Don’t let summer be a bummer

Sweating it out this summer? Don’t! Just chill with homemade ice candy. Or bring the hammock indoors to laze on and read. We know what you can do this summer

Pip spitting competition anyone? Eat watermelon off the rind and spit out the pips; have a seed spitting competition…how far can you go? Suck mango pulp from a whole fruit. Get messy! Pamper yourself with a fruit mask. In summer fruits ripen faster than you can possibly eat them!

Eat, sleep outdoors If you have the privilege of sleeping out in the open/backyard/balcony/terrace, under clear night skies, just do it! If you have a backyard, or a lawn pitch a tent and sleep out. Have a friend with a farmhouse? Even better! Eat out. And by that I don’t mean in a restaurant. When the sun goes down, it’s party time. Call friends over just for an evening of cooling summer drinks, or host a barbecue, or simply sit out and eat dinner in an open space around your home. Lay dinner out on the terrace. Choose a moonlit night.

Bring in the outdoors Beat the heat by staying indoors with a good book or film. Swap books and films with friends. Tie a hammock in your balcony, garden, or even a corner in your room to laze in or read on. If you can’t laze out, laze in. Bring in some plants. Soothe your eyes with green. Plants clean up your air and cool your room.

Ice candy is nice candy Make ice candy at home. All you need is some juice, candy mould and sticks. Or use the ice tray to make juice popsicles — freeze strawberry, mango, cranberry juice.

One for the family album It’s a great time to make family albums. It’s the digital age and we don’t print pictures ever. Choose memorable ones and create a physical album. You’ll bless me the day your hard drive crashes and you lose all your photos. Or create a scrap book with them. Call up old aunts and get family recipes. Put them down, laminate them, and add them in the album for yourself and your kids.

Show your city some love If you are the kind who can easily brave the sun with a hat or umbrella, sunscreen, and water bottle, go on a touristy bus tour of your city. How much do you know of the city you’ve lived in? See it from a tourist’s point of view. Go on walking tours of your city. You’ll probably see it with new eyes.

Summer demands a fashionable shedding Give your wardrobe a quick summer makeover. If there are clothes you want to get rid of because you’re bored of them, snip them and create DIY summer avatars. Make shorts out of old jeans or capris. Leave them shredded if you don’t know how to/don’t want to sew. Cut off sleeves from old tees to create grungy sleeveless tops. Look around the house for that straw hat you bought on your vacation and never wore. Or your parents old oversized glares. Time to show it off.

Get away Head for a quick holiday. Or to the nearest water park. Or plan a Sunday picnic in Lal Bagh/Cubbon Park. Make sure you go after the sun starts its post-noon descent. Take a Frisbee or play cricket. You’re sure to find company.

What day is it today? Monday or movie day? Really bored and don’t mind spending a packet? Theme your days. Do a movie day. Go to one of the cinema multiplexes. Pick a theatre and watch every movie screened in that hall, morning to night. Or make one day a pub hop day. On another just go mall-trawling; indulge in a tonne of shopping. Make another day, park day, and visit all the parks in the city that you wanted to, but never have! Or maybe do a museum day? Mix art galleries with science museums. And you get to stay indoors, mostly.