In my childhood, summer vacations or 'gurmiyon ki chuttiyan' in Urdu, had very clear meanings, and that was 'relatives will come to live with us for more than a weekend time and we will have fun with our cousins'. The weekend in those days consisted of only one day and that was Sunday.
The funniest thing about summer vacations is the trend or tradition that most schools (including public, private, religious, liberal, others) still follow and that is giving homework assignments; writing a letter and writing an essay. This tradition is one great evidence of 'unified system of education in Pakistan', isn't it?
Before holidays, it was and is to 'write a letter to your friend or cousin, invite him/her to come to Karachi during summer holidays and tell him/her which places will you visit......................... I don't remember writing such letters to my cousins, never ever.
After holidays, it was and is to 'write an essay about how you spent your summer vacations...'... I remember writing that till my matriculation -- always visiting the same place, 'Clifton Beach' with same activities for years.
In reality, somehow the tradition of visiting relatives and staying over during summer vacations has lost it's charm for children. Now they meet their relatives and cousins in wedding invitations on weekly or monthly basis. For summer holidays, their parents start searching for 'summer schools and classes and camps' or 'madrassahs' where they can leave their children for most time at the least cost.
As for my daughter, she was mostly home-schooled, thus, we had the summer time who year long. That was really fun.
Thank goodness that I am not the child of this era. Even my daughter is a grown up person and I love the fact that she is more mature than me and obviously than her 'not-yet-born-child'.
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| Old Clifton Beach, Karachi |
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