| THE VACATION WITH A DIFFERENCE (659 words)
As usual, the most dreaded time of the year had come again. The family trip to India. Though I was going after two years, I wasn’t happy at all. Not because of the place, but the people, rather my kin. Even roaming the country without a penny in the pocket wasn’t as bad as visiting my relatives. Whenever I stated this fact to my friends, they would simply gawk at me and say in protest, “How can you even say that? It’s so much fun! We go roaming with relatives and shopping and all, it’s amazing! Cousins are so cool to be with!”
Darn it! Some people have all the luck in life. Sigh…
But I wouldn’t let my relatives spoil my plans. And exactly what plan was in my mind? Just talk and chat to friends and keep sending text messages and keep writing something. Not much of an action filled fun plan, but at least something to live on. I was actually going to miss the holiday homework they used to give in school, the one thing I cribbed about all through the vacations.
So the torture began. Enduring a painful flight to Bangalore, we finally arrived in Salem, my father’s town in Tamil Nadu. The mosquitoes gave a heart warming reception at the airport and so did the pollution. But seeing the cloud studded skies was a bit of relief from the intense heat in Dubai.
And so my relatives came and went. Day after day, eating biscuits and chips from Dubai, they talked about what that lady did and why she didn’t say anything or who fought over what. And I, like a nice girl, concealed negative thoughts with a smile. My plan wasn’t going so good though. I did get my own mobile SIM card but the internet was too slow. 33kbps made me wait for five minutes so that my inbox could come on the screen.
It was no use chatting. Downloading would take hours. Nonetheless, something was better than nothing.
Unfortunately, not all plans are full-proof and flawless.
When the time came to go my mother’s village, I staged a protest. Since my dad had to go back to Dubai, we had to stay there for ten days, which was unacceptable to me. I couldn’t imagine being cut off from the world. No mobile, no internet, only relatives fretting about themselves and others…ugh!! Anyways, I took my mobile and my brother’s laptop, just in case I got the sudden impulse of typing a few poetic lines.
But when I came to my mother’s village, I got the biggest shock of my life. Everyone was using mobiles there! The SIM card I got from Salem was also working there! I couldn’t believe it! A tower was built so that mobile operators could facilitate roaming service. That was so cool! People who had no phones at home were using mobiles because it was much cheaper. Even poor people who hardly had anything to eat had a mobile. Two years had made such a difference to this village.
The internet was also not left behind. After running around for a few days, we finally managed to get the connection and the only two users were me and a computer institute. The speed was 50kbps! Much higher than my fathers town! I was mailing all my friends and telling them with pride that my mother’s village has an internet connection!
I never even imagined that my plan would be so successful. Now that everything was set, I was actually appreciating the finer things of life. I always had a smile on my face and I never bothered of what my relatives told. When I looked at the sky and the greenery, I recalled a line from my Headmaster’s speech which he gave at our farewell:
“When you pass out of school, take time to watch the sky and birds and appreciate nature.”
And I did just that.
ends
(This article got published in our College newsletter ‘Facets’ on June 2005)
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