Holidays
Essay No. 01
I love holidays. Who doesn’t? Specially unexpected ones which come suddenly in the middle of the week! On such a holiday, I am up bright and early, much to my mother’s irritation who has a difficult time waking me up every other morning trying to get me to school on time. I really don’t know what happens to me on a holiday— one moment I am fast asleep dreaming of the maths homework I have not done, and the next minute I am wide awake, suddenly realizing I need not touch my books, for the homework can wait another twenty-four hours.
I love being outdoors, so before it gets too hot I put in half-an-hour’s jogging and some cricket practice with a few like-minded friends from the neighbourhood. I then have a huge breakfast, revelling in the luxury of dawdling over my glass of milk. The rest of the day is spent doing all the things I don’t get time for on school days—like finishing an exciting book, ringing up an old friend, cleaning my room, helping my father to wash his car, and even trying my hand at cooking. I like to watch television too and listen to some good music.
Change of activity is very relaxing so I try, to avoid being idle. Moreover, it’s fun to do different things every little while. That way I don’t get bored. Before I realize it, the day is over. I pack my school bag and iron my uniform, but not before I have tackled that maths homework I was talking about earlier!
Even on holidays, I believe in sleeping early to enable me to wake up fresh the next morning. So it’s bedtime for me now—Good Night!
Essay No. 02
Holidays
Holidays have their own charm. They offer respite from continuous hard work. The students consider holidays like a gift of God. Others love them for rest, recreation, and completion of certain. important jobs which could not be attended to during the busy schedule of work. The mood on holidays is very relaxed. People get up late in the morning. A lo; of time is spent on gossiping, playing games, and attending household chores. Many people go for sight-seeing, many utilize their holidays for going to reading rooms and libraries, some of which are open particularly on holidays. On holidays, a lot of visits are exchanged. Generally, special types of dishes are prepared at home. Some people prefer to dine out on holidays for a change. Holidays are a boon for everybody. People look forward to them.
Holidays
Essay No. 03
1 The enjoyment of holidays. 2. The holidays in my school. 3. How different boys enjoy their holidays. 4. Farming and picnics.
Naturally, as a schoolboy, I like holidays, and I believe in the saying that,
“All work and no play
Makes jack a dull boy.”
Of course, I am old enough to know that we cannot have holidays all the year-round and that if we did not have to work at school we should never learn to read and write and do sums, and so would grow up quite ignorant and stupid. Still, I do not think any boys really like work and lessons. I know I do not and I think the boys that say they do are just telling lies. But I dare say we should not enjoy holidays so much when they come if we had not been working hard. A holiday is nothing fresh to a lazy person who never does any work at all, but it is very nice to those who have to work hard because it is such a change.
In our school, we have ten days’ holiday at Christmas, and ten days in the spring, in April, and two months in the summer, in July and August. Besides this, every Sunday is a holiday; and we get odd days-Hindu, Muhammadan, and Christian festivals, like Holi, the Ids, and Easter. And sometimes we manage to get other holidays from the Headmaster. For example, our football team won the match against the rival school last week, and at the end of the game all crowded round the Headmaster shouting, “Holidays! Holidays!” and made such a noise that at last the poor man was glad to give it just to stop our shouting
Schoolboys spend their holidays in different ways. Some go off to the bazaars in the town, and wonder about the streets, and buy cakes and sweets. Some laze about in the hostel and chat and play games. Some go for walks in the country, and some play football and hockey, and cricket. I know a few boys (they must be funny fellows!) who actually stay in their rooms and read and study.
Of course for long holidays, like those we get in the summer, I always go home to my village and often help my father on the farm. I rather like this for a change, -and they say change of work is rest; but I do not mean to be a farmer all my life. But on odd holidays, I like to go out into the country just a few kilometers away, and we often go there and fish, and have our picnic in the shade of the trees on the bank. And there we sit and sing songs, and have a jolly time.
Holidays
Essay No. 04
The necessity of holidays is expressed in the homely proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” We must not only have hours of relaxation in our working days, but also longer intervals of cessation from work. Some are foolish enough to suppose that there is a direct proportion between the hours of labour and the results of labour, that the longer we work the greater will be our achievement. This idea is not true of any kind of work, and is especially false when applied to intellectual labour. Even if we confine our attention to a single year, the student who allows himself a few holidays will probably learn more than another who plods on at his work, without a day’s intermission, from the beginning to the end of the year. Although he works for a less time, yet, owing to the increased mental vigour produced by occasional rest, his work will be more effective; and the improvement in quality will more than compensate for the diminution in the quantity of the work done.
The value of holidays is still more apparent if we consider the matter with regard to longer periods of time. A man, by working without respite for a whole year, is likely to incapacitate his brain for effectual work during the following year. Thus students may, by intense labour for long stretches of time, succeed in passing with credit one or two examinations and seem to make a good start in life. But if they have neglected the duty of refreshing their minds by periodical holidays, they commence the real business of life with exhausted brains and impaired health. This is how it so often happens that men, after a brilliant university career, are eclipsed in after-life by others who stood below them formerly in examinations, but by wisely economizing their expenditure of brainpower, left their colleges strong in mind and body, and well prepared for the arduous struggle of life.
Another important consideration about holidays is that they are likely to add to the length of our life. There is an Arabian proverb which says that the hours spent in hunting do not count in our life, the meaning of which is that, if we spend three or four years in hunting, our life is thereby prolonged three or four years beyond the time we should have lived without that relaxation. The same may be said of all healthy ways of spending our holiday leisure. The man who allows himself a fair amount of rest from labour thereby prolongs his life. Thus he not only improves the quality but also, by living for a greater number of years, increases the quantity of his work.
We have so far been considering the effect of holidays upon a man’s work and success in life, because it is from this point of view that the necessity of continual labour is most frequently insisted upon. But, after all, even if holidays did not positively improve the quantity and quality of our work, they would still be desirable for their own sake. It is a gloomy idea to regard work as the only end of life. Good work is indeed only a means. Its great object is to provide for the welfare and happiness of ourselves and of those who are dependent on us for support. If in many cases we can promote that object more directly and effectually by spending a pleasant holiday, the happiness we thereby obtain for ourselves and those near and dear to us, is a sufficient justification of our conduct.
