Growing up in India, May was the time when almost all schools closed for the summer holidays. In the school I studied in, school unofficially ended around mid-April and the next two weeks were spent marking papers and preparing report cards. We used to go back to school sometime around the end of April and collect our results for the year before we officially ended the school year on May 01. And almost immediately after collecting our results, we would go to visit our grandparents.

Summer Holidays

The train tickets are booked, and the bags are packed
Food has been cooked and entertainment all sorted
The sun shimmers brightly with all the cacophony and the babel
There’s excitement in the air, coz it’s time to travel

The train is bursting to the seams, excitement is at its peak
Some passengers have an air of mystique
A day and night pass by, at times swiftly and otherwise as slowly as lichen
And then, finally, its time to deboard and start the vacation

Grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles
All gathering together in one place in a gathering that is annual
Playing together, catching up on family lore and gossip
It’s a chance to make sure the cup of love and friendship runs over

The mangoes are ripe and the litchis are sweet,
The watermelons are juicy and the jackfruits are grand,
The guavas are fragrant and the papayas are plump,
And the food is a feast for the senses.

You make memories to last a lifetime
That you bring out to reminiscence in your downtime
The long nights when you could not end conversations
The short days that seem to wax and wane in fortunes

All too soon, its time to head back home
Go back to a routine, the daily humdrum
But the memory of the summer vacation
Made the year go by, so you can go on the next one

The summer holidays are precious times
A time to celebrate life, love, and happiness,
To be grateful for all that we have
To give and take, to hold and to share