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Ocean Colour Scene - Traveller's Tune |
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It is the return of the prodigal son of the seasons – the summer. This much awaited season at latitude 61 is all set to outshine our days and nights. The birch tree skeletons outside my window have been washed by a shimmering green hue lately, light is stealthily outrunning the night – today the sunset was at 10:30 pm, tomorrow in all probability it’ll snatch five more minutes off the night.
When I was young, surrounded by coconut trees, in a land of perpetual summer, I had wondered why the people in the English novels I read, looked forward to summer so enthusiastically? After all, it was the one season which really tested my love for my native land. Did I really want to live in a simmering tropical paradise(simmering only in summer) for the rest of my life, amidst the mosquitoes, the sticky humidity, parched river beds and shriveling shrubs? But then the monsoons came, it was like falling in love all over again (ok.. only if you didn’t travel in public buses where drenched-to-the bones people jostled with soggy umbrellas for space). Well, that’s another story altogether.
I have found that I am one of those few people who look forward to the days of midnight sun. We are gradually getting there, we have 17 hour days now, it’ll steadily progress till it reaches 20-21 hours of sunlight here in Anchorage. Even the 3-4 hours of darkness we get during early June to mid-July period is not completely dark. The so-called night time has a hint of sun, smeared across the horizon, kind of like twilight. Spring and fall are rather short-lived here, usually a couple or more weeks on each side of summer, which will pass off before you have time to notice.
The best thing about summer in Alaska is, you seem to possess enormous reserves of energy. I think it has to do with the sun. At 11pm at night its like 4pm and you feel like you have the energy left to butcher the whole evening ahead! The amount of energy and the life bursting at seams, give you the impression that if you watch carefully you might really see the leaves grow, buds sprout up and flowers bloom. Nature is in ultimate frenzy during the four months of summer as if to make-up for the time lost during the long winter. For the next four months, the roads and highways of Alaska will be packed bumper to bumper by cars, RVs, tourist buses and Harleys, plastered wall to wall with tourists from all over and crammed with cruise-ships elbowing for berths at its crowded ports. Viva la summer!
Whatever the length of this visit, the traveler in me is thankful to that unknown force that brought me to this beautiful land.
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diffdrummer's journal