A Hot Summer Day

 

It was the month of June. It was sultry hot. The sun was shining very brightly. It was right over the head. It seemed as it was raining fire. It was emitting flames and balls of fire. It was extremely hot. The day was totally unbearable. The creatures were gasping for breath. The house was burning with heat. The electricity had tripped. The fans had stopped. Now to remain in the house was quite intolerable. The hand fan was equally ineffective. The air was too fiery to give any relief. This situation compelled me to go outside in the open. 

I went to the nearby Gardens in search of a cool breeze. But I was badly mistaken. There not even a leaf was moving. The earth itself was as hot as oven. The grass and tender leaves of tiny plants were all parched. Birds and animals were breathless. The street dogs were rolling in the slushy (muddy) pond nearby. Many a cattle was wandering aimlessly for a shady place. But it was the only thing which was not available anywhere. There was excessive heat on all sides. Even the shade of the trees was respiteless. 

I went to the nook and corner of the garden but there was no rest anywhere at all. I became greatly restless and feverish. Then I returned home. I felt my pulse. My body was burning. I was sick. On reaching home, I fell ill due to heat-stroke. I was confined to bed. My temperature rose to 104 degree. The doctor was called in. He checked me thoroughly. He assured my parents that it was nothing but a simple sunstroke. He prescribed a few medicines and a bandage soaked in ice-cold water. This bandage was to be applied again and again on my forehead. It would soothe me. It would help decrease my temperature considerably. I got medicines, I took rest in my bed. The bandage was applied time and again. I felt soothed. My mother was greatly worried about me. She said again and again that her son, who was hearty an hour ago, was now a patient, confined to bed with high temperature. But when she helped me with a hand fan and ice-cold bandage, she herself felt re-assured. My fever came down suddenly to the relief of my parents. They became happy. I also became relieved of the restlessness which I had been feeling greatly by now. 

Thanks Lord I was well and on my feet again by the evening. Then the electric fans and cooler began to work. As by then the line to our house from the electric pole was rectified. The pressure of heat decreased. The cool breeze followed. And every thing was o.k. 

But when I was lying in my bed, my ideas ran to scrutinize the cycle of seasons-whether it was winter or summer. Both the seasons are equally nasty and bad for a poor man. In a hot summer, the poor fellow had no rest. He has to work hard in order to meet his ever day’s needs. It is very difficult to make both ends meet gracefully and leisurely. He works always under a scorching heat. His lot is really very hard. Again, if it is winter, he is an easy prey to a biting cold. He has to face chilly winds. He has no warm clothes to cover his body. With bare hands and feet, the poor fellow has to put in hard labour. Mostly he falls ill. His body is naked. His stomach is empty and hungry. But he has to work in such an unpleasant weather. He knows no rest. His lot is very pitable. Either season is not favourable to him.