Walk in the Woods

Rahul, my brother in law, is home for a week from Hong Kong before leaving for London to complete the remaining part of his MBA. Yes, I envy his globetrotting days which seem a distant dream for me now. Don’t envy the enormous student loan however. Rahul and Vishal share a birthdate one year apart, in March. Both were born by elective Caesarean section so I am sure that as the younger one, Rahul was born either pre or post mature to ensure the coincidence.

The entire clan set off for a trip to Corbett national park to celebrate the joint birthday, baby and kitchen sink included. The onward drive from Delhi took us six hours while the return journey was around seven hours. Vihaan was extremely well behaved during the car journey, sleeping most of the time and jumping happily from lap to lap when awake. I fed him just before leaving and we had a pitstop at the McDonalds in Gajrola where he had a cerelac happy meal and diaper change. We stayed at the Infinity Corbett Resorts for two days. I know I keep ranting against luxury resort holidays but those are the only kind I seem to be taking these days. I guess advanced pregnancy, the presence of an infant and senior citizens are good enough excuses to park my lazy ass in air conditioned comfort for now. The resort had pleasant rooms with a psedo rustic decor, bamboo roofs and tiled floors. The highlight of the resort was definitely its location right on the banks of the Kosi river. This ensured phenomenal views of the river and the surrounding hills both from our balcony and the restaurants sun deck. The buffet meals were good and included some unusual items like Achari baingan besides the usual kadai paneer and butter naan. The staff was extremely attentive and went out of their way to ensure our comfort. They also had a lovely, well maintained pool which we unfortunately couldn’t use much as the water was freezing. The river was easily accessible by steps from the garden. Although we failed to sight any tigers, we still had a nice, relaxing break from the urban noise and pollution.

I had genuinely forgotten how wonderful it feels to sit under a canopy of stars listening to the murmur of a river flowing by. The ideal life would be if I could live where the morning star is brightly visible while continuing to work in Delhi. I was particularly attentive to Venus watching because I was reading The Glass Castle which is Jeanette Walshs account of her extremely unorthodox childhood. Her parents child rearing methods comprised of equal parts stubborn eccentricity and simple negligence but being highly intelligent and well read they do manage to instill a fierce survival instinct in Jeanette and her siblings. The book is very well written and on more than one instance it made me want to pause and just somehow shake some sense into her parents heads. I think on some level, every person capable of critical analysis thinks that their parents could have done a better job  in certain aspects of their upbringing. For example, I always wished I had studied in schools where I would have been more intellectually challenged. But reading autobiographies like these just made me realize how easy I had it and of course I resolved to do the best job I can with my son.