Summers in Hyderabad

I couldn’t wait for classes to be over on the last day of school before the summer break. I thought of the fun-filled days and weeks ahead of us. No more school, no homework, getting up late in the mornings, the prospect of spending time with cousins and friends. Reading books at leisure. What else could I ask for?

I remember coming home from school, from the heat and humidity outside to the sound of whirring fans and the sweet fragrance of “khus chilmuns,” blinds that are made from a fragrant grass called khus. The feeling of relief that I wouldn’t be going back to school the next day.

The summer season in Hyderabad starts in March and ends around mid-June. The days are hot and humid with occasional rain. Ceiling fans were not enough to cool the rooms, so we used portable electric fans, an air cooler, and chilmuns.

Before the start of summer, my mother would have the fans and the air cooler brought out from storage and had them cleaned and oiled. Khus chilmuns that were stored during winter or kept rolled up on the sides of the veranda were brought down and sprayed with water to moisten the khus. All our “razais” (comforters) were put away or rather stacked in neat piles and kept in one of the rooms.

Yet, what I remember most about summers in Hyderabad are our happy and carefree days. The routine in our home changed during summer. Even though I enjoyed going on vacations, the summer breaks spent at home were my happiest.

My siblings, cousins and I, spent our mornings playing indoor games, reading books and magazines, or sometimes listening to music. We didn’t have a T.V. and we couldn’t go outside so we invented games to keep ourselves busy. One of our favorite games was to play kings, queens and robbers. Almost every day we climbed on the top of the neatly folded razai piles or hid behind them bringing them all down. My mother said not a word! The next day we played again on the razai piles without a thought as to who had put them back.

I would often go to the Secunderabad Club Library with my brother and sister and bring a stack of books.

During the afternoons if we made too much noise we were asked to come inside and take a nap. It was too hot to lay down on mattresses so we put dhurries or “chatais” mats on the floor. The floor was hard but cool and soon and we got used to it. My favorite part of the afternoon was lying next to my mother on the chatai as she read her book. One of her favorite authors was Munshi Premchand who wrote in Urdu and Hindi. She would read excerpts from his novels and short stories. I remember listening to my mother reading Premchand’s novel Nirmala and Roothi Rani. Sometimes we managed to slip out and play under the shade of the mango or guava trees.

In the evening our backyard was sprayed with water to cool down the hot surface. This was the time we were allowed to go outdoors. A group of us, my sister, cousins, and I, would go for a walk accompanied by our “ayah” nanny, and meet our friends in the neighborhood.

Although the evenings were cooler in Hyderabad, without air conditioning it was very uncomfortable to sleep indoors. So for some weeks during summer our daybeds with mosquito nets attached were brought out on the terrace.

Sleeping on the terrace on a clear starry night with the fragrance of “Raat ki Raani,” the night jasmine wafting through the air is one of my best summer memories. The girls slept on their part of the terrace away from the grownups. My sister, my cousins, and I stayed up late telling ghost stories and competing with each other on who would stay up the longest.

But then we would have that occasional rain. The first drops of rain would wake us up. We waited hoping against hope the rain would stop, even making a little prayer so we wouldn’t have to get up and go inside. It was the most uncomfortable feeling to get up from a deep sleep, roll up our thin mattresses and sheets, and go back inside in the middle of the night.

There was a small raised side garden in our house where we had our dinners during summer. We all remember my mother’s homemade yogurt and ice cream. The ice cream was made by boiling milk and adding custard powder, sugar, and vanilla essence till the mixture thickened, then freezing it in ice cream trays. It was a simple recipe but we all loved it.

For some reason, the squares in our ice cream tray were not equal in size. My youngest cousin, who is now a grandfather, still claims that he got the largest squares of the ice cream because he was my mother’s favorite nephew. He probably was her favorite, he was the only one who would sit with her patiently while she sewed on her antique Singer sewing machine. He would rotate the wheel while she navigated the fabric with her hands.

I loved every minute of my summer break yet when it was time for school to reopen I was excited to go back. Maybe I felt the need to get back into a routine again.