WHY TAKE A VACATION DURING THE VACATION?

“Where are you going during the summer break? I am going to Disneyland, not the Hong Kong one but the original one in the U.S”, a car pool buddy asked a question matter-of-factly and replied in the same breath when I was all of 8. “I will go to my Dada – Dadi, Nana – Nani’s place. That is what one has to do during the summer vacation”, I had said almost spontaneously, quite seriously and absolutely nonchalantly not putting much thought to it. That is another story that the Grandparents house would often turn into a one-of-its-kind amusement park with cousins various shapes, sizes, ages, temperaments, interests converging at one place having absolute organic fun. An eight-year-old would not say this to sound politically correct. I genuinely loved and looked forward to visiting my grand-parents more than taking off for a vacation to a foreign land.

Fast forward ten years and I, at almost 18 am still trying to figure out the fixation so many people have with taking a vacation during the vacation. Are grapes sour? No, certainly not. Here I am sipping my cold coffee and penning this stuff and believe me, I would not have it any other way. It is certainly a matter of personal choice. And it is not that I do not like to travel or do not travel. What I do not understand is why it MUST be done not when there is a season to visit a particular place or a reason. For instance, weather wise, the best time to visit some countries is not the time when people compulsorily visit them just because the time synchronizes with the summer break. Also, the reason has to be right. For me, the best time to visit a new place is when you have a milestone to celebrate or when you are down in the dumps or for that matter or there is a local festival or event that one can enjoy. Isn’t Diwali the best time for someone to visit India – both weather wise and because of the festive frenzy and uplifting aura?

The concept of the summer vacation is a remnant of an earlier, mainly agricultural America when children were needed to help their families work on farms. It is commonly believed that in the nineteenth century, school going children started taking the summer months off so that they would find time to work on the farm with their families.

Before the Civil War in America, farm kids never really had summers off. They went to school during the hottest and coldest months and stayed home during the spring and fall as this was the time when crops needed to be sown and harvested.

However, the origin of summer vacation in the United States had a lot more to do with the rising middle and upper class in the American society. As cities got denser, they became increasingly hotter. Endless lanes of brick and concrete transformed the urban blocks into kilns – the urban heat island effect. During the summer period, most of the affluent families escaped the hot and harsh summer weather with their kids and took respite in the cool countryside. This majorly affected the school attendance and learning progress. Classrooms were seen half empty summer after summer.

As this continued, legislators argued for counter balancing a more regulated summer break for school kids. All and sundry agreed that the idea of learning year round was not ideal for kids. As time went by, summer holiday became a norm with various schools cutting out about 40- 60 days off the school in a calendar year to accommodate this newly conceived summer break. In due course, all countries followed suite.

Leave all the erstwhile reasons aside, for some, vacation simply means to head for a vacation to some place.

Here is a list of most common reasons why people like to take a vacation during the vacation.

Many say that travel teaches you a lot. I do not disagree at all. I do not agree completely either. For I feel that it is not only travel that teaches you things. Staying put in your zone teaches you a lot too. In fact, staying at home teaches you many things. Let’s start with grandparents. It is absolutely fantastic if they happen to live in another city for then you get to have a getaway too. Spending leisure time with your grandparents teaches several things. As a matter of fact, grandparents are reservoirs of knowledge and history books in themselves! Every time, I spend time with my maternal and paternal grandmother, my history knowledge enhances several notches. From delving deep into Sikh history to hearing a vivid, first-hand account of the partition days which my paternal grandmother has seen up close and personal, I have had many enriching history sessions. I know you are already thinking why one needs the vacation time to indulge in all this. It is because vacation gives us enough quality time to bond, chill (as my generation calls it) and soak in a lot naturally, organically.

The knowledge left aside, I feel that the Grandparents’ house is also the best resort ever. You get to wake up late, relish your favourite food (mostly room service is available too), watch the idiot box for endless hours, run, play and hop till you drop and finally sleep like a log! It is the ultimate form of relaxation!

Spending time with parents teaches you a lot too. I can already visualize my peers rolling their eyes! Be it making breakfast for my parents or trying out new recipes, I can say my stomach has visited all of Asia, Europe and America thanks to the exotic goodies I have savored during the summer break! Watching movies with my parents, bonding with my neighbourhood friends (other mere mortals who are not on a vacation during the vacation) over a game of basketball are some of the adventure activities I am often indulging in these days. I have also been exploring some hidden gems of my city – sight-seeing as the travel enthusiasts call it! Appreciate and take pride in your own country’s rich heritage before you pose against the monument or building of another place. Indian history is jam-packed with the rise and fall of a myriad of kingdoms. There is a lot of history and beauty to be soaked in.

Another good thing, rather, the best thing about a vacation at home is cousins. The chain of families is almost getting rusted or even snapped for that matter. In the fast paced mechanical lives that we lead, who has the time to spend time with cousins? The vacation gives you ample time to visit cousins or have them over or both if you are lucky enough. Just like a vacation comes with mandatory holiday homework, it should also come with mandatory spending time with cousins. Not only does the vacation help catch up with cousins on what has been happening in their lives but also leads to new, fresh memories being created. With the kind of mechanical lives we lead and the intense curriculum that schools follow these days, it is rather impossible to find time to meet cousins otherwise. Either they are busy with their school or university or we are. Thankfully, most institutions across the world and our country have a vacation around the same time and vacation definitely gives adequate time to bond. There is also a certain nostalgia around the vacation memories. My cousins and I have some typical things to indulge in during the summer break. These include playing ludo – something that we do not even touch in our respective homes but it cannot go missing from our grandparents’ home ever. The ludo there has a particular peculiar whiff and feel too. There are certain unwritten norms too. The cousin who chose a blue counter a decade ago can still not choose any other colour if he so wishes. The joke in the family is that the ludo is a heirloom and needs to be safekept and preserved in my grand-mother’s locker. Another treasure is the board game Monopoly which has stood the test of time. In the actual world, demonetization happened, new currency surfaced and disappeared, but our Monopoly and its currency remain intact. There is also a particular game of cards which we play only when we cousins are together. Perhaps if we were to play it individually, we would not even remember the rules. Another important ritual is baking brownies – nothing but brownies made with seamless division of labour, which adds to the fun. Sandwiches have evolved over time but not the old world sandwiches that we prepare and savour in the grandparents’ house. One form of egg preparation has even been christened “nani egg” by all her grandchildren. It tastes the best when she prepares it. Following the exact same recipe as her, nobody’s preparation has turned half as close! It is the sheer nostalgia of doing the same things over and over again with the same set of people which make the vacation at grandparents’ place special.

I am not saying that I do not like or take a vacation. After all, who doesn’t? We all yearn for something exciting and different every now and then. A vacation is a much needed break from routine and responsibilities. The pandemic restrictions and the inability to travel back then has made people all the keener to take off. It is just that I feel that every vacation does not necessarily have to be used to take off for a vacation, staying in a fancy resort and putting a million pictures on Instagram. Staying put at home and chilling is also a vacation in itself. Believe me, it does not make you any less cool. Try it, It is both liberating and invigorating!

Written by: Aamer Singh Brar, a student of Grade 12, The Shriram School, Moulsari, Gurgaon.