Holidays, Holidays, Holidays...

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I am hearing for the past half an hour, a small girl crying 'please pa, please pa...' from an apartment at the back of our house.  Both of us, I and my husband, are feeling restless and feel like going and telling the parents of the girl not to punish her like this...the girl is left at their balcony and the door is closed. She must be around 7 or 8 years old. I don't hear anyother child's sound in their house.  The girl must be bored and so, must have done something to seek attention.

Another next door neighbour's children are playing the whole day from morning to night.  Their relative's children must have come and sometimes they fight with each other and the elders shout back at them.  We just laugh and enjoy the sound because our house was like this when my children were small, during the school holidays!

My children used to play carrom the whole day and we too were joining them and then cards! Sometimes scrabble! Yes, my nieces used to come and stay with us during most of the holidays.  I used to cook the whole day.  Take them for a movie, which was a must during the holidays.  One day to the beach, here in Chennai! Then go to other relatives' houses together and enjoy! My main job was cooking...paav bhaaji, paani poori (I used to make even the poories at home!), samosas, different types of parathas, cakes, ice creams etc.  God, they used to eat so much!

When we were in Hosur, we used to have cricket matches in our colony playgrounds, during holidays, between teams from other colonies.  Elders' match and youngsters' match! It was fun! My younger son was always in the playground...I had to search for him in three playgrounds inside our colony after 6.30 p.m., most of the days! I had to push my elder son out to play! Contrast! Even if he played, it was not an active game.   One day, he came from school and said that he played football match in his school.  My husband asked him 'in which place'...he said 'I was a Goalie'! My husband started laughing! Our current Goalie (cat) was like him when she was small! Other kittens used to play actively when she was a kitten and this one used to watch them, lazily! So, she was named 'Goalie'!

When the children were in school, I used to take them to Udupi, to my native place, during annual holidays.  Unlike now, they used to love going to the Krishna temple, pull the temple car etc. and enjoyed doing it! One of my aunt lived in a village and so the children enjoyed roaming the fields, admiring the vegetable garden etc.

Once they grew up i.e. when they reached 15-16, they started feeling bored with all these routines.  They started sitting with a book or sometimes go out to friends' houses.  Well, they were reading books earlier too, but slowly, the serious reading time went up!

The next stage was dieting! They were refusing to eat oily foods...the outdoor games had nearly stopped.  The younger son, esp. used to play in the school and outside too, until then.  T.V. watching started consuming more time! They were not watching serials though...mostly cartoons or English movies...light movies.  The serious movies came later!

I see many of the parents send their children to some sort of summer camps now during holidays.  During school days, they are sent to some tuition classes.  Some lucky ones who enjoy games, are sent to table tennis or badminton classes. Otherwise, tuition, home work, TV...no other outdoor recreation. I feel sorry for them.  Going to other relatives' houses are also becoming less and less.  Everybody is busy.  No time to entertain others' children.  So the 'one child' homes mostly go out to some hill station or something for a week or so and the holidays are over. We can't blame them too.

Now, my sons and most of the children in our family (nieces etc.), are grown up and married...we miss those 'busy' days.  Those days will never come again.  So, enjoy the company of children as much as possible!  We can also remember those happy days and they too will never forget them when they grow older!

Edited to add (21.4.13): I forgot to add the story telling session in our house! My mother and sister in law were very good story tellers! I am not! When they told stories to the children...my sons, nieces, all of us elders used to sit around and enjoy the stories even though we heard them again and again! Mine was not a joint family but everyone came and stayed in our house often.  My in-laws were dead before my marriage.  Now, one of my niece says that because I, her maami, entertained her during the school holidays, she is planning to entertain her nieces and nephews also like me.  She too sends her daughter to her sis in law's house during holidays at least for a couple of days.  She says that her daughter will learn to mingle with other children in this way.  When there were more children, all of them were sleeping in the hall on just plain mats with some bed sheets.  At their own homes they will have rooms and beds.  I felt the children enjoyed chatting till late at nights, playing word games, names of capitals etc. at night.  Even now, my nieces who are grown ups, come to stay with me for at least one night, just for old time's sake.  I am so happy about it.  Now to my son's favourite song:




Picture courtesy: Google

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