Summer Stories: At Home

Summer Stories: At Home

Published by
Nabhoneel Majumdar
on 2015-6-12

At home, it was the usual routine.

The heat and the humidity induced inactivity and made me plod through the daily chores. The rooftop was a vent, if the temperature was bearable.

There was a week of high temperature and humidity, and finally, on the 11th of June, God gifted Kolkata with this sky, a storm, and torrential rainfall!

In March, I learnt how to capture panoramic images with my camera.

My First Panorama
My First Panorama
There was once particular day when it rained a bit. The after effect was wonderful. The golden light filled up our apartment as well!
There was once particular day when it rained a bit. The after effect was wonderful. The golden light filled up our apartment as well!
At Shantiniketan!
At Shantiniketan!
This is the last one. I'm still waiting for the sky to get filled with clouds, when the sun sets. Hopefully, this will happen after mid-June.
This is the last one.
I’m still waiting for the sky to get filled with clouds, when the sun sets. Hopefully, this will happen after mid-June.

Rain and কাল বৈশাখী (kaal boishakhi)

I will probably write a separate post on this, but here’s an introduction. These two elements provided a solution to every problem, whether I was at hostel, or at home.

Why?

Because it cooled the otherwise horrible weather, and refreshed the mind! The rain, combined with the petrichor, and the lightning, and the occasional storms are the elements that help to revitalize the inhabitants of Kolkata.

We got previews, on certain days, during the months of April and May.

In the month of April, I learnt how to photograph streaks of lightning. Usually, the mighty effect can be brought by combining several pictures, each picture containing one or more streaks.

I couldn’t do that for several reasons, however I did get a bit lucky.

lightning flash
This is a single photograph

After my exams ended, the skies did show more clouds, well defined at the time of sunset.

Natural and man made structures
Natural and man made structures
There was a week of high temperature and humidity, and finally, on the 11th of June, God gifted Kolkata with this sky, a storm, and torrential rainfall!
There was a week of high temperature and humidity, and finally, on the 11th of June, God gifted Kolkata with this sky, a storm, and torrential rainfall!

Friends

They don’t deserve any special mentioning, because at every instance of time, they make life more valuable.

At hostel, there are certain people with whom I enjoy spending time most. These people have changed me drastically in the past year.

Friends from my school, and those from my locality are my companions at home. Visiting their homes, conversing (and laughing, sometimes for no reason), having phuchka, cold drinks, chips – all these, made the time before and after the exam session infinitely better.

P.S. Thank you Agnij for reminding me that “moist soil’s scent” can be reduced to petrichor 🙂