Summer Holidays!!
You know the importance of summer when you go to school. I literally waited for a break, since it was my first year in school. Being a 5 year, junior kindergarten student, it didn't really affected me mentally. Because, as I've told you before, I'm a fast learner. No kidding! Even my teacher told that to my mom. My mom-dad never neglected my studies, no matter how busy they were. They would always find time to make me knowledgeable enough for my age. Since they knew I was a bright student, they used to make me practices vocabularies and numericals whenever they get a chance. Father would be free on sunday, which would turn into a Math class for me. So the school work was actually easy peasy for my mentality. But going to school definitely had affected me emotionally and physically. I was tired of going to school everyday, even though it took just some minutes walking to the school. And since we were in Jr. Kg., all we had to do was dance, sing, read the alphabets and numerical table from 1 to 10. So I just wanted some time off from school. And the summer gave me what I dearly wished for.
Vacations!!! 'Only idiots would hate vacations!" was my thought. No school, no homework; just having fun and enjoying summer vibes was the kind of summer everyone waited for. So did I!! Obviously!
I didn't get go anywhere to enjoy from past 3 months, because of school. I did visited my grandma and grandpa in diwali, but that was it. So I was urging my parents to go on a trip. I didn't mind about any specific location. I just wanted to enjoy the nature. But my father was kind of busy with work, so we didn't really had a fixed plan that we would definitely go.
Like any little excited child, who only wanted a trip, I started looking for the alternative places we'd go, if father gets permission for the leave. "What about a beach?! A beach is the best option for summer, right?! But I don't like water. We should go to the desserts. NO! It's summertime, we're absolutely gonna get barbecued. So, what about rivers?! I've seen plenty of rivers! And No! We are not going to the granny's house again!" Just me contemplating with my mind. I was so enthusiastic, because we hadn't gone on trip for like 2 years now. So, I was pretty sure we'd get a trip this year, because there wasn't any reason for why we wouldn't. Piya was a year and half old now, she would call up on us if anything is wrong or if she needed something and it was kinda of easy to take care of her now. I was on vacation. Everything was perfect, besides dad needing the permission for vacation. So I asked dad to get the permission from his company.
Hmmm... and what do we expect. His request was declined saying they had plenty to work up on and we obviously couldn't go on a trip. Because father was busy with his work and nothing comes before work. Sighs! You need money to run your life. Not going on a trip won't kill you, but not having money would. So, I had to spend my vacations at home. I expected to get bored and sad because of the cancellation of our trip but It wasn't that bad actually. I started to acknowledge how good it feels to just relax and be yourself. I mean, I don't seem to have an option. Actually, going to granny's place was an option, but I didn't wanted to go. Well, I would help my mom with a work or two. But yeah! And I didn't bring the topic of us going on a trip again, because I knew it would be burdensome on both of my parents and I didn't wanted to get yelled at for being a paranoid. Just trying to be understanding and responsible, you know!
Another day, another morning. I woke up at 7:30 AM. Even though it was vacations, waking up late is not a good tradition in Maharashtrian family. Mom would always tell me to study. Them urging me to study had me learn all the numerical from 1 to 100, not to mention the alphabets. I was able to read a whole sentence by now. "Wasn't that hard!" thinking to myself. We were kind of trying to enjoy what was on our hands. Afternoon, after we had lunch, I was sitting on our living room couch, colouring my sketchbook. Wasn't expecting anything on a plain day, we suddenly received a call from father's office, in the afternoon at lunchtime. I only heard my mom saying, "You're coming home early? How'd you managed to do that?! You said you guys were busy for the rest of the week. Anyways, get home and we'll talk. By the way, please bring some veggies while you come home, it would be a great help. Thank you." And the call ended. I was confused, as one could expect. By her voice and the way of speaking, I knew it was father, but what was the topic? So I asked mom about what happened and she said, "Honey, you'll know when you father gets home, ok?" I nodded, still not understanding the situation. But you could say I was excited as for what was going to happen.
The door bell rang and we came out of the room at the speed of light! or maybe not. Mum opened the door and I was just couldn't hold it in. The moment father came in, my eyes were literally locked on him. Holding his hand and I dragged him to sit on the sofa. Not wasting any time I asked him, "Dad, mum told me you had a surprise for me, what is it? Tell me!". A faint smile on his lips and he was looking at mum as if playfully asking if he should tell me or not. To that mum responded, "Please, don't do this to her dad! Tell her already! She was excited from the beginning of the summer!". Making me more confused I got impatient, " Oh god! Dad tell me what it is!". One last glance at each other and bot mom-dad literally shouted with, "We are going on a trip to a hill station!!"
"WHAT!!!"
I shouted back. Out of all things I would have imagined, this was really un-expectable. A few days before, I already told my mind that, dad's not getting a vacation and we're not getting a trip, Finale! and now, we were going to a hill station. The only option I didn't came up with or per I didn't exactly knew what a Hill station was. And hitting the realisation, I asked my father, "But what is a Hill Station?! I don't know what it is." And to that, both mom and dad face palmed their faces. But it wasn't my fault, I really didn't knew it. Not to mention we've never been to such places.
Both of them chuckled and dad looked at me to explain, "Meera, a hill station can be a vacation spot. It's like a town in the lower mountains of the Indian subcontinent, popular as a holiday resort during the hot seasons. And since it's summer we should definitely visit one of them. The temperature there is a little bit bearable than the heat here in Mumbai. We have a lot of hill stations in Maharashtra, and we're gonna visit Matheran!! I'm pretty sure you're going to enjoy this time." I didn't actually needed another reason to be excited, but here I had one. I was excited!! We were to leave for the trip in two days. I didn't even bother to ask my father how he got the permission and stuff or per I didn't care anymore. Because we were going on a trip as I wanted and that was enough for me.
Matheran!!! Just hearing the name and I could already sense the fresh and cool breeze, nature, mountains and stuff that I was about to explore. When we got to Matheran, the whole view was to die for. One step on that land and I could smell the forest and mountains. The first thing we did when we got there was riding a toy train. It first looked like it won't really run on tracks but it did, surprisingly. The tracks were also just like 2 feet long. The windows were open and we could all see the nature through them. Everything felt so dreamy. It literally felt awesome visiting there, because we lived in Mumbai and the heat of mumbai in summer would cook you an egg with just the sunlight. Even though we were just in another region of mumbai itself, the breeze around Matheran felt different. Mountains usually tend to have this cool breeze around that area. It wasn't cold as it was summer time but it was just cooler the air of the area we lived in. A small difference, and it will make you feel so relaxed. One thing was to be proud of being in this place is that, it's Asia's only automobile-free hill station, I heard it from our tourist guide. Amazing right!! Maybe that was the whole reason behind all this pollution-free environment. Another memorable place we visited was the Sunset point. It was the farthest point of Matheran. It felt so beautiful and peaceful to look at. As if the moment should just stop, and you would keep looking at the setting sun.
We almost travelled the whole day, having lunch at some restaurants around the corner of our visiting spots. But dinner! Wow!
It was at the hotel, where we were staying at. There was this huge lobby and when we go a little left you'll see a magnificent work of art, "The Dinning Room". I was awed and my eyes we're literally falling off by seeing so many dishes. The room was formed in a circular format. All the main dishes were on the display outside of the circle and inside was the group of tables for the customers. And the decorations was like the cherry on cake. The presentation was awesome but we were yet to taste the cake. As to order the food, my dad ordered two sets of full Non-veg Thali, which was one of their specialities. I had a handful to be filled in kind of stomach and Piya couldn't eat anything so spicy and hard to digest things. Mom had the milk and juices prepared for Piya already. So, I was waiting for what actually dad ordered, because I couldn't understand a thing when he was talking to the waiter.
About 5 minutes of wait and there came our order. A massive Non-veg Thali, for my parents it was normal but for me alone;it was massive. I couldn't focus on one thing because there were just so many dishes. There was Chicken Curry, Butter Chicken, Tandoori Roti, Salad, Chicken 65, Biryani, Matan Korma, Buttermilk and what not!! I had a few bites of roti and chicken but that's it, I couldn't take any more bites. Ah! I forgot to tell you that I have a Sweet tooth literally from when I couldn't even walk. So I obviously needed something sweet to top it all off and dad bought me an ice cream. I was confused as my father asked me for flavor. There were just too many of them, it was hard to choose. So, I went with mixed fruit flavor and goodness it tasted like heaven. I enjoyed the day to the fullest and to be very honest; nothing could go wrong when you have a Ice-cream.
Finishing our dinner and we went to our hotel room. We all honestly were tired of sightseeing all day. So we just ended up going to bed. Laying on the bed and I couldn't stop but think that sometimes these small things can give you a boost for all year. Nothing can compare to the family time we all crave and I was having that moment, right now. I would wish for us to stay here a little longer but the summer was about to end.