---
title: "Summer is not Summering"
description: "Summers used to mean cricket, cousins, clay pots, and ice apple cart races. Now? Just heat. A trip down memory lane to the summers that actually summered."
author: "Samba Siva"
published: 2026-05-13T17:06:07.183Z
updated: 2026-05-27T12:28:37.590Z
tags:
  - "Opinions"
  - "Personal"
url: "https://sambasivareddy.in/blog/summer-is-not-summering"
---

# Summer is not Summering

So, how's your summer going? Mine, if I go out I would definitely come out fried and tired.

But then I remembered my summers before 2019. What happened after 2019? Well, that's a story for another blog post. Not that summers before are hot, but there was pure joy in them.

I used to wake up at 7 o'clock but not to get ready for work, but to play cricket. We built the wickets with whatever we found like bricks, wooden sticks etc. and played until the sun is over our heads. But not once did we get dehydrated, Guess why? Because we had clay pots that kept the water cool. Some days we would even cycle kilometres to play against a neighbouring village - no complaints, no excuses, just cricket. Not to mention getting cursed out by the farmers every time the ball landed in their fields - a guarantee, not a possibility.

Every summer, my village would suddenly feel fuller. Cousins arriving at my grandparent's house - chaos, noise, and instant comfort all at once. Carrom boards would come out, and so would the arguments over who's cheating. We'd tease each other over the silliest things, fight over even sillier ones, and five minutes later it was forgotten. Writing this now, I'm smiling without even realising it.

How can we continue talking about Summers without paying tribute to Mangoes, Ice Apple and Ice Cream? These were the OGs of summer, then and now. Dozens of mangoes, no worrying about pimples. And those ice apple shells? We'd turn them into little carts and race each other down the street.

And every single day ended with us all sitting on the benches, chairs, chit-chatting about everything - men discussing politics, women discussing serials, we boys teasing each other, cousins sitting under the moonlight and staring at the stars and gossiping. I miss those simpler days.

* * *

Now summers are just summers - at least for me. We have smartphones to capture every moment, cameras ready at all times. But somehow, these moments are captured perfectly in memory...