My World of Food and Travel

It has been a long, painful month for us. We were bed-ridden for two and a half weeks, fighting against Dengue, and then an overwhelming burden of office work kept us gasping for breath in the next few days. Finally, I could not take it any more as I read and languished over amazing shots of birds, wildlife and nature. It seemed as if it was the season of revelry and we were left out of it. I wanted to breathe the fresh air again and feast my eyes on the emerald green cover brought about by monsoon.  We were advised not to drive long distances as we had just about recovered from our sickness. And so, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary it was for us – a second trip. (I had written about my first trip here.) We were out of home and on the NICE Ring Road by 6.30 am. This time, there were only 3 of us – the husband, the son and I. My parents had come down to look after us and we left them along with the in-laws at home to catch up on their stories of yore. I felt awfully happy and rev...

“Ready, everyone?” Deta (my father) called out as we scrambled into the Jeep, stepping over each other in our excitement. It was summer vacation and we had left behind the harsh school days behind to bask in the cool shade of leafy canopies in Manas Wildlife Sanctuary. The best part of summer holidays would be the arrival of my relatives to Manas. I don’t remember a single season when one or another of my cousins had not spent his/her/their vacation with us. While Manas was home for us, it was an adventurous trip to the jungle for them. We looked forward to their visits as it meant only one thing – the more, the merrier! It was during one such vacation that my eldest aunt (Jethai to us) visited us with her family. She was famous for her effusive, ringing laughter that always managed to create a chain reaction among us. But she had another side to her, one that we had never known till she stepped into Manas and took a long look at the dark woods beyond our bungalow. “It’s so cr...