A Day under/on a Tree

On a Saturday, four kids and I went to spend the day “immersing in Nature” with New Delhi Nature Society. The youngest kid’s idea of a “farm” is really a house with a large garden, where white gloved staff serves you organic food, as she swings on a hammock and makes an occasional trip to the kitchen garden! Here, one had to make one’s own tea after setting up a chulhah. The older kids were thrilled because they got to dig two large holes and then ‘shake hands’ through a tunnel under it. 

Young and old, all kids were very pleased about climbing a Banyan Tree. Climbing a tree looks much easier than it is and the NDNS facilitator had to almost physically hoist us up, while shouting words of encouragement like ‘Yes you can’ – I am sure he felt like a commander in war. There were three musical instruments and the most fun was a gas cylinder turned into a drum, which sounded like a santoor! Or xylophone. So obviously all the kids wanted to play it, a LOT, till a ‘Silent hour’ was declared – because it was really necessary by then. 

All the kids were aghast at the thought of spending an entire hour, without speaking. But despite a little bit of cheating, they got through it – by sleeping under the sky, reading a book or playing on the grass. 

There were lots of other fun things that we did the whole day and as we drove back home, we realised that we had spent 9 hours, watching 20 species of birds, taking a cow for a walk, listening and creating music. But most importantly, we spent an entire day in gorgeous sunlight, under a beautiful tree, lying on soft mud/grass and being thankful. For the beauty around us.