Reliving laid-back summers

Every year after final exams, schoolchildren look forward to the summer holidays. Anticipation for the well-deserved break is at its peak, especially towards the end. Just the thought of it makes me want to travel back in time and relive those laid-back sizzling days and warm silent nights.

A few decades back, life was simple and joys much simpler, so to speak. Visiting the ancestral village for a relaxed stay in our grandparents’ home was the focal point of the vacation back then. That was when cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents and families gathered together, and everyone would be busy enough with their own peers. Our parents never had to exert themselves on how to keep us engaged. The ritual of ‘eat, play, sleep, repeat…’ was religiously followed without any whining. How we would binge on freshly cooked food, and not to forget the endless supplies of seasonal juicy mangoes and jackfruits and also some delicacies made out of them. Games, for the most part, were unstructured ones. Huge courtyards, open spaces and verandas, as well as cozy little hideouts in the vicinity of the big house, captured our vivid imagination in every way and ensured uninhibited play sessions. Heat, sweat or the merciless sun couldn’t keep us restricted to indoors for long.

Helping adults with the household chores every now and then seemed like part of the play. Afternoon siestas were followed by random strolls in and around the village. We would pick and eat wild fruits and berries, dip ourselves in the flowing river, run behind each other until our feet ached – all unchecked by any of the elders. The older boys and girls turned into self-assigned caretakers and felt responsible for their younger siblings. Although physically exhausted by the end of the day, our minds felt refreshed. At night, after dinner, there would be leisurely chit-chats under the star-studded skies. At times, some spooky ghost stories too would emerge from the so-called creative minds which offered ample excitement before bedtime. And then we would delve into the realm of beautiful dreams.

That was the pre-digital era when the rhythm of life was natural and instinctive, probably easy-going or stress-free. But the current scenario is totally different. With modernisation and change in family structure, the face of summer holidays has evolved as well. Children today have intensely set up itineraries including summer camps and various hobby classes like swimming, tennis, dance, music, robotics, etc. The tech-savvy generation enjoys the company of gadgets and devices which have become their comfort zones.