JUNE THUNDER

New books, unromantic rains and some other stuff

What do you think this blog post is going to be about? Rains in the month of June? Probably. However, since the title has the word ‘June’ in it, I can assure you that this will be something related to the month of June. In hindsight, I could have pretended to be a wonderful author and whipped up something totally unexpected and swooned you but hey! Who am I kidding? The last time I wrote something half decent was a very long time ago and that’s kind of why I am here talking to you through this blog. Here I am, wiping the metaphorical dust and cobwebs off my blog page and writing something entirely new. At the moment, I hope this newfound motivation of mine stays and I successfully keep my blog from gathering dust again. (Fingers crossed!)

If you're thinking, ‘Krishna, stop. You haven't written for a long time and you’re procrastinating by simply rambling.’, I won’t keep you waiting any longer and dive right in. As promised, I will start with what the title announces: June. 

June brings a lot of memories to mind. As a teenager just out of school, you can expect me to be nostalgic about the back-to-school season. Come May end and it was time for a visit to the bookstore in order to buy books for the forthcoming year. I’ll be honest: I would always insist to accompany my parents for this visit to the bookstore, solely because I would want to choose my own name slip. Anyone who has passed the 8th grade will know for sure how name slips (or labels) are a very big deal. You will have the books with you for one whole year and each day of the year, you will be looking at its cover page. The name slips have to reflect how you feel about each and every subject. (If you know me, you would know that I chose the name slip with the ugliest cartoon for my maths textbook) The name slip, therefore, is very symbolic of who you are at that point in life and, consequently, choosing the correct name slip is extremely crucial. It is, what they call, child’s play, but no adult can do it perfectly. Of course, this obsession with maintaining your books in an impeccable fashion ends with the end of the month. I’d say, that too is a milestone of June.  

The initiation to higher classes began before classes began: you would have to cover your own books- no one would do it for you. June came as a death knell for boredom. You would have grown tired and weary of sitting at home and would have successfully annoyed every member of the family. Hence, having something to do would always be a welcome and exciting change. 

When I think of June, something else that comes to mind is the rains. Now hear me out, rains are romantic only as long as you get to stay dry. Imagine having to walk through inundated, muddy roads wearing brand new white socks that are tight enough to leave marks on your calves, matched with your sparkling new pair of black shoes and hoping to god nothing funny gets into them. Those of us who are lucky enough to have remembered to carry an umbrella don’t have to worry about books getting sogged in the rainwater peeping in through the cracks and crevices in our bag. Really takes the romance out of rains, doesn’t it? But hey, if it rains hard enough, you get an unprecedented holiday! 

Of course, this rather lovely process of starting a new school year with high hopes and aspirations stopped very abruptly when book covers and name slips were replaced by pdfs, but let’s not go there now. 

June means something else now. As I sit in the comfort of my own room, in my own chair, I do not think about my science textbooks or feel the glee of the teacher teaching a new story in English class. I have taken a three-year subscription (might resubscribe) to this glee that I felt in my English classes and now, what happens when two atoms meet is none of my business!

I like what June means now. I’ll admit, so far I haven’t found special connotations for this month, but I can tell you what I will be doing this June! I will surely be reading a handful of books- partly for leisure and partly for business. I probably will pursue my newfound interest in sports and watch a bunch of matches. I will also try to soak in as much of this city as possible. Ahmedabad is called the Walled City and it is time I delve into those narrow, historic lanes and breathe in Amdavad. I will marvel at the architectural wonder that this city provides and much as I have before, ponder over how literary forms of art are not all that different from the sculpting, drawing, and crafting kind of art, lose myself amidst my deliberations, feel at one with the surrounding beauty, feel ‘infinite’ (as Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower once said) and be jolted back to reality at the honk of a car. And of course, as I walk aimlessly through those legendary streets, I won’t forget to devour the tasteful platter that my city presents. 

Not a bad plan for this June, I’d say!

Capturing the essence of June?