A vacation is something one plans all year. We pack our bags to the extent of bursting. Every year one packs thinking, enough is enough. This year we are going to enjoy ourselves, we are entitled to it. We decided on the following things.
No handout to the coolie at the airport who decides to take your luggage hostage unless you pay him Rs. 500 for wheeling the trolley to the exit, all in a span of 15 minutes. Isn’t this part of his job profile??!
No extras to the driver who is already paid for the trip to the airport and back. What is the tip for?? Coming to work or giving him work???
No more purchase of lavish gifts from the gulf as you would inevitably find someone was offended by the sari print/ material/ perfume smell/ gadget/ etc that you gifted them with love and care. The general comment would be ‘Aunty got a lovely sari/ perfume/ jewellery but since am not close to him/her I got this low quality stuff’. Of course, if you brought them something from India…they would be offended again, this time ‘Aunty got stuff from the Gulf. I am not considered good enough for that type of gift…’. This is when one puts up their hands and look up to the skies for help.
No more handouts to the innocent looking, scrupulous, neighbours/ relative/acquaintances who come around every year asking for donation for their house that needs repairs, children who need education (since the last n yrs) and all sorts of medical problems that you can’t name but they will have. We have the same needs too, anybody interested in helping us?
No more discussion on trips planned after years of scrimping and saving to nearby hill station or foreign countries as this would definitely mean that some needy person was earlier turned away and not given a handout because ‘you were selfish ‘ , ‘wanted to enjoy yourself’ and was ‘ without any concern to others who are suffering around you’. Good God!
No more visiting the meat shop, vegetable shop, textiles, etc without a local relative to haggle as in their absence you will be charged a hefty price as you are from the GULF. The last time we checked we didn’t grow money on trees!!!
No more shopping that requires you walk from shop to shop, haggle all hour long only to find out that the same item was available in a shop next door at a cheaper rate.
No more offering of more than one meal to uninvited guests who drop in on the pretext of seeing you and don’t leave. The usual routine involves two days of feasting and shopping at your expense. There has got to be an excuse to throw them out after one breakfast / lunch.
No to people who feel you must be woken up at 5 in the morning for a healthy living. Wasn’t that what you did the whole year so that you could sleep it off for one month?
No to well meaning folks who feel you must stuff yourselves at meal times which are just three hours APART! Think of your poor stomach people!
No to spicy curries that are tasty. It could burn a hole in your stomach and your A**.
No to Good Night coils that keep away no mosquitoes. You look like you have come down with chicken pox the next morning coz there is a limit to what the coil can do.
No to agents who sell LIC, Fixed Deposits, Bank Loans, Resort timings, Chitty schemes, business ideas and God alone knows what else! For crying out loud, I am a pauper by now.
No to relatives who consider it an offence if you don’t visit them by travelling hours on a bumpy road with babies, irate children, rain and luggage. We are suppose to enjoy the trip not endure torture.
Yes, every year one packs thinking, enough is enough and then we reach the airport and the coolie hijacks our trolley and luggage…. need I say more. Maybe one more sentence…..
I needed a vacation from VACATION!!!
- Musings by Anney Thomas. She has a streak of funny genes that could make you forget day’s tension. She has reinvented her writing passion and is here to spread smiles through her writing. For her other articles click HERE
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What is vacation again? :rotfl:
Too good… it was almost like reading Jerome!
Jerome?!….explain Guria.
Jerome K. Jerome and his Three Men in a Boat… one of my most favourite humor novels!
Will try to read it
Meals within a gap of three hours, Anney, that’s my kinda vacation
Gulf has ‘oil plants’. In other words, money trees! Haha..
You once again got me funny bone tickled
Cheers
Yup, funny bone was the one I was aiming for (:wink:)
OMG
That was funny
Thanks
My God, u are tormented by India
And it still is my favourite place to settle down…maybe i need a shrink!
I agree with you on the gifts part. You can never make people happy…
:rotfl:
Really Phunny one
Thanks.
“No more handouts to the innocent looking, scrupulous, neighbours/ relative/acquaintances…”
Whoa. neighbors asking for money? This is something I don’t see being complained about that often. Esp. so when these days not many people are interested in building a rapport with ‘the neighbor’.
Different type of post, though. Nice.
Trust me…I have had decades of experience on it
And what about the hotel brokers, tourist guides and touts luring you to nearest known shop for local famous items? Now, still do you need a break!
Good one…
I don’t get it. What are you trying to say here? You don’t like vacations?
Wrong!!! I love vacations…I dont mind the 3 hr food routine or the shopping
The whole point is to see how funny it is to make up ur mind for how u want to enjoy and not be able to do it!
Oh… I get it now. My vacations, over the last 3-4 years have always involved over a day spent in stuffy airplanes. So… I don’t quite like that part of a vacation but, hey! Good things come to those who wait through the trials and tribulations of air travel.
Physical discomfort aside, it’s usually fun!
Oh my God! And here i take a short break quarterly.
pssst! Anney tell me that was a joke! Or else you will be scaring away my readers from the travelogue. 
(:giggle:) Don’t worry…ur travelogues r great and that scenario only exsist when u go home after ages. It is a true observation and any NRI will attest to it
Heh!
I love my vacations and I think its great that u r able to take one in short periods….Wait for my vaction part 2 to see a different type of vacation LOL.
phew!willll be waiting :drool: