Travel typically can bring with it a truckload of new experiences, and when we do disparate travel within the week, it's like time stretches in the process of accommodating the experiences.
The week was four days at the 'Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve', and three days at Delhi at a family wedding.... two totally contrasting experiences. Last day of trip, it came through best when we were going through the pictures, and diksha's like "gosh ma, it feels like Corbett was a long while ago"
Jim Corbett is a tiger reserve in Uttarkhand, in the foothills of the Himalayas.....mountains and rivers and forests, and Delhi was family and mehendi and sangeet and shaadi.....amazingly different...... each as rich and beautiful.
To go chronologically, it started with one of my scariest adventures.
We found ourselves on the road, well within the corbett reserve, at eleven at night......steep ghats, not a single car on the road, an elephant corridor of the tiger reserve, an inexperienced and scared driver, all of us hungry, not sure of our way, intermittent connectivity so no gps, no one to ask directions. At ten we entered the reserve area, past the police checkpost which does not allow movement into the reserve after eight pm (we had no back up plan if they hadn't let us pass)......so much so the next day the kids were like, "we've never seen you panicked like that ma, what happened to you".
To validate their perception, yes I was unusually scared, because the thought in my head was 'what if there's a car breakdown'.
Worse.... topic of discussion just gravitated to intense elephant stories, and dhruva's like "if it's a herd we wait it out, but if a rogue elephant appears, that will be our Jurassic moment.... but damn, we're in the ghats! " :)
Why did the plan go so awry? Well, the drive from Delhi to Corbett was said to be six hours; our flight landed an hour late, we got stcuk in a one hour traffic jam in Delhi, and sterling, our place of stay was a further hour away from Corbett. So what was to be eta of 8 pm became 11 pm.
Different story that we saw one of our best night sky views on that road, me just wishing I'd had the nerves to enjoy it a little bit more. In fact Dhruva was really keen on going back the next day to catch the night sky, but my fear was yet too raw, I had to veto a 'no' much to his anger and dismay (and to my own disappointment at having to take a practical decision.....it's so not me)
While I can write plenty about those experiences, Corbett and Delhi, (and will too) what was also fascinating was the textural difference in experience when the three of us stayed in one room for a whole week..... no tv, no friends, no phone connectivity.....enables touching layers otherwise not often touched..... again a deeply lovely and enriching experience.
Rest in experiential pieces :)
That's for locational perspective, Uttaranchal, where the Corbett reserve is located.
To go chronologically, it started with one of my scariest adventures.
We found ourselves on the road, well within the corbett reserve, at eleven at night......steep ghats, not a single car on the road, an elephant corridor of the tiger reserve, an inexperienced and scared driver, all of us hungry, not sure of our way, intermittent connectivity so no gps, no one to ask directions. At ten we entered the reserve area, past the police checkpost which does not allow movement into the reserve after eight pm (we had no back up plan if they hadn't let us pass)......so much so the next day the kids were like, "we've never seen you panicked like that ma, what happened to you".
To validate their perception, yes I was unusually scared, because the thought in my head was 'what if there's a car breakdown'.
Worse.... topic of discussion just gravitated to intense elephant stories, and dhruva's like "if it's a herd we wait it out, but if a rogue elephant appears, that will be our Jurassic moment.... but damn, we're in the ghats! " :)
Why did the plan go so awry? Well, the drive from Delhi to Corbett was said to be six hours; our flight landed an hour late, we got stcuk in a one hour traffic jam in Delhi, and sterling, our place of stay was a further hour away from Corbett. So what was to be eta of 8 pm became 11 pm.
Different story that we saw one of our best night sky views on that road, me just wishing I'd had the nerves to enjoy it a little bit more. In fact Dhruva was really keen on going back the next day to catch the night sky, but my fear was yet too raw, I had to veto a 'no' much to his anger and dismay (and to my own disappointment at having to take a practical decision.....it's so not me)
While I can write plenty about those experiences, Corbett and Delhi, (and will too) what was also fascinating was the textural difference in experience when the three of us stayed in one room for a whole week..... no tv, no friends, no phone connectivity.....enables touching layers otherwise not often touched..... again a deeply lovely and enriching experience.
Rest in experiential pieces :)
That's for locational perspective, Uttaranchal, where the Corbett reserve is located.
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