North Indian Summers isn’t exactly ‘my-kind-of’ a season......rather it never has been. The fiery glare of the sun burns my tender delicate leaves & desiccates the new set of shoots which are usually formed at the onset of spring. My hardy bark appears shriveled up, while the roots remain parched & thirsty, craving for water. Yet, I survive......battling the odds; because I am an
Evergreen Tree.
We plants anxiously await the onset of spring, followed by sunny summers.... but definitely not the scalding, simmering summers wherein the day temperatures vacillate between 44 - 48 degree Celsius, scorching and blistering our leaves.
Merely complaining and voicing my annoyance & my concern about something as trivial as the hot, hotter, hottest, seething summers proffers a rather cooling, refreshing, breezy respite.
Most people do have an option to stay indoors probably in their air conditioned offices and homes when the afternoon sun is directly overhead casting its strongest glare.
But what about us plants?
What about the school children who have to beat the heat probably cycling back on their way home at 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon?
What about the rickshaw puller with beady sweat trickling down his brows, pedaling as he ferries people to and fro?
What about the college goers & others like us who have little option but to brave the torturous hot temperature outdoors?
N. Indian Summer weather is fairly UNPREDICTABLE. One moment it could be bright and sunny and the very next moment, a tempestuous gale could rage, turning the sky from bright blue to a blurry pallid golden yellow.
Moreover, A Mid Summer Nightmare lurks, waiting to come alive and haunt city dwellers.... ........What with locality wise power cuts imposed by the electricity board or a major grid break down, ever so often, whenever such a Herculean dust storm hits the city.
Some of my own aged frail green friends face repeated threats of being uprooted by these strong bellowing winds while still others suffer irreparable damages / scars on their bodice. Absolutely Torturous!
I admit, in spite of the freezing cold, I still have a special preference for winters, because of the embellished, ornate feeling of being encircled by a rainbow of colors. The vibrant flush of seasonal FLOWERS, which encircle the evergreens beautifying every speck of the earth, the gardens, the roadside, the wilderness alike.
On the contrary, summers to me, appears Blanched, with Green’s looking more like discolored, scorched, patchy yellows, browns n grey. A rather disheartening sight!
However, one look at the bright yellow flush of the
AMALTAS and the resplendent fiery reddish orange blooms of a
GULMOHAR is enough to brighten any bland summer day.
Friends, let’s do our bit, and ensure that we all get treated to Bright Colourful Days, all the year round.
I don't want to stray and broach on the dire consequence of rapidly diminishing Green Cover, a major cause for 'Global Warming' , but instead lets make this miniscule effort together to...
‘Plant a Tree’
Plant a Hope.
Here's....
Wishing all Friends a Kool n Breezy Summer Vacations ahead.....
.
.
PS: Article published in HT City, 13th May, 2009
