Summer is blazing in full throttle! For parents like me, this is also a time of getting children ready for a new school session. Loads to do, yes! [READ: 5 Powerful to Teach Your Child to Care and Transform the World]
Preparing for the new school session isn't as easy as it sounds. It involves buying the new text books, school supplies, stationery and even a brand new bag to kick start the academic year. A textbook may not be available in the market, which leads to discussions with other parents on where to procure it from and so on. For kids, summers are a terrific start to reckon with just before the school closes for vacations. Somehow there is a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air.
As a child growing up in the 80s, I used to look forward to summer vacations with my parents. [READ: Learn to behave: The Wisest Lesson I learned in 2018]
From Africa, we would plan our vacation to India months ahead. A direct flight was next to impossible, which meant that we had at least two stop overs before we arrived in India. One stopover was either in Nairobi in Kenya or Kampala in Uganda.
Our second stopover was always Dubai, where we stayed our favourite place - Hotel Palm Beach. A two day shopping spree followed in Dubai and Bombay.
In Africa, at the time, we had very limited supplies of clothes and basic accessories that I could comfortably wear. So, we used to get everything from India but it also meant anticipating everything required for an entire year!
Our summer vacations were planned in a way that we did most of our shopping for the entire year from Dubai, Bombay and Kochi. We made individual shopping lists ready, showed it our parents. Simple things like saree safety pins, bindis and so on were also listed because we didn't get it easily in Africa.
The advantage of making lists was that we knew exactly what we intended to buy when we went shopping and we didn't overshoot the budget.
The thrill of planning the itinerary itself is just something to look back fondly now. Landing in Bombay used to be the most exciting experience, the first experience of landing on Indian soil, having traveled from another continent.
Once, I remember hearing the popular Bollywood song, 'Ek, do teen' when we landed in Bombay and I asked my cousin about it. For the first time, I saw posters of Pooja Bhatt and Aamir Khan everywhere 'Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin' posters and I asked, 'Who's that girl?'.
Everything felt so new to me every time we came to Bombay. My father's brother-in-law Ravindranath and his sister Vinodini made our stay in Mumbai most memorable, so did my cousins Sajiv and Sanjay. Without their loving welcome and warm hospitality, we would have felt utterly lost in Mumbai.
My aunt Vinodini was working yet she would take leave from work to show us around Mumbai and to take us shopping. Today, I value her sacrifice simply because I know how tough it is to do this for loved ones and family members.
As I grow older, I have increasingly felt that the sacrifices of the elders in a family remain unspoken and unappreciated most of the time. We can change this by recalling and telling the next generation about them.
The biggest highlight of our summer vacations used to be going to Kodaikanal to see Swami, who is usually in the ashram overlooking the famous Kodai lake. Those were our happiest memories of Swami, who looked effulgent and radiant, ever smiling at every one.
We used to spend at least a week at the Kodai ashram. After darshan, we used to go sight-seeing around Kodaikanal and then rush back for the afternoon darshan.
What makes Kodaikanal more special to us is that we could get closer to Swami than in any other place. Swami used to spend more time for the darshan, speak to more people and sometimes take morning walks in the beautiful gardens.
Famous singers like Vani Jayaram used to see Swami in Kodaikanal and the festival of Vishu used to be beautifully celebrated in Swami's presence here.
From Kodaikanal, we used to head back to Kochi, where we spent the rest of our summer vacations, enjoying with family members and cousins. We loved our family meals when everyone got together to chat and we had never raised a fuss about eating food. We were so content and happy with what is.
The reason I mention this is that we belonged to a fuss-free generation that valued the warmth of relationships for what it meant to us.
As children, we looked forward to the simple joys of life during our summer vacations. These were the simple highlights of our summer vacations.
Best part of enjoying summer vacations in the 80s? We had no gadgets and we were never bored!
What do summer vacations remind you of? What are your happiest memories of your summer vacations?
I'd love to hear from you! [Do READ: Lost someone you loved? Powerful lessons I learned in 2018]
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