.
Little did I know that years later I would spend money trying to undo the very tan I once earned proudly.
So what are the other things that have gone too deep?
The Desire to Control Heat
Somewhere along the way, we developed a strange desire to control heat.
Using antiperspirants to avoid sweating, yet wanting to sweat more in the gym.
Turning down the temperature on the AC remote, yet wanting a suda suda idly in the morning.
Being cold to everyone around you, yet expecting a warm heart to love you back.
Avoiding the sun with sunscreen, yet taking Vitamin D tablets.
Folks, you need to understand something.
Heat is a necessity.
We humans are warm blooded creatures. We generate heat within ourselves. If we stop generating heat, it is safe to assume that we are dead.
The presence of heat is a requirement for us dancing apes.
Heat Is Not the Enemy
Heat is not just a human necessity. It is woven into the fabric of the world around us.
The mango waits for heat.
The earth waits for heat.
The clothes on your terrace wait for heat.
Even the evening breeze that finally cools your face exists because somewhere the land and sea are warming at different rates.
Perhaps that is why I find it strange when we treat heat as the enemy.
Whenever summer arrives, it becomes fashionable to complain about heat. Yet globally, cold temperatures are responsible for far more deaths than heat. Estimates suggest that cold related fatalities outnumber heat related fatalities by nearly 9 to 1.
That does not mean extreme heat is not dangerous. It absolutely is. But it reminds us that temperature itself is not the enemy. Too much of it, or too little of it, is.
Every summer we wage war against it. We hide from it, cool ourselves from it, shield ourselves from it, and complain about it.
Yet without it there would be no ripe mangoes, no afternoon cricket matches, no drying red chillies on rooftops, no buttermilk stalls, and no shade under a tree that feels earned.
Heat is uncomfortable, yes.
But discomfort and necessity are often roommates.
Heat is necessary, but...
Heat should be optimal, not optional.
Everyone has their own tolerance.
When heat exceeds that tolerance, it becomes a burden for those who cannot tolerate it or do not have the means to escape it.
My Wife Returns
A very common form of heat that we all experience lies in the ever changing season called summer.
Personally, summer is when I have to forget about my mistress, kodukapuli, and return to my wife, mango.
I have been married to her ever since I was born in Salem.
Let me confess!! It was a child marriage. I had absolutely no say in it.
She simply grew on me as we lived together in my hometown.
Did I mention that I have several wives?
Malgova.
Banganapalli.
Imam Pasand.
Maliga.
The list goes on.
Summer Makes Us Kinder
What other good things happen when I reunite with my wife?
Only during summer do I see people visibly opening up and becoming warmer.
You see earthen pots filled with water outside homes.
You see drinking troughs for birds and animals being regularly filled and maintained.
You see free buttermilk being distributed.
You see strangers looking out for one another.
And I cannot help but wonder:
Is the increase in heat making us more humane than ever?
I question myself.
Has the average temperature been increasing every year?
Yes.
Am I worried about people who do not have the means to cool themselves during extreme heat?
Yes.
Have I planted at least one sapling that has grown into a tree?
Yes.
Am I hydrating myself regularly?
Yes.
Questions
Which leads to more questions.
Am I the only one looking forward to summer?
Am I the only one who does not have an AC?
Am I the only one who does not wear sunscreen?
Am I the only one who enjoys summer while the majority seem to hate it?
Am I the only one caught between my mistress and my wife every year?
Probably not.
After all, mango season is here.