Finally, it's the day before the much-awaited summer holiday. The house is in that higgledy-piggledy pre-vacation state — the suitcase that wouldn't shut; the daughter asking, repeatedly, if I've remembered to pack her iPod charger; and, to top it all, a very helpful husband, conspiratorially whispering to colleagues that nothing is going to change just because he's going on holiday. He will be available 24X7, and of course, he's taking his laptop along. I pretend I did not hear that; and the next day, as we drive to our cottage (stopping 17 times en route to check mails/take calls), I neither scold nor lecture, but only smile sweetly.
My smile widens when we reach our destination — the farmhouse is halfway up a desolate hill, with no sign of civilisation within a 10-mile radius. About the same time, husband realises there is no signal at all, so none of the gadgets work. “This place is very remote,” he observes, annoyed.
Plugged in 24 x 7
I point out that I sent him the link before booking the cottage, happy in the knowledge that he has marked my mails as spam and never reads them.
And so, dear friends, this is how our holiday began — blissfully, with no Internet/telephone and other urban irritants; just us, lots of great, rolling hills, and dozens of friendly sheep. And, until it was time to go back home, we spent every waking minute searching for a mobile signal.
“The moment we checked into our hotel on our recent vacation to Vancouver, my husband, an environmental engineer, desperately logged in to see if any issues had come-up. As though the whole chemical industry would come to a standstill if he were to take a day off,” laughs Radhika, a software engineer. “Sometimes, I'm sorely tempted to fling the gadgets away,” says Kalpana, a journalist. “My husband usually juggles two phones, to stay connected with work and friends! So, it's five pictures, and two calls in-between, and he thinks he's doing us a favour by being physically present during vacations!”
Charging the internal-battery
For a word that originally meant freedom, vacations have recently been going all awry. If you factor in the vast majority who happily lug around the paraphernalia they would use on a regular working day, don't you think ‘vacations' ought to be renamed? (Quick, what's Latin for ‘still working, just from a different geographical location?')
“You know, some never seem to understand why we fuss so much about incessant calls/mails during holidays,” says Kalpana. “Look, I can't really talk about vacations — mostly because I haven't had a decent one in ages — but if I ever went on one, I can't imagine being without my Blackberry,” says Raghavan, a consultant. “The point is, I somehow feel good about doing something related to work all the time, even if it is sending a one-line email to my client. Staying connected with work and moving towards your goals is a massive serotonin booster!”
And, it is precisely this need — serotonin-boosting or otherwise — that gets hapless families into situations that are typically seen only on the Discovery Channel. Seriously, why else would I bother opening and shutting sheep-gates and shooing dozens of cussed sheep off a windswept farm-track, all in driving rain? It's because the husband received a call at 10 p.m., and we had to quickly scour that dreich island for a spot with mobile connectivity.
“Frankly, this is why I disconnect, completely, from the system when I'm on vacation,” says Sriman, an entrepreneur. “Even though you know things will go on despite your absence, the urge to catch-up is compelling. But I have, thankfully, learnt to fight it, especially for the sake of my daughters. Because if all I can give them is half-hearted attention, will they give me anything more when they're grown up?”
