Sweet Notes of Summer
I love summers for my favourite jasmine and mangoes. The duo brings to mind, childhood summers of school exams and their sweet successor, the vacation. The heavenly fragrance of the jasmine, also called mogra or mallepuvvu are to be plucked in the evening, the right buds that would half open while you made a flower- garland or gajra . Our neighbour and close family friend had taught me how to make gajras without a needle, securing the flowers snugly with little loops of a string of thread, buds tied together, neither too close to each other nor too far apart, giving the perfect look when you adorned your hair with it. Plaited hair adorned with jasmine flowers strung together with the delicate orange flowers called kankambaram or aboli and the sweet, musky, tiny leaved marvam sprigs strung together in a visually appealing tricolour was once a common sight. We no longer wear flowers in our hair except on occasions like a close rela...