Summer Holidays

Chubbocks summer holidays just got over this morning, and Puddi goes back to playschool tomorrow. This time around, my parents were away in the US with my sister and we had charge of the family dogs, so we couldn't go out of town till my parents came back, not to mention that A has a new job and I was in some job-related turmoil so we were kind of stuck in situ.

My kids do have cousins - one in the US, the other in Canada, and will have one more, when my sister has a baby in October this year. But sadly, they hardly get to meet them, since they live so far away. Once in two years is the best that can be managed. My sister and I did have a plan to meet up in different corners of the world every year so we could fulfil both wanderlust and family togetherness, but at least for the present, the recession has put paid to that. She made a visit here for three weeks in December which was great, and the kids had a blast, but all in all, it seems too little.

Of course, it's not like she and I met our various assorted cousins too often. We lived in Delhi and most of them down South in Bangalore or thereabouts, so we met them annually, at best. But I always think of cousins and family reunions when it comes to summer vacations. I don't know if those were merely simpler or poorer times, when people didn't have the money to go stay in fancy locations in fancy hotels, and so visiting relatives was the default option for vacations.

We used to make an annual trip to the South, without fail. I still remember the lo-ong journey through Madras on the GT express. There used to be an 8 hour or so stop at Madras before we shunted off to Bangalore. Madras station would be stiflingly hot and humid, and reeking of fish. I used to loll around in a petticoat ( slip) and jump from berth to berth during the wait. Sometimes mom and I would get out and she'd souse me under the station pump to cool off.

Then later the KK express was introduced and we could go direct to Bangalore, and it seemed like the time was magically 'cut short' to some 40 hours. By the time we crossed Jolarpettai, I'd start wheezing. We'd pull in to Bangalore and one of mom's brothers or sometimes Thatha would be there to receive us and take us home. Enormous amounts of luggage would have to be managed - a brass tiffin carrier, a holdall, a big water jar and assorted suitcases.

Bangalore was a somewhat boring destination for me because there were no kids my age near ajji-thatha's house. I spent most of my time reading through thatha's extensive book collection and had waded through the unabridged Oliver Twist by age 6, out of sheer lack of alternatives. Thatha also had back issues of Reader's Digest dating back to the 50s and 60s, and I loved reading all the humour columns. There was a lovely club with a swimming pool just opposite their house, with a beautifulyl landscaped garden but I was not allowed to swim thanks to the asthma so I had to content myself by wandering around the lawns and making up stories.

We would do a round of visits to various relatives, including my aunts. My elder aunt, Vasanthi, loved to cook and would get so excited at seeing us she'd cook up a storm, But she was also absent minded. once when we were over, she was so busy chatting while we had lunch that she kept grating coconut for salad to go with lunch right until we were through with our food! She always had some interesting new food for us to try - like a Banana dosa - and always, but always had a stock of gulab jamuns on hand, because she loved them and knew I adored them.

My other aunt too was an enthusiastic cook, but more prone to making health food, so various kinds of leafy greens and salads would parade themselves before us at their place. Born with a green thumb, she had an awesome collection of Bonsais. Various relatives would offer that particularly Bangalorean beverage both to us and our parents - Bournvita/ Horlicks, in lieu of tea/ coffee.

But the real high point of summer holidays was going to Mysore where my paternal relatives stayed, including my cousins Nirupama and Kalyani. Nippu, as she's referred to, is just three months older than me and Kalyani was 6 years older than the two of us. We used to love the train ride to Mysore, especially the Maddur vadas that we stopped for enroute. My sister and I always used to pester to go home by horse cart rather than autos because they were so much more novel. The cart would trundle along to the clip-clop of the hooves down roads carpeted with bright red gulmohur flowers.

As soon as we reached my uncle's house, there would be a glad pandemonium, as everyone rushed to greet everyone else. The grownups would make as much noise as we kids. One aunt or other, or a cousin or uncle was always visiting. In the evenings, any one of a number of relatives would drop by as usual and spread the word that we had arrived. Then every day someone or other would land up, and there would be a spate of conversations, with old family skeletons and anecdotes being trotted out. At night, there would be sessions of '28', a strategy based card gamne, for penny points, interspersed by family gossip. Nippu used to curl up and go off to sleep at her usual hour but I used to stay up as late as possible, to be part of the action.

There would be a mandatory trip to the famous covered market. We usually had at least one expedition to Brindavan gardens, where we'd all pile into a rented van and go off for the day, and one outing to Chamundi Hills. A satyanarayana puje at the Raghavendra Swamy Matha was also a must, and we kids would dress up in our finery and keep making aimless trips from home to temple until the puje was over and we could relish the truly awesome food served there.

We kids had any amount of freedom to wander around by ourselves - something that I look back upon with envy, from the perspective of my poor city kids. We went off for picnics, including a mandatory outing to Kukkarahalli kere, followed by a meal at Ramya restaurant. We once went to a temple garden for a picnic and were chased by a bull - that was a famous incident where I fell under a moving car. We'd go to Jagan Mohan Palace to see the paintings, and to the Mysore Palace to look around. We'd go down 100 feet road to buy all manner of little knickknacks, and to the Technical Institute.

We were usually taken out by my cousins' next door neighbours, as their kids and we and my cousins all played together through the summer. They would take us in their Fiat, which made us feel very rich, to Lalit Mahal Palace grounds which were quite overgrown and had a wonderful view of Chamundi Hills, and then on to a meal at a restaurant where for some reason I always had Chhole Bhature.

My cousins and we spent the summer in all sorts of games, either in the temple opposite our house, or on the rooftop, concocting plays and dance performances that never saw the light of day. I'm not really sure what we did but the television was something that was never ever turned on. At mealtimes, the adults would eat first and then leave the table to us because they knew that given our habit of chattering and playing about, we'd be at it for hours.

They were wonderful summers, something we still reminisce about when we get together - so carefree, so aimless, so devoid of any structure or purpose nand yet so full. We used to weep when the train pulled away from Mysore station, and my uncle and cousins would also have brimming eyes. We looked forward to those summers every year and they never disappointed.

My kids had a rather sacked out summer this time. They went briefly to a summer camp of yoga and art, and then basically lazed around at home. A and I were at work and without ajji thatha to keep them busy, they had to find amusement for themselves - from drawing on doors and windows ( Puddi), to being prodded to complete summer homework( Chubbocks), to fighting with each other. We went swimming as often as we could, and all our weekends were spent in a pleasantly aimless manner.

I was happy for them to have an aimless summer sans any structure. I think it's so important for people to learn how to use their leisure time and to cherish it and it's best to begin when they are young. Chubbocks has now learned how to keep himself occupied, especially with his favourite occupation of reading, and I think it's been a fun summer for them.