My dear Sun,
How are you? Wassup? How are summers
going? All is well? Ahh…wait… before you start wondering who am I? Firstly, let me introduce myself. I am young
girl named ‘Vichita’, living in a small state dressed with beaches, Goa! I have
been brought in the sand which sparkles when you shine… and the air which
brightens when you smile. I am writing to you to share my little experience
this summer because you are one person who has been with me all these years…
relaxing in the summers, playing hide and seek in the monsoon and warming up in
the winters.
I am girl belonging to a small orthodox
family which lives in a house bonded with values, discipline and culture. Since
childhood I have never grew beyond books, never stood second in class and never
played out with friends. Life was always about hard work and the obvious
followed success.
This summer vacations of my college my
mother had planned to teach me all house hold chores, like every other year.
The only new thing this vacation was my cousin Kyra, who was coming down for a
few days. Kyra is my aunt’s daughter born and brought up in Chennai. She is a
chirpy, pretty and bubbly girl of my age. In spite of us belonging to the same
blood stream and similar family values, we are poles apart as a person. Kyra
has a charm which makes it hard for anybody to deny her anything. She gets done
whatever she feels like… No Rules, No plans! Even our old family discipline is
charmed by her. She has very different rather eccentric ideas of enjoying vacations,
whereas I have never really enjoyed any vacation. So I just did whatever she
wanted to!
Up till now, going out in the sun was
absolute NO-NO. Mom always scolded sarcastically “Look at you in the mirror”.
For her, it was always about my looks and my success. But Kyra kept insisting
on going out and like everybody even mom couldn’t deny her. Together, we went everywhere.
We played volleyball on the beaches, built sand castles, splashed water on each
other and buried our feet in the sand till the waves washed them off. We played
in the parks with kids, trying to hide in the corners scratching ourselves
everywhere. We spent hours street shopping….actually bargaining! We danced in
the pre-monsoon showers, making boats and jumping in the puddles. Of course
later fell sick and spent days blabbering while lying on the bed. We danced wackily on loud music, watched stupid
movies on television and at the end of the day we tried to figure out what exactly
we were doing all day. 
For the first time in my life I had enjoyed
the freshness of the open air, the warmth of the sun, the calmness of the sea
and the beauty of childhood. After vacationing with Kyra I feel as if I am born
all over again. Now, I feel different as a person. Two big things, I have
learnt are…
2. Live it up with nature; it brings
out the beauty in you!
You know why I am writing to you this
letter? Because Mr. Glory Forever (Sun), you have always been a friend but I never
liked that you tanned me. Today, with Lakme Sun Expert, I can happily hug you
and play along. And somehow, I feel that Kyra is like your daughter, Sunshine
in my life! Thank you so much Mr. Sunny for illuminating my life!
With Love,
Vichita
