THE SUMMER IS HERE

The summer is here for at least six to eight more months, during the schedules of electricity shut down and hot air, the day long, we often forget the cool breeze of winter, the festivity of spring and falling leaves of autumn. Our top priorities are to check the water level of our batteries for UPS so that we can survive in the long, hot and sunny days of summer.  There are some remedies to control the severity of season and people manage it in their own ways. A good thing to lighten the effect of hot weather is watermelon; people love to eat more and more watermelons to keep their minds cool. Oops! What have I done? I reveal the secret of survival of a common man in the hot summer. This is the cheapest fruit until the time that is away from officials’ sight. I think they do not know the benefit of this fruit otherwise it will surely be levied with a lot of taxes and send

beyond the reach of poor people.

Summer is a season when we all desperately waiting for all kinds of mangoes.  The wait is necessary as they well ripe in the middle of summer otherwise one has to enjoy stored or artificially prepared mangoes. Anwar Ratore, Sindhary, and Chaunsa are my favorite. During summer, women are also being attracted to new collections of lawn print. They are being attracted with the magnetism of sale and reduction of prices. But this is not enough, heat strokes grab all the festivity and people cannot survive without a variety of cold drinks. During the last few years, the temperature is increasing in most of the part of our country, especially in Karachi. People of Karachi never faced such hot and humid weather before that is why they were not familiar with the ways to handle it and precautions. They lost so many dear ones.

We enjoy a range of shakes and smoothies in this season. But here I want to mention some of the traditional drinks that people often use in daily routine to avoid heat stroke. These are all prepared with simple ingredients and useful to all whom living in hot areas around the world.

Lassi is a tradition to break the strictness of hot weather. It is a shake of yogurt with a lot of water. Sometimes the ratio of water is 10 times than yogurt. Why it is so? The logic behind as the elders told is of cold effectiveness. Drink it with sugar or pinch of salt or as plain, it tastes great and good in hot summer. We can rank it at first position and it deserves to be.

Sikanjbeen is a combination of lemon juice and water; it can also be drunk as required; sweet, salty or plain. One lemon is quite enough for one glass, sugar according to your diabetes level and salt up to your

blood pressure level. Do not drink it from any road corner stall, because they just mix flavors of lemon and sugar and you will find no purity in them. Also, there is a threat of hygiene.

Kachchi Lassi is also very good in hot summer. It is prepared with milk and water and ratio is not defined; it is all up to you. Normally, 1/8 glass of milk and remaining water with a pinch of salt is the best.

The pulp of dried and soaked plum and tamarind; both mixed with water and sugar; great in taste and also

well known to resist in hot weather.

Sugar cane juice is the only thing that we cannot prepare at our home as it requires some heavy machinery. No worries, we have to compromise and drink it from outside. People; often love to add mint, lemon, ginger, and salt to enhance its taste. Use of said items is also good for the stomach. A few years back, people like to purchase sugar canes. They peel and slice them and chew the small slices for juice. It is now rare but still intact in remote areas.  It is a good way to get its juice and also a good exercise for teeth, gums, and mouth.

Jiggery juice is also very popular on its own as well. It is also mixed with a lot of things like lemon, Tukham Malanga (some kind of black tiny seeds that become sticky after being soaked), barley husk (known as Sattu) etc. It is very refreshing cold drink.

These are some of the drinks still there are many like milk with almond, red syrup (Jam e Shirin and Rooh Afza) etc.

Normally, these drinks contain sugar element in all of them but still they can be molded as a requirement. Beside of these drinks, we should cover our head and shoulders to avoid excess heat. One should also take care while walking under the open sky; try to walk in shady areas. Trees have the best shade that once was a lot in our cities but now they are rare. We should motivate ourselves to grow more and more plants in our houses no matter how many places we have. They can be grown even in pots but their effect is long lasting.

Well, hoping some addition to this list from viewer’s side and waiting for sweat, tasty, pulpy, fragrant and ripe mangoes, that is the only good thing in hot summer.

Best regard.