Chutti ho gayi!!
The importance of most things in life is realised only after they are taken away. Same is the case with summer vacations; that period of bliss, with power cuts, mosquitoes and sweltering heat thrown in for good measure. In lower classes in school, vacations were always accompanied by loads of "holiday homework". It mainly consisted of useless chores like cursive writing or writing essays on "my summer vacation", which were probably concocted to save mothers from going mad with kids tearing about all day with nothing better to do. Other stuff like making charts was homework for family members, rather than the student!!
I dont even remember my first summer vacation, which would have been in KG. Life back then was one big vacation. I was recuperating from chicken pox, so I didnt join school when the session started in April. I started going a few weeks later and after a short period, there were vacations. I do remember that in the excitement and confusion I lost my water bottle, which if memory serves me correctly, was a red plastic one. It was a new one; bought especially for going to the Big School.
Vacations were also the time for visting my Nani's house, which I have covered in another post. Back then, in the good ol' days there was no cable TV or Internet to pass time. Time was probably passed by reading books and playing with friends in the evening. The last few weeks of the vacations were spent in hurriedly doing some bits of holiday homework, which had been put on the back burner for a long time. As one grew older, one became wiser to these tricks played by teachers and stopped doing this homework stuff altogether. This was my answer to W.H. Davies when he asked:
I dont even remember my first summer vacation, which would have been in KG. Life back then was one big vacation. I was recuperating from chicken pox, so I didnt join school when the session started in April. I started going a few weeks later and after a short period, there were vacations. I do remember that in the excitement and confusion I lost my water bottle, which if memory serves me correctly, was a red plastic one. It was a new one; bought especially for going to the Big School.
Vacations were also the time for visting my Nani's house, which I have covered in another post. Back then, in the good ol' days there was no cable TV or Internet to pass time. Time was probably passed by reading books and playing with friends in the evening. The last few weeks of the vacations were spent in hurriedly doing some bits of holiday homework, which had been put on the back burner for a long time. As one grew older, one became wiser to these tricks played by teachers and stopped doing this homework stuff altogether. This was my answer to W.H. Davies when he asked:
What is this life if, so full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.
TA-DA : Summer vacations!!
People would expect that life would be all work and no holidays in IIT, but that was surely not the case. With 10 weeks in the summers, and another 3.5 in winters, were certainly had more than our fair share of holidays. My parents were initially shocked at what they thought was a waste of time, when their ward would have been better off studying :).
But as they say, all good things must come to an end and so has this saga of summer vacations. The last of them was sighted around a year ago, when I completed all the requirements for my degree and spent a good month and a half at home doing something which I excel in - doing nothing. The past 5 years in IIT had led me to take vacations for granted. Life was one big vacation with major and minor irritations thrown in. The vacation was not in terms of no work, it was in terms of no tension in life. There were occasional cases where a frustoo fight was required to pass a course, but other than that, life had a nice regular pattern. In my final semester with no courses and a good job, I had a golden period of 4 months, as did all of my friends. Perhaps that what the IITs need to sell about the dual degree program!!
So coming to the present, I am working my ass off for a release, which in all probability will not be used by any customer. It will be a build number preserved for posterity; or atleast as long as the backups hold. It shall also be noted that I was the one who fired some builds, long after I am not around. Now every weekend is savoured down to the last second. All vacations, or rather apology of a vacation, is used to go home. Still, I am better off than many others, atleast I do manage to get a week off once every 3-4 months. Summer vacations were always a big occasion; I guess that their loss means that finally we are in the BIG BAD WORLD of adults.
TA-DA : Summer vacations!!
People would expect that life would be all work and no holidays in IIT, but that was surely not the case. With 10 weeks in the summers, and another 3.5 in winters, were certainly had more than our fair share of holidays. My parents were initially shocked at what they thought was a waste of time, when their ward would have been better off studying :).
But as they say, all good things must come to an end and so has this saga of summer vacations. The last of them was sighted around a year ago, when I completed all the requirements for my degree and spent a good month and a half at home doing something which I excel in - doing nothing. The past 5 years in IIT had led me to take vacations for granted. Life was one big vacation with major and minor irritations thrown in. The vacation was not in terms of no work, it was in terms of no tension in life. There were occasional cases where a frustoo fight was required to pass a course, but other than that, life had a nice regular pattern. In my final semester with no courses and a good job, I had a golden period of 4 months, as did all of my friends. Perhaps that what the IITs need to sell about the dual degree program!!
So coming to the present, I am working my ass off for a release, which in all probability will not be used by any customer. It will be a build number preserved for posterity; or atleast as long as the backups hold. It shall also be noted that I was the one who fired some builds, long after I am not around. Now every weekend is savoured down to the last second. All vacations, or rather apology of a vacation, is used to go home. Still, I am better off than many others, atleast I do manage to get a week off once every 3-4 months. Summer vacations were always a big occasion; I guess that their loss means that finally we are in the BIG BAD WORLD of adults.
posted by anonymous coward at 12:41 pm
3 Comments:
vacations to rahe nahi...however, have learned to value the importance of weekends...normally have a mild headache on mondays, due to oversleeping :D, aur kafi baar to phone bhi switched off rakhta hoon poore do din - koi galti se bhi kaam ka baare mein call na kare
Lovely post dude. U really write all these 'those were the days' posts from the heart. Could feel every bit ot it. It certainly made my day. And yes Summer Vacations would Never return again :)
summer vacations..hmm...good old days...days and nights of sleep, no connection with the outer world, no work, only TV...yep, those were the days!
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