THE VACATION-VOCATION PARADOX

There are no bound limits to human wants and earthly cravings - one always desires for more. Be it a small child longing to experience the fervor of a brand new playstation, a shopaholic whiling away time lavishly on the latest gadgetry and fashionable attire, an amateur entrepreneur aspiring to reach the apex of corporate success, or a famished pauper searching for crumbs of bread within mounds of trash disposed of as useless by higher echelons of society - with each fulfillment is coupled a sense of inadequacy and avarice that propels us further towards still unrealized dreams and ambitions, and life continues to revolve in a circle around a central object, only the latter metamorphoses intermittently as time rushes by.

From velvety cholcolates to miniscule gadgets to swift bikes to good grades, most of my demands have been met to my contentment, albeit with censure and sometimes after much hullabaloo and tantrums from my side. There has been one in particular which has eluded me each time I come to wish for it, not one that can be realized by tangible means and measures - an extended vacation.

A day lost in travelling. Another spent remunerating for the hours of sleep the common IITian has so often been deprived of - at times cramming volumes of ominous facts and on rare occasions sweating it out on the badminton court (yeah, people do that at Cautley Bhawan !) or watching a critically acclaimed movie.
A brief excursion, lots of TV, occasional games of football, half a novel, a few mouthfuls of mom's blissful cookies; and before you know, it's time to pack your bags and head back to the land where unrelenting professors barge into your dreams and untimely exams draw out the little energy that remains after each wadded, eventful month.

If you've been working for what seems like eternity, you wish holidays were near. If you happen to be jobless for a long time, you look for better, fruitful endeavours. A holiday is seldom a pleasant respite from monotonous activity. It is a welcome change all right, but more often than not a pretext for shifting to some other selfish pursuit that is only somewhat different from our regular engagements - this especially holds for a B.Tech 3rd year undergraduate faced with the dilemma of choosing between a peaceful holiday and a promising, ambitious career.

Perhaps for now a 'holiday' is forbidden. But I'm waiting for the day when I have so much time just to lay back on nature's carpet in the beautiful sunshine and observe the clouds drifting across the blue sky - that I would truly call taking some time off.