Spend summer vacation at your native place

Summer vacations - time for ice creams, watermelons, trips and everything nice! TOI finds out what makes visiting native places tick during the season. The monotonous city life, with its big factories and insane traffic can sometimes leave you craving for some peace and tranquility. Which is why, a trip to your native town is always about unwinding. A magical getaway of sorts, perhaps. Youngters now prefer to steal a trip to their native places, rather than taking trips to exotic locations, holiday packages. Trichiiates believe that going back to their grandparents are any day better than expensive trips abroad. Says Akshaya Durai, a sales executive who reminisces how she visited her native place during her childhood. "When I was young, we neither had a television nor a radio for entertainment. However, we had cousins to chill out with and we ended up creating memories. A typical day at grandma's place would constitute get together with cousins, traditional games, childhood treats and at time we would stumble upon old photographs of our parents. I would definitely say that those were the best days of my life as it was more of a learning experience." Says Poornima Ravindran, an engineer, "Visiting your native place is enjoying a holiday in its true sense. Out of country trips make you feel alienated and also crib at the conditions that are prevalent in our cities. There is no emotional quotient in such places and you cannot relate to the place, running around the place trying to finish seeing as many places as possible is sure stressful. Most importantly, safety and financial reasons have to be thoroughly checked to be visiting other countries unlike being amongst our own." Though going to exotic locations will actually be a good break, the euphoria factor that comes with visiting your native land is missing there. The greenery, pure water, lip-smacking food prepared by granny - all makes the holiday even more memorable. Mullaimanalan Radhakrishnan says "To me, a perfect holiday would be a relaxing summer break at my grand mom's place eating all my favourite foods. A dip in the river, sleeping under the shady trees in her garden and playing traditional games with my cousins - I cherish those days more than anything else and those summer breaks were actually the best. " Parents feel that kids fancy a trip abroad due to peer pressure. Latha Sriram, a home maker and a mother of two, tells "I cannot imagine the kids of this generation being engaged in such family bonding exercises. They prefer all that is extravagant and rising standards make way for materialistic things. Thinking back on how much I miss those days, I also feel bad for the next generation that hardly finds the time to enjoy simple joys of life. But looks like the trend is making a comeback. Children have began to realize the importance of being together as a family." As the urban life gets boring, city youngsters are increasingly growing fond of visiting the country side. They believe a trip to the grandmom's home amid greenery is not just cost-affective, but also makes for a great family bonding.