A Summer Full Of Memories Recollected

By Author: Kumar Ram
Total Articles: 40
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Last summer break, the all boys trip I had planned to Maldives had to be cancelled at the end moment because three of the friends that were supposed to go backed out all of a sudden. I decided to visit my maternal uncle because I knew that I would be bored to death in the city had I decided to stay idle for 30 long days. After reaching the village and greeting the elders, my uncle showed me around.

Everything had changed. My uncle had a bigger home, his own shop (earlier, he just did his farming), and the backyard that was almost a jungle, was transformed into a farm where he grew his own food. He called it a hobby farm. That’s the only time I actually learned about a hobby farm. He pointed towards his tractor, “That’s my Solis Traktor. I have two of them. One is yet to arrive from the service center.” The one that was standing was a Solis 26 Tractor. It was, as he described, a Solis Compact Tractor.

When I visited 10 years ago, there was this girl in the neighbourhood that I played with. Shalima, I remembered, the girl with almost golden hair and brown eyes. I enquired ...
... about her and found out that she still lives in the same old house. I went to see her along with my aunt and later that evening, we were taking a stroll in my uncle’s hobby garden. It was she who showed me around and introduced me to the plants. “That’s a row of potatoes, and these, beneath the banana tree are coriander.” My eyes wandered around to the Solis Tractors standing in the dark. I googled “Solis Tractor Price” and found out that they’re both quite affordable.

We went in to have a close look. One was a Solis 26 Tractor and the other one, that arrived from the service center was a Solis 20 tractor. I burst into laughter thinking of how my uncle called it a Solis traktor. Shalima asked me why I laughed, and upon being told, she repeated, “I don’t understand, how do you say it?”

I was laughing louder than before when she asked me that, and said, “They’re Solis tractors.”

“Solis traktor,” She repeated.

I knew that I was the stupid one here. I mounted the Solis 26 tractor and Shalima got onto the Solis 20 Tractor, after which we had a long conversation – mostly catching up.

The next morning, my uncle took me to his farm. I started thinking of the old days when I wouldn’t even see him because he worked from dawn until dusk, and I, tired from all the playing around, would go off to sleep before he came home. When I saw the 26 HP Solis Compact Tractor once again, I remembered Shalima and the conversations we had in the previous evening. The playful girl that I knew once had actually turned into a responsible and thoughtful lady. Perhaps, this is how objects turn into memories. Later, after I went back to the city, every now and then, when I would see Solis tractors on the streets, I would remember the kind woman, Shalima.

In the noon that day, my uncle showed me how to operate the Solis 20 Tractor and I was almost delighted at how easy it was to operate. By the end of the vacation, I had learnt how to work with both the Solis tractors, learnt about all the technologies and how it changed my uncle’s life. When I was leaving, at the bus stand, I saw a brochure with details of Solis tractor price and my mind once again wandered into Shalima’s accent when she said, “What’s wrong with it? Solis traktor it is.”

About her, she accompanied me for a walk every evening and when I was finally leaving, she bid me adieu and gifted me a handkerchief that had my initials embroidered in a corner, HV.

“HV, Hasta la Vista,” I thought.