Build friendships in summer that last through winter

We sat under blue silk skies and watched fireflies punctuate the dark. (Illustration by Suvir Saran) 7 min readJul 28, 2026 06:16 PM IST First published on: Jul 28, 2026 at 06:16 PM IST I am in Delhi, in my apartment in my mother’s compound, and perhaps that is why I still call it home. Mother’s home. The phrase survives adulthood, geography, success and sorrow. It survives Manhattan, migrations and the heart. Home is where language becomes smaller because love has already understood the larger sentence. My hair is short, and I sit by the window watching Delhi conduct its seasonal orchestra. Morning arrives white-hot; afternoon shimmers above the road; evening loosens the light, slowly, reluctantly. Every hour offers a different bulletin from the sky. Summer, it says. Summer. But do not co