How the staycation is killing the summer vacation

Kolkata: Just as the video killed the radio star, the staycation is killing the summer vacation. Long weekends sanctioned by scheming HR policies are bidding sayonara to the structured ten-day break, with dubious consequences.

For many Indians, disappearance from the home city during the torturous summer tidings was an inevitable relief - conversational data confirms that visiting the homes of relatives was default good sense. For starters, it was usually free and the enhanced levels of fraternal bonding did add to the Great Indian Family. Be it Jabalpur, Bhopal, Ranchi or Jamshedpur, the locations were merely semantics while the emotions were pedigreed.

For me, courtesy of generous parentage, the onset of the vacation was a modestly typed white envelope, containing an equally insipid missive. A confirmation from the manager of BNR ( Bengal Nagpur Railway) Hotel in Puri that room was indeed available and patronage welcomed. For those not from the Eastern climes, this was a well-mannered hostelry curated by the Indian Railways in 1925 to promote the salubrious and not just faithful antecedents of the destination. In strategic tandem with the extension of the tracks from Khurda Road, which occurred in 1901 or so.

The hotel subscribed to a unique category of hospitality, not luxury by convention but luxurious as sentiment, unexplainable to modern affections. Rooming was spacious but simple and air-conditioning patently decried as a foe of sea breeze, the construction ample in true 'Company' tradition. But the cuisine was bawarchi khana at its finest, some other-worldly influences clearly at sincere play.

Leading the pack was the scintillating Fish Orly, the majestic batter as if on Victorian secondment. Following suit were the Hindoostani curries, whether sensitive mutton or mushy fish, the dal and papad as if mridangam and tanpura. Desserts were disruptive, the Baked Alaska reborn as Himalayan Ice with Gateaux Book and Tutti Frutti thriving in the eclectic maze. This was indeed a formidable institution, with a culture defined by an empanelled conception and not just inflicted perception of civilisation.

Do pardon this exuberance of romance as that is indeed endemic to the cult of the summer vacation, as opposed to the transactional staycation. The latter is a subject of modern tidings, wherein super-endowed corporate slaves are persuaded to never disappear for more than just a grudgingly-extended weekend. That would tamper with revenues and profits, with consequences that would make Soft Bank and many hard banks squirm. Thus, these T20 holidays are delighted to become the prevailing norm and not the hitherto exception.

In the spirit of time travel though, the spirit of the summer vacation must be celebrated with due aplomb. By dint of appearing just once or maybe twice a year, the occasion acquired enormous significance, the rarity of its EQ and IQ in merry tandem. We looked forward to it like the annual Test Match, an experience that needed to be earned through arduous academic conduct and not just the swiping of an Aladdin credit card. The difference does exist in emotion and substance, an abundance of access incapable of competing with the joyfulness of exception.

Quite inevitably, new-age customer behaviour does lead to unfathomable winners, in this case, the multiplicity of unlimited leisure. Yes, we do check in and check out many times in a year and while the euphoria persists the magic is less willing. Not that anybody wishes an encore of Nehruvian frugality but equally, the melody of a fulfilled mirage is tough to replicate.

The major perk of a staycation culture is the demise of seasonality and thus the reasonable assurance of sustainable employment. On this practical note, this discussion may well terminate. While the diehard romantic will sincerely miss the institution of the summer vacation, like so much else in this electric era.