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Wednesday, 30 June 2021

The summer of 2021

 

Recently, someone asked me what I planned to do, to beat the ‘Summer Blues’.

Summer blues? What summer blues said I. Am just waiting for my vacation to begin.  

 Now I have said this umpteen time - I am not travelling for obvious reasons. No intention of getting stuck amidst the hot springs, whale watchers or active volcanoes in Reykjavik in Iceland.

Then, Seychelles, which was on top of my agenda, has now been shelved once and for all - snorkeling and diving are not exactly my cup of tea. Just imagining myself under water, wearing goggles, a mask, a body suit, a snorkel and fins makes me exceedingly claustrophobic. In fact, I can only swim to a point. In reality, only the breath of a medium sized pool is what I manage, that too in shallow water, and even then, I come up gasping for air, much to the amusement of friends and relatives. And then, there are the ‘active honeymooners’ to contend with, so it’s an emphatic NO.

 Pune was my next ‘go to’ place, but the Delta variant in Maharashtra has put paid to those elaborate plans too. To compound the issue, the authorities have now termed it as ‘Delta plus’- probably something like a cyclone gathering in intensity and turning into a hurricane, I guess. Pray it blows over.

So here is my tentative plan. Not foolproof, etched in stone or in any particular order of importance, but I have given it quite a lot of thought.

I must catch up on some reading – nothing too heavy though. I asked a friendly bibliophile for help, and without blinking an eye, she excitedly recommended, ‘Marienbad my Love’, by Mark Leach. It has 17.8 million words on 10,710 pages she said. The Blah story by Nigel Tom was her next recommendation - that has 11 million words on 7312 pages. She seemed to know her facts.  I have a gut feeling she was joking, because when I did a little more research, they are two of the longest books ever written! So, I have disregarded her recommendation. Thank you, Miss, but no thanks.  

Instead I plan to read a book I studied in school- ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee – I loved it then and would not mind reading it again. Tom Robinson’s story resonates with me, especially in this present day and age, when racism has reared its ugly head- then there was the unforgettable Boo Radley!   There is also "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald – a book I hear is good. Have a few more lined up too.

Also intend to ‘do some music’ – have got in touch with a musician friend and hopefully, I will be able to record some songs. If they are not too bad, may also upload them – who knows!

That reminds me of something funny. I started out playing the drums in a band with three other friends. We were all teens and self-taught musicians.  We played all over Allahabad, were quite good and very popular as a group known as the ‘Revivals’. We played a lot of Rock ‘N Roll and Country music and earned good money as well.  However, drummers are usually seated at the back of the others, so playing drums and singing my heart out, while everyone else hogged center stage upfront, did not exactly appeal to me. It did not take me long to stop playing drums and go back to my first love – the guitar. Playing rhythm and singing was something I then enjoyed for years, and still do- so let’s see how the recordings go. Probably I was a bit vain back then!

Who doesn’t want to lose weight!  I certainly do. I believe there is a skinny man within me, wanting to come out.  Now it won’t be a diet. No Paleo, Vegan, Atkins or Dukan plans for me. I believe they are fads and extremely difficult to sustain for any length of time. Dieting seems to make people sad – when I look at their faces, i feel like feeding them a cup cake filled with chocolate and cream.

Brings to mind a relative who is into fitness and diets. One day she will pop in and say, “I have stopped eating sweets” or, “No more rice for me’’. A week or two later the self- proclaimed promise is forgotten, and she is back to square one! To give her credit she exercises regularly.  However, on my part, I do intend to eat sparingly, eat healthy & cut the carbs as far as possible. Reminds me of the Mrs. at home – she weighs herself and whatever the reading, she convinces herself and attempts to convince me, that she was a few hundred grams more than that, the previous time, and hence has definitely reduced. It’s the reverse with me – I weigh myself, and if the scale shows eighty, she is determined that I was seventy-eight the last time, and have gone up two kg! And then the fight begins!

By the way – I must get new batteries for the weighing scale before the holidays begin. The amount of times we bang on it, to get it to work, will surely ruin it someday.

Exercise – oh yes exercise. I will fit this in somewhere- I ought to. Now don’t get me wrong – you must not expect to see photos of me doing chin ups, dead lifts, suspended pushups or bench pressing – will leave that for the pros. However, I will fit in some light to moderate exercise into my schedule. And just to clarify- after the vacation there will not be selfies of me showing my biceps, triceps, or a six pack for that matter. I have them all, but am not a show off! I know some of you will be scoffing when reading this, but that’s your prerogative isn’t it?!!

Now family, friends and colleagues will know (some may not), that I like to cook and that I can rustle up some fairly tasty vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. (Gordon James Ramsay, I hope you are listening). If you look back, I used the world ‘like & rustle up’. I don’t love cooking per se, but, when in the mood (read that as once a fortnight or so), I can produce a yummy meal while leaving the kitchen spotless. I also bake- cakes being my sort of specialty – Christmas cakes to be more precise. By the way, I hope my wife does not read this, as she believes, that as she is responsible for getting all the ingredients cleaned, chopped and ready, and doing the other miscellaneous jobs prior to the actual process, she, in reality, has done the major part of ‘baking the cake’. We disagree on the nomenclature every time, and this is often the start of ‘the argument’.

Whenever guests or relatives taste the cake, enjoy it, and ask, ‘who made the cakes’, I make it a point to smile & say ‘we baked the cakes together’, in an attempt to earn brownie points, so very vital, especially during the festive season. I do get a sarcastic look or two, but after one has been married for over thirty-five years, like we have, it does not matter.

After the guests depart, I often hear statements like ‘why did you have to smile and say it’ or ‘you know you hardly did anything don’t you’ or the best one, ‘next time you can do everything yourself’ . That makes me burst out laughing – and then the fight begins!

I will continue to put words down on the computer. I love sharing stories, anecdotes and memories on social media. Though it does take up quite a bit of time, I usually write early in the morning and on weekends & it is something I thoroughly enjoy. I find it rather therapeutic and it also helps me keep in touch with so many people.

Decluttering is on the list of ‘to do items’ during this vacation. Must get rid of old clothes and miscellaneous paraphernalia. I have no clue why we have so many cables, wires, plugs, chargers, tools and the like. I have no idea about repairing electrical or mechanical items, have never fixed a fuse and can just about change a light bulb – so those items must definitely be discarded as junk. Another topic for an animated discussion at home is, ‘who has collected the most junk’.

I am proud to say that one ‘not so good habit of mine’ has been dispensed with. Actually, it dispensed with itself – I was quite a shopaholic and bought so much stuff that I actually did not need. Since the pandemic, the desire to buy clothes, shoes, ties, watches, socks etc. has waned. Sweat pants and sneakers are oh so comfortable!

Newspapers and the television will fill in the gaps !

Lastly – we have any number of relatives in the UAE and some good friends as well – hopefully we will catch up and spend some quality time together.

Summer will not be wasted for sure!     

 “Be the reason someone smiles today… Or the reason someone drinks. Whatever works.”

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