India can feel like a white-knuckle ride for the uninitiated (and sometimes the initiated). Most of the western rulebook regarding social intercourse, personal space, financial transactions, health and safety go out of the window. It can seem like anarchy; this is of course also why those who ride the initial bumps often grow to love its kaleidoscopic range of experiences. Most kids' sense of fun includes the upturning of social convention, so with some extra planning the dynamics of kids in India ought to work, oughtn’t it?
An inauspicious start en route to Heathrow from Devon when Fergus (5) slipped on an escalator (hanging from the moving rubber banister)and then gave himself a nosebleed on the tube luckily proved the exception.
After an overnight train ride to Goa (Indian railways blankets utilised for dens on the top bunk) from Mumbai we finally stepped out onto Palolem beach in Goa. Flip flops in hand, sand between toes, the children awestruck, a long exhale ensued. Kids love the beach anywhere, but Palolem is exceptionally family friendly with safe shallow waters, acres of space and a prevailing wind of relaxed ease.
A successful wild elephant spotting trip to Wayanad wildlife reserve in the Northern Kerelan hills was followed a short visit to the hilly Coorg capital of Madikeiri with its clanky toy train and stunning views. Christmas in plantain cottage at the nearby jungle home-stay ‘Rainforest Retreat’ seemed like anything but, none the less a small range of Indian bought gifts maintained and expanded the Santa mythology for another year. (His special helpers deal with the Indian Sub continent...)
The lively Jain Pilgrimage town of Dharmastala, reputedly hosting and feeding 10,000 pilgrims a day, with the central attraction the eclectic nondenominational Manjunatha temple and its temple elephants proved a popular stop off on route to the Karnataka coast. Inside the temple men are required to remove their shirts to circumambulate the deities and the inner sanctum; this was one of the few times that Kit looked at me and said “Dad, what are we doing here?”
We were in luck when we discovered that the Krishna temple in the pilgrimage town of Udupi was mid festival; in addition the town was only a 4 km bus ride from a palm fringed beach almost entirely devoid of development. The town’s evening festivities centred around the main temple were a riot of colour and noise: think Glastonbury Festival combined with a Gay Pride march plus elephants and Sadhus (Indian holy men). Dancers, palanquins, giant puppets, luminous lighting and tinselly floats all added to a South Indian scene that locals were clearly enjoying as much as we were.
From Wayanad onwards we were off the beaten track; the welcomes and warmth we received along the way have left an indelible mark on the children who I know have expanded and opened in response to their Indian experience.
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