India, June 23 -- The over a month-long summer vacation is the premier perquisite of the teaching profession. A period to relax, rejuvenate and pep up for the next session. Time to pack your bags, land at your parents' place, relive your 'best phase' and make hordes of memories. No matter how old a woman is, the attraction of her parental home is so invigorating. Every summer, we sisters would head home to Ambala with kids in tow, matching our itinerary. A timetable would be chalked out. At the crack of the dawn, we would congregate in the lawn sipping refreshing tea and catch up on life. Morning would be activity time. Kids would be enrolled to hobby classes which meant they had breakfast, dressed up and were busy. After dropping them, we would head to the market. Post matrimony, the hometown market is unbeatable, every nook beckons, the quality and variety is unmatchable. After lunch, mothers enjoyed their afternoon siesta; the dining room would catapult into a mini school. When cousins are of the same age group, they share their experiences/expertise and help each other finish their respective projects/ holiday home work/ charts/ models. Well the idioms have not been coined in vacuum but are time-tested and reiterate our strict parents' metamorphosis into indulgent grandparents! While meals were no nonsense affair in our childhood, it turned out to be a choice-based affair for grandchildren. No wonder mother's dishes lack the flavour and finesse of a grandma. From sweets to snacks to bakery to fruits, the pantry overflowed in addition to the goodies/munchies hoarded in advance in honour of our vacation visit. All kids would clamber in the car in the evening and head off to Patel Park or Indra Park or City Park. The return trip would invariably be via the ice-cream parlour. The bonhomie would inadvertently have a 'narazudin'. It was fun as they jotted roti preference (plain/ lachha/naan) while heading to the neighbourhood tandoor for dinner. Sleeping arrangements underwent many permutation and combinations. All migratory birds flock home for summer, our cousins too would team up and it would be a gala reunion as elders regaled life experiences and kids guffawed at our childhood escapades. As the children grew up, the summer vacation congregation necessitated precise planning because of the limited span. School summer camps, coaching classes and later entrance exams nibbled many days, sparing only a few of camaraderie. The crucial accession to higher education phase meant a few dropouts or just a lunch together. Every year, a child misses the customary photo op. This season seems to have hit the hardest. Kids at the threshold of adulthood are enmeshed in summer internship and are garnering essential rudimentary skills in pursuit of a livelihood. The rigmarole of a career is keeping us engaged, too. Invigilation, evaluation and admission counselling necessitate reporting to the institution time and again. It's a summer vacation without the tribe, and without the joy. O wither the wonderful days!...