Am in the mood to pen some thoughts down, and for some reason, am a little nostalgic today and my thoughts stray towards a cool summer breeze.
Now in Secunderabad and there are only two kinds of climate that you have here - HOT… and …Not so Hot. And as the days progress January becomes February and Feb into March, and from there on, it is only Hot, Hotter and Hottest. One of the few things that were a prized for a Secunderabadi apart from Beer and Biryani was the thought of a cool breeze on a summer night. Now let me take you through an interesting bit of history why this was so romantic.
Let me take you back by 16-17 years. In those days, before we had ACs or more than 3 cars to choose from; there were many nights that were spent being ONE with nature, getting close to all of god’s creations. Am not referring to any strange flying objects or heavenly appearances; am just talking of ….
A POWER CUT ! ( Sounds of Dhiskiyaon )
Yes we had lots of them, never very welcome but it was the power cuts post midnight, that made us all closer to nature. Complete silence except for the crickets and cockroaches singing love songs outside and the faint but growing buzz of a mosquito homing in only at your left ear lobe. - CLAP! (Missed that Little #@$#@* ).
After the initial feeling of,
“Oh God, not now” and “Every time, I am the ONLY one in the entire colony to call the substation” ;
there comes the evergreen response from APSEB lineman the other end of the telephone line:
“Kaiku Chillare Sahab, Ham bhi andhere mein kaam karre na.
Ek ghante ke baad Karrant aata, Jao, Jaake so jao”.
But these were the times when there would be absolute silence, no TV, no faces to see. Just silhouettes..... Robbed of the cozy environs, one would slowly and subconsciously pull the blanket off and look around to turn a newspaper into a magic paper fan and give those few short lived gusts of cold air. At this point most Secunderabadis would find their most romantic experience of the Power Cut - A Short Cool breeze blowing in from the half opened window. Slowly bringing relief, this breeze was our moment of joy! The rustling of leaves on the tall trees and a subtle rattle of the window pane, would signal its coming. As if being gently submerged in a pool and the water slowly taking over, this breeze was as welcome as being lifted with it over the clouds. Just then the gust would drop and one would feel as if falling from the sky back on that sultry bed.
But this brings us to the most interesting moment of this whole experience. . The Wait.
The wait for the next cool breeze to come in, and to take us away to the clouds again. The wait to even hear the rustling of the trees. The wait for a slightest hint that the wind would return one more time. Everyone would hold their breath to experience this cool wind blowing in.
Slowly but surely the breeze would blow again, and the heart would be filled with joy. This was a unique moment of happiness to all Secunderabadis.
To think of the two opposites that one would possibly remember after 6 years of studying Geography in school, it would definitely be : Sea Breeze and Land Breeze.
Now, coming back to what I wanted to tell you about a Cool summer breeze……………
