An ode to boredom

Summer vacation is on in northern India. For nearly three decades, this was my favourite memory from summer: cricket in the morning, television and a nap at noon, followed by more cricket till dusk. Hide-and-seek in the dark caused by load shedding. Then, comic books till late at night. And of course, eating mangoes whenever I could.

But I’m afraid I have come to dislike summer vacation now. It is one of the less romantic discoveries of parenthood. A six-year-old at home is a full-time project. Try finding ways to connect e-way bills to the health of the nation’s economy while negotiating with a small human being’s demand for constant engagement.

It was just past noon on a busy workday when our son wandered into the home office.