Imagine a day without wi-fi!

That little tiny box with its green lights had stopped twinkling since morning. Mum, Dad, Sara and Yuvi stared at. It was a Sunday! How would they pass their time now? Can you guess what must have happened? The Wi-Fi was down! The modem was showing a red light and mobile data was also not working. Now the family was without an internet connection for the entire day until someone came and fixed it. They all sulked for a while, till grandpa and grandma entered the room. They looked at the sad faces of the children and couldn’t help smiling. Why? Well, this is what they said, ‘When we were your age we had no phones or internet’. The children stared at them in disbelief. ‘Really’, they chimed. ‘Yes, of course. There was no such thing as online and we didn’t even have a TV until we were really grown-up’, they said. ‘So what did you do to pass your time’, asked Yuvi, looking surprised. ‘Oh, we did a lot of things. We played so many games, ran about, helped in household chores, climbed trees, went for picnics’, grandma said. Sara interrupted her, ‘Picnics. Oh, I love to go for picnics too. But we can’t go for a picnic because of COVID-19’, she said sadly. Grandpa looked at her lovingly and said, ‘Come on, who told you that picnics can be done only outdoors. Let’s have a picnic at home today!’ The children suddenly lit up with joy, jumping in the air and shouting, ‘Yes, yes please.’ And so they all helped mummy quickly make some sandwiches, pack a bag with a big mattress, a few water bottles, a pack of UNO cards and the Pictionary board game. They put on their hats and pretended to be all off on a picnic, which happened to be the hall. They had already pushed the sofas and chairs in a corner. So they spread out the mat and to have a marvelous picnic at home. They chatted with each other, played board games and also other games, such as ‘charades’ and ‘antakshari’. They ate their lunch, lay down on the mat for a while, and continued to chat for a while till they decided it was time to wrap it up. The children enjoyed this little pretend picnic and wished they could have a real picnic soon. Both the grandparents and mum and dad promised they would take them for a picnic once the fear of coronavirus vanished! To cheer them up, Grandma decided to use the landline and call up their aunt and uncle who stayed in a different city. Instead of texting, the family spoke to them over the phone and heard them talk about their day too. Now that the picnic was over, what else could they do? Well, mum came to the rescue and made a quick list for them. On one side she wrote all the things that they could together as a family. On the other, she jotted down activities that each could do on their own. Let’s take a look at it and see if you can try some of these yourself too! Activities we could do together 1. Play board games – They had already played a few during the picnic, but could always try more! 2. Clean the house – The children didn’t really like this one, but mom seemed very pleased with herself. She gave each of them a dusting cloth and asked them all to help her organize and clean the bookshelves. One could also do the cupboards and kitchen cabinets, but some other day. 3. Brush through family albums and photos – Mom had a few family albums and another huge bag of old photographs. All the elders together told the children the stories behind the photos. Photos of great grandfather, great aunt, old picnics and when both mom and dad were really little made the children very excited. 4. DIY or Do It Yourself - There were a bunch of things, which could be done, but the family knew that their doormats were really old and tattered. And so they decided that they would bring out some old clothes and extra cloth pieces and make their very own doormat instead of buying one. 5. Cook and enjoy a meal – Why not everyone wears a chef’s hat and makes a new dish from grandma’s recipe book and not a YouTube video. 6. Work on physical fitness - Exercising can be fun with some music on and with everyone trying to do it as a team. Activities that can be done alone 1. Read – Pick up a good book from the books, which were received as gifts, and read some new stories and events. 2. Draw, paint, or craft – Everyone likes to do something creative. It could be drawing, sketching, coloring, painting, sewing, or making any craft. Yuvi is a big fan of Avengers. He decided to make his very own Captain America shield with cardboard. Sara on the other hand loved painting and made a beautiful picture of the beach. 3. Call up friends - The kids were so used to texting and video calling. This was a good time to pick up the handphone and call friends. The family had a great time and had quite forgotten that the Wi-Fi and phone data was down. Even the grandparents had a wonderful day because they found time to talk and play with the children. In fact, when the day ended they still had so many of these activities left to do and they decided that they would continue the next day. They also felt more energetic and their eyes and backs didn’t hurt much too. They decided that they would continue doing some of the activities on the list even when the Wi-Fi was working absolutely fine. Have you come across such a situation. Can you share what you did?