The Hunt for Summer Activities

Summer vacations - man, do I dread summer vacations! My kid's is going into her summer break from today and the hunt for summer activities has begun. Troll through dozens of Web sites; try innovative keywords like "summer activities for kids ;-)"; click through link after link only to find dozens of albeit meaningless posts that are often outdated links of "entrepreneurs" offering everything from figure skating lessons (in 40+ degrees Celsius) to guitar classes to pottery works - I am spoilt for choice.

What do I select? When I ask my kid, her definition of fun is vegetating in front of the telly or a visit to her perennially favorite little hill station town of Bhowali, in the hills of Uttarakhand(formerly, Uttaranchal)! A beautiful, sleepy little town around 11 kilometers away from Nainital. While I try and find the purpose of this blog, I wonder what I, as a kid would do in my summer vacations...

Well, to begin with, I was lucky that my dad was posted in Saudi Arabia and every summer and winter break, I would get to fly "first class", I might add to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The moment my mom and I would step off the plane, I would be greeted by the stoic and stiff handshake of my dad (too shy to hug!) and the standard "Hello Son", greeting. Then my dad would whisk us to my favorite Al-Nafora restaurant and I would gorge on "Shawarmas" like no tomorrow.

Thereafter, it was endless days and evenings of swimming, vegetating in front of the telly, meet and greets with the local diplomatic community from India. Fun though it was, the best part of the trip was definitely the vegetating, till on one such trip, my harried dad couldn't take any longer (much like me) and suggested that I take up a summer job.... WHAT!...I shouted, work...are we so poor that I need to work during my summer holls! The world of endless TV, slipping coke and gorging on Shawarmas had come crashing down. Nevertheless, I did take up the assignment that summer and learnt my first lessons in earning money, and was I happy. I made a decent package and got to buy a long cherished Casio watch (with heart rate monitor :)), music tapes, clothes and a bunch of other things.

Which brings me to the point. Summer activities back in the day was about learning life lessons, now however, it is parents spending money just for the sake of it or for bragging rights at the next party. While I am not being a skeptic, I sometimes feel that life is now all about perception and lacking in depth.

Any ideas?