For the first 17 years of my life, the word vacation had only one meaning – the onam ,Christmas and summer vacations from school.
Then came the 4 years in college where vacation meant the rather long and lazy breaks between semesters where I would forget all that I learned during the previous semester and start afresh.
The next 5 years in Delhi , the 2 X two week long breaks every year came in. 2 weeks sounded awfully long to your manager but terribly short to your parents and all I could remember were the excitement before it and the “shall I just resign and go back?” brooding during the return flight .
And there was 2010 when I got married and was forced to be in a long-distance-marriage for a year. Then vacations were the trips to Pondicherry and jaipur and kumarakom and many others we planned over phone and never got to execute, because we had too much stuff to take care of.
It was after coming here that I actually started taking vacations, not that we would take days off from work to travel but we make sure that we make maximum use of the weekends and holidays. Of course, the ultimate vacation would remain the whirlwind trips to India. Yet to take one , but already there seems to be a hundred items on the to-do list.
You see people around you taking vacations – my colleague went on a 5 week vacation, people go camping, the lady at the motel I stay on-site went on a 3 week trip to Thailand etc. And being in a new country means that you have lots to explore. And Australians in general seem to love being outdoors. It all rubs off on you I guess.So much that I spend quite a lot of time searching for places/events to go. And the anti-socials that we are (I don’t really make friends that easily, at least not the let-us-spend-weekend-together kind of friendship; neither does the husband), we need to pass time after all :-D
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5 comments:
Hi,
I like you Collage work! I totally agree with you after coming to Oz one truly sees the word Vacation in a different light.... hope people in India ( especially the work places) become more freindly with the term vacations and outdoor activities other than seeing the same relatives :D
Good, I guess it is unthinkable in an Indian corporate job to take a 5 week break without putting in your papers or breaking a joint or something! *touchwood* .. i had to fight to get a 3-4 week off after my marriage!!..
So where have you people been to? Have you gone backpacking into the wilderness? or still exploring sydney?
@Musafir - visiting relatives is vacation too , but on a different level :-D
@Raghav - Can't say we have gone very far from Sydney , maybe within a radius of 300km (which is nothing by Australian stds). Went bushwalking in the mountains once. Really want to go into the outback, but its so far away - 15 hrs drive or so :-(
I was very surprised by the fact that my daughter's teacher took a 4 week holiday in the middle of the term! Isn't that what summer is for?? Those Aussies really take the "no leave, no life" philosophy to heart! There are so many beautiful places to see in Australia. Start planning!
@Jenny - I am huge fan of your writing. Read every single post when I was in the process of migrating to Sydney :-)
Yes, I quite like the Aussie take on vacations
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