Some days I find myself in a soup. Like a tangy tomato with basil, chilli flakes added on top for added flavour. Literally trying to keep afloat. While I am all out of breath trying to swim from pillar to post sneezing chilli flakes away on an ultra demanding course module, challenging mommy duties, and way too much happening in under 24 hours. And before I realise, I have crashed into an iceberg just like the Titanic. That iceberg is called Youth Day. All this rant simply translates to – Schools just started after a month-long break. And on the very first Friday,  I am ambushed by Youth day. A day when school ends early. A day that has the scary trickle-down effect of declaring the following Monday as a holiday. A day when my post starts at 11pm. So where do I stand?

Everywhere. Because it just means goodbye to my Monday morning solitude. Has a better ring to it compared with Monday morning blues, isn’t it?

Back in the 90s, when I was a teen, titles, keywords and naming conventions for every gender, person or phenomenon were not in fashion. We never had a youth day. All the way up until age 15, we celebrated Children’s Day. And that wasn’t a holiday either. The only milestones most of us survived were puberty, adulthood and luckily without adultery. I graduated once in my entire lifetime and did not bother to show up in a black robe or graduation hat. In fact, I didn’t show up at all. Words like valedictorian hadn’t made their grand entry onto desi shores or our text-bookish vocabulary. ‘Topper’ was more like the term we reckoned. And in a bid to mar English, we grew up using phrases like ‘I passed out in 19XX’ which actually meant I graduated from college in that year. Xerox was the pen name for photocopy. The list is unending.

Now that you find yourself perched on top of a TV antenna on the roof terrace of a random residential building in Mumbai in the 90s, let me transport you back to the present.

Over the years, schools have taken us on far too many joy rides celebrating newly coined milestones every now and then. The only common side effect – a hole in our pockets. Photographs, celebrations and gifts have been a constant. To commend and motivate a child to graduate from kindergarten to primary school followed by secondary years, junior college and finally an almost two decade long wait and an empty wallet later, a parent can lay their hands on an actual graduate.

While I have recently crossed the halfway mark, I think Youth Day has it’s own perks too. While the younger one enjoys a Sports Carnival in school, is the captain of her Flags and Tags team, and brings the team to victory, returning home joyous and with a medal hanging around her neck, the older teen has a dress up day at school. For once, I wonder how apt. The one who loves to monkey around shines in her arena. And my dress-up doll, my fashionista and my drama queen gets to do what she likes best. It makes me realise how the four of us are same same, but different!

And each one is allowed to be themselves. No pressure to conform to any norms. No social proof needed to put book-smarts or street smartness on display. To pursue activities of one’s choice. Yes, like those mandatory chores that I bicker about, the rest of my family has their fair share of complains too. Yet, I feel grateful, we get to live by our choices despite some compulsions. Just in case you haven’t noticed, drama seems to be in my DNA. Another day off means a morning without alarms breaking my slumber. And who needs solitude while they are fast asleep?

P.S. It takes courage to walk the thin rope of life balancing between freedom and responsibilities. But isn’t that the beauty of game of life? Too free and one could fall. Too many responsibilities and one would lose their zest for life.

Point is, when schools start on a Monday but the kids end up getting a holiday on the following Monday in the name of youth day, we just have more time for fun!

Notes to self – consistency and commitment are the only way to forge ahead.