The sound and the fragrance of the desert cooler reminds me of the hot hot afternoons when we used to come back from school all squished up and practically busted the poor doorbell in our hurry to get home to mommy, amazing lunch, mangoes, cool cooler air and an afternoon nap. Oh the insufferable five minutes when you had to leave the pump switched on for the grass to get wet before you switch on the fan! The crazy creative plumbing around the house to ensure you did not have to run about with a hose pipe to refill the coolers! The war with the permanently sick little sister over the room temperature! The icky colourful salt deposits that the electrician scraped out of the cooler at the beginning of the season! And the fragrance! The smell of mitti, paani, relief, shelter, childhood and love!
It's taking all I have to not go stand in front of the cooler right now and go "aaaaaaaaaa" and let the fan blades slice my jungle cry!
4 comments:
You have a point. That IS one of my more pleasant memories of Delhi.
J.A.P.
don't resist! it's your natural state of being! aa/aaa/aa/aaa
After reading this i can almost smell the cooler and suddenly miss it terribly!
The only solace is - i dont have to find solutions to keep the hose tied to the cooler tank so that i (the exploited younger sibling) dont have to stand it till the damn tub filled.
Thanks for bringing back the bitter sweet memories!
aaaaaaa a aaaaaa aaa aaaa aaaa
Post a Comment