![]() ![]() The long vacation is used to get them better prepared for the year ahead. They want their children to excel at all activities - academics, hobbies, languages, art. ![]() Meanwhile, over the past three decades, we have seen the rise of the “tiger parent” and “helicopter parent”. Summer camps with packed schedules are a ballooning industry. This is a phenomenon common today across the middle classes. In R Gopalakrishnan’s book, A Comma In A Sentence: Extraordinary Change In An Ordinary Family Over Six Generations, he describes how his family moved from being one village to being spread across one town, then one district, one state, one country and is now spread across the world. There was a time when urban children’s grandparents almost always lived in smaller towns or rural areas. Today’s small families are sprinkled around the world, which means fewer places to go to in the long break. My generation had cousins by the dozen, generally living somewhere in India. For one thing, they have, as a rule, become smaller. There have been significant changes in the demographics of middle- and upper-middle-class families. There was a brief moment when arcade games ruled. Not when they are lazing about in a pool or lounging with a comic book.Īre summer holidays still as important as they were a few decades ago? Have they all but vanished? What has driven them out? Children need to be communicated with when they are able to speak or boast to their friends. Asked if we should launch a new candy in this season, I was told by the client that it was the worst time for any new product activity. No wonder confectionery manufacturers avoided summer launches for new products, a lesson that I learnt while working on campaign for a large candy brand. Our summer breaks were slow living, on slow speed. To those who have not experienced all this I would recommend time with the classic TV series Malgudi Days (originally released in the 1980s now on Voot). Preparation took weeks, as the family packed huge suitcases elaborate foods were cooked in large quantities, to be consumed during the train ride and later. In his book, Journey to the Hills and other Stories, my friend Divyaroop Bhatnagar lovingly describes his family’s annual summer train journey from Kanpur to the hills. Long train journeys involved days of preparation. A temple visit was a must, especially to savour the different prasads. If there was a zoo or a museum, that became a part of every week’s agenda. ![]() For many of us, these months were spent taking a dip in the village pond, catching lizards, spending time at the beach or riverfront. I remember spending time in Kerala and Mysuru as a child. It was the time when schools closed and parents packed their children off to distant towns or villages, to spend time with grandparents or aunts. Going on a summer holiday is part of the collective consciousness of any Indian over the age of 40. Fun and laughter on our summer holiday / No more worries for me or you.” Cliff Richard, incidentally born in Lucknow as Harry Roger Webb, was in a hit film called Summer Holiday (1963) and the eponymous song was a big hit even in India: “We’re all goin’ on a summer holiday / No more workin’ for a week or two. ![]() Going on a summer holiday is part of British popular culture too. The idea of such a gap in the year was probably brought to India by the British, who could not tolerate the heat. ![]()
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