1. Mangoes

Hailing from India, this one has to undoubtedly top my list. Mangoes are considered gold that summer harvests yield. All sorts of dishes savory and sweet, from achar(pickles), aam panna and aam ras, become a regular delicacy in your plates.

I remember running around on terrace roofs in scorching heat while mom would painstakingly prepare these delicacies.

2. Last day of school

I still remember that last minute excitement when you hand your last exam paper of the year, more concerned about your summer plans than what was on the paper.

That run back home would feel no less than a celebration.

3. Summers meant a huge get-together with cousins

Since all of us had were free from schools, a common meeting place would be granny's house. That was the time we would spend wandering in parks nearby, playing petty pranks on neighbors, watching the typical millennial cartoons and playing all sorts of indoor and outdoor games from carrom, badminton, to dumb charades.

4. PopSicles and cotton candy

Summers meant fairs and movies and all sorts of outings with friends and family. The only time we could eat ice-cream without worrying about falling sick. I remember preparing popsicles for everyone at home with my little brother and then sneaking in the kitchen in the afternoons to savor them all by ourselves.

5. Family picnics

Summers were all about beaches and treks with that gigantic lunch basket and unending stock of lemonade that mom carried everywhere. Seashores, sand, sandcastles, and shells just make a recipe for perfect summer days!

6. Old lovers reunited

For me it meant to reunite with the novels I could not catch up during schools. However summer love is not an uncommon thing. For many it literally means the title.

7. Homecoming of hibernators

In the place where I lived, I could hear the cuckoos hum as the summers approached; as if a harbinger to the approaching season. The vibrant parrots would come out only in summers to pluck guavas from trees outside our window and squirrels would scurry by the windowsill as if coming to greet us every summer.

8. New year, new things

Childhood was possibly the only time that I would be excited to return to school. I remember making a list of thing to buy for the coming year. New books (that smell of fresh pages was heaven!), all sort of fancy stationary and bags, and also a preparation for the rainy season.

9. New year, new friends

Was it just me, or did everyone had this one best friend, they always wished would never change class and remained in the same one like them?

A new year meant a new class, new faces, and the same old struggle to make new friends.