Local advantage
We make it a point that our children eat and drink what the villagers consume. Thus, their palate is broadened and they have better immunity. If you eat the food and drink the water in whatever geography you are in, it will help combat whatever ailments you get from there. It’s like what I learnt while going for treks at my boarding school in Uttarakhand. Wherever there is (stinging nettle), next to it there will always be the plant that counters its effect.
Lost in Narnia
In the last few years, we’ve travelled to places such as KargilLeh, Dharamshala, Manali, Lahaul and Spiti Valley, and a few trips through Punjab with the kids. During the Himachal trip, a landslide forced us to stop midway. We travelled back a few kilometres and stayed in a village called Bhandal for a week. It was somewhere in the middle of Chamba and Kishtwar.
The place looks like how Gulmarg did 30 years ago. Still virgin, with dense deodar forests. It was drizzling, there was mist and fog; it felt like we were in Narnia. The kids had fun playing with us. It was all about Uno and bonfires, running in the rain and jumping into streams.
On a recent trip to Dalhousie, we were staying in huts. My aunt and uncle’s home was about 400 meters away. We were okay with the children strolling around, walking to their house. That’s something they can’t do back home. But they do come back very confident and want to step out alone in Delhi, too!
A couple of times a year, I also bring them along on my trips to my weaving clusters in West Bengal, Varanasi, Sanganer in Jaipur, Dharwad in Karnataka, and Puttapaka in Telangana. They love it there; they love village life in general. Also, they get the things that they aren’t allowed at home, like Thums Up, Fruittella, candies and chips. Why won’t they look forward to travelling?
— As told to Surya Praphulla Kumar