Ah, summer vacation! Those two words once carried the fragrant romance of freedom. For children who grew up in India thirty or forty years ago, summer holidays were not just dates on a calendar. They were the most eagerly awaited season of the year. The final school bell did not merely mark the end of classes; it felt like the gates of a prison swinging open.

Our cities are expanding. Buildings scrape the sky. Cars gleam. Bank balances rise. Yet something essential is shrinking: our hearts. The question before us is simple. Does progress mean only wealth, status, and visibility? Or do courtesy, humility, and humanity matter just as much?

​After a long time, I had an opportunity to go to my school to meet someone. Since there was time before the bell, I thought I’d take a round. As I turned the corner, I saw 7–8 kids in the dazzling corridor of an elite school, and the language they were using made my ears go numb. Gen Z’s fast, chopped-up, emoji-dripping tongue… and in every sentence, a four-letter firecracker.

What began as routine questioning of a 16-year-old girl by teachers at a prestigious city school has snowballed into a digital-age nightmare, exposing the dark underbelly of student social media use.

The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana stands as a ray of hope and empowerment for millions of young girls across India.

Research from the family locator app and safety membership platform Life360 has revealed the top benefits that parents of kids 13 and under see from mobile ownership alongside the rules that they put in place to encourage healthy and safe smartphone habits.