Vacation with a difference

The hardest thing to answer

Ishaan Tahseen, Class VII, Saupin’s School, Chandigarh

Summer holidays, the time when we are completely free from the rigorous and sweaty schedule of the school.

However, a particular virus which looked like a crown-shaped thing immobilised an entire civilisation. The adults were just fine, but we, the young ones, suffered the most.

We stared at the screen during our classes for 8 hours during schooldays, and it did not change a single minute in our holidays, because, let’s be honest, we have absolutely no other form of entertainment other than the television (or reading).

You wake up at 6-10 am (exceptions not included), go outside, bathe, and then it’s 10 sweet hours of free television. Maybe study a bit if you want to, but 10 hours of television is a necessity (modern day man has truly evolved). We had little to no touch with our friends, thus ruining our holidays even more.

Now other than the television, we also have a small minority of people who enjoy practicing the art of reading text printed on wads of paper made from trees for another eight hours. I personally enjoyed reading many books in my holidays (sometimes they went more than 8 hours, I’m sorry mom for all the pain I brought, I’ll eat my food in another 10 minutes.).

And I don’t even want to go on to talk about sports (that is dear to my heart), I do not want to talk about it, for a single second, I’m in trauma.

Many people have argued that staying home during summer holidays is good for a change, and honestly, I absolutely do not care at all. I need to go away from my home for one month at least, it is one of the four requirements that a Homo Sapien has — food, water, shelter and going out on a vacation for at least one month.

Oh, and then there’s this thing called fat, it essentially makes our stomach big. Our elite group of parents devised many various forms of tasks for us to reduce fat, examples include but are not limited to, yoga, walking up with your hands in the air for some reason, just keep jumping, sit down, then go up, climb the stairs for a living. These methods to reduce said fat, haven’t been successful at all, the morning exercise is essentially like AarogyaSetu (I need to find a purpose for that app, still finding).

Now with this routine — the wake up late in the morning, exercise, television time or 14-hour reading, studies (?), sleep, there is only one question that will be the hardest to answer. “What did you do in your summer holidays?”, asked by every teacher you will ever meet in your life after the month of “the summer holiday”. I spent my entire holiday preparing for this one question. I asked my mother to bake a pizza for extra content to add to my answer, I carefully documented each and every single thing, and this is the beauty I came up with.

“Ma’am it was boring, school was better, I read some books, watch TV and baked a pizza with my mom.”

And that, is my experience during the summer holidays.

The exciting side of boredom

Himanshika Jindal, Class XI, New Public School, Chandigarh

Summertime boredom has been a constant reality for me during these warm and scorching days and now the coronavirus outbreak has even put an end to outings. All of a sudden, we seem to be in the middle of a horror film. Thousands of people are dying as a result of the ‘wicked’ coronavirus, and we are helpless. Our lives have been flipped completely upside down as a result of it. It’s like I’m in house arrest. So, summer vacation is the last thing on my mind this time.

Well, we have to deal with everything positively, so I started dealing with my summer boredom creatively because typical Indian parents never stop their “campaign” to make us ready for future. My father would always say “An idle mind is a devil’s workshop” and when we were kids we didn’t waste time like you by sitting idle.” And it hits me every time I listen to him saying this because I have never left any of the work he has assigned to me incomplete (other than the “school holiday homework). So, here comes the toughest situation to handle in our vacations — procrastination. I start giving myself excuses like “Himanshi you need a break, we will do it tomorrow” and that tomorrow never comes. Ok, so yes, I increased my screen time during this vacation as I am super excited about my favourite Chinese web series. You would be thinking, Chinese?

Yes, it is. It’s just that these are super productive, I get a lot of new information and I learn Chinese too, because it’s my fantasy to visit Pakistan as well as China. I even left no stone unturned in helping my parents in the office work. I learnt some new things as well, like tally software updates. Also, I was busy registering for the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ programme which was not for people of my age. Also I was busy searching how to make vacation fun. Then I found a new website ‘z library’ which provides free books. So, I read some manga comic book stories.

It feels like there is a lot of pressure to be high yielding during lockdown, but I also think it’s even more important to give yourself a break so I planned to soak up the Sun and just take a bit of time to let my thoughts run wild. I did gardening, too, to be free and spend time amid Nature. I learnt the value of money and how to save money for the rainy day. Being with parents has brought me a lot of new experiences.

Lockdown is giving us many lessons about life. We have learnt to handle difficulties with a positive mind, and I hope these lessons remain with us throughout life. There is an end to every nightmare, and this too shall end soon.