Maximum vacation
Maximum vacation
As a stay-at-home mom, Sunali Advani waits eagerly for school vacations so she can spend more time with her children, Ahana, 9, and Aahil, 6. “During the regular school days, I barely get to spend 2-3 hours with them. Holidays are the only time we can talk and do things together," says Sunali.
“Last year, I enrolled them in some hectic summer classes. They spent an hour in commute. It was almost like going to school and coming back," she says. This year, Sunali has decided to look for just one activity class for each child, and something close to their home on Richmond Road, Bangalore.
“As an army child, my vacations had no streamlined activities. Along with other children in the cantonment I just got my bicycle out and roamed the streets. We went on short treks, went to the club when we wanted to play and most importantly, we visited grandparents." For her, summer holidays were essentially about “loads of free time and pampering by grandparents". She regrets that her children can’t have that kind of freedom.
The task of deciding which summer activity class to enrol her children for has been easy for Sunali this year because there are many mothers in her apartment complex with children in the same age group as hers. “We usually conduct a car pool and all children of a certain age are put in the same classes. They have their friends around at all time, be it at summer activity class or just a play date," she says.
For Ahana, who has already been through a Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts dance course, she is on the look-out for a dance class geared towards having fun rather than teaching it as a serious art form. “Ahana had a lot of fun at the dance lessons, so I wouldn’t mind a repeat of that," Sunali says. “Some theatre classes for her would be nice as well."
Aahil, who already goes for tennis lessons at the Bangalore Club just a kilometre away from the Advani household, has signed up for skating classes at the Kanteerava stadium. “You can’t learn a sport fully in a month; so like the tennis lessons, skating classes will also go on for the whole year," says Sunali.
Apart from these classes, she wants her children to spend time interacting with other children this summer. “I am fixing up weekly play dates for them with their friends from the school, the building and even with my friends’ children." Sunali plans to drive them to a friend’s house every week so they can spend the entire day there. She also wants to take them on drives to places just outside Bangalore for short day trips.
But the part that both Ahana and Aahil are looking forward to most is a visit to Mumbai and Nashik in May, which will include a two-day stopover at Deolali in Maharashtra, where Sunali will take them on a tour of the army cantonment. “I want them to see where I spent my summers. I can’t hope that their holidays will be as relaxed as mine, but I can try to give them a glimpse."
Try this
Dance workshop
Dance to hip hop, jazz and swing your hips to the latest salsa moves at the Hipnotics Dance Company.
Call: 080-2112491
When: 3 May onwards
Age group: 5-12
Charges: Rs1,450 (for 18 classes)
Where: Hipnotics Dance Studio, No. 35/17, Premier Presidency, No. 201, next to MRF Tyres, Langford Road, Bangalore
Summer activity clubs and camps in Bangalore
Martial arts and dance workshop
Learn a combination of martial art form Kalaripayattu, dance and theatre at the Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts. Courses on the three arts will be taught over a period of 15 days by facilitators who will work in collaboration with each other around a theme and work towards a combined performance on 8 May.
Call: 22123684, 22123809
When: 24 April
Age group: 5-12
Charges: Rs2,500 (for a 15-day workshop, 3 hours every day)
Where: 24-04, BTS Bus Depot Road, Wilson Garden, behind Mandovi Motors
Folk Tales through Theatre workshop
This workshop will be conducted by Padmavati Rao. She will narrate folk tales from different regions using the techniques of theatre. Children will actively participate in the narrative process and will come away with stories to tell.
Call: 26493982
When: 19-24 April (Jeevan Bhima Nagar); 26 April-1 May (Ranga Shankara)
Age group: 7-9
Charges: Rs2,000
Where: Ranga Shankara, 36/2, 8th Cross, JP Nagar, II Phase
Robotics workshop
The workshop by Technophilia will teach children the fundamentals and practical concepts of electronics and mechanics required to understand elementary robotics. In this workshop, children will use one kit to build seven different robots.
Call: 9902030359
When: 19-24 April (3 hours a day)
Age group: 7-12
Charges: Rs5,000 (for the six-day workshop)
Where: 403, 8B Main Road, Jayanagar 4th Block
pavitra.j@livemint.com
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