Jayeeta Majumdar Singhee

Ishaan will be 3 this October. But thanks to his busy working mom, and a busier than god dad…he is already used to the rigours of daily life. Early morning schools, somewhat relaxed afternoons with grandparents and travel back home at frantic hours to reunite with parents. Bad as I feel for the little chotu, there is nothing that I can do about this….not at this time, at least.

With both set of grandparents in town, life is definitely blessed. Making him stay at different crèches, or with changing sets of ayahs would have definitely been much much tougher, and made me feel guiltier than ever.

Yes, yes…I feel guilty…am one of those old fashioned back-dated moms, who feels guilty leaving the kid back home, going out partying, watching movies etc. etc. etc…

But..theres a catch to all this. You don’t really go vacationing to meet your grandparents, and they never ever come and stay over with you. So no summer vacations as such. While I remember summer vacations to be the relaxing times for sleeping in, visiting my grand parents in cal, eating specially cooked meals, and meeting cousins; for children whose mom’s are working, it falls significantly short of this romanticized image.

So this may, when my parents came back from Cal after many many months, I made them stay over with me. The deal started with only a few days. But then a whole lot of e-mailing (emotional blackmailing), mixed with some rona dhona made it a month of stay. And boy, what a month it has been. Especially for Ishu.

His mornings started with coke, sprite, chips, mazaa, chocolates, khattas. You name it and he had it. Afternoons were reserved for skating classes in the building, lots of tv, mom back for lunch. A short nap and his hectic evenings were back - swimming classes, park outings, and visits to dadu and dida’s friends’ homes. Guaranteed excitement!

And then there were days of McDonalds and KFCs, with lots of french fries, coke and burgers. The unforgettable boating session at Hitech city, lots and lots of guests over at home, zoo visits, camel and horse rides, misha staying over for a week, birthday parties, kitty parties. Yes, the list is endless.

Nights always ended with dadu, simi and ishaan going “abra ka dabra” and “hush push” – a simple wave of hand and the chip/biscuit/chocho appearing or disappearing - magic show at its best. Lots of running around, screaming, shouting, singing, cycling. And then sleep - right between dadu and his all time favourite - dida.

Now that all this is soon coming to an end, with Ishaan’s school re-opening this Monday and my parents leaving for banjara hills (which is by the way, just a few kilometers away) – I just wanted to say a big thanks to my parents and sis. For making this last one month, the most memorable summer vacation – not just for Ishaan, but also for Sanjay and me. For helping us break away from of our boring routine lives, and stretching our social horizons.

Thanks baba, thanks ma, thanks Simu.