family time, kanatal, travel in India

• Jyotsana Kaushik
• 15 Nov 2017
• Travel Fest

“Papa, this time I just want three of us to go on a holiday, and no one else… !”.

So, that was the first premise to decide our next holiday destination. But it was also a clear alarm of some little person demanding some ‘alone’ family time… Hmm, Ponder !

We had just 4 days in hand, so the only place we could venture out were the hills.
While one had ticked off all the textbook destinations – Nainital, Mukteshwar, Chail, Missourie, Shimla, Dehradun, we were looking for something more off-beat, pristine & ‘hatke’!
(not just for fb or this article, but for our very own selves – the little lady’s premise a constant reminder that’s it about ‘us’ and not the world.)

Thus, the search began. Gone were the days when parents had this travel book to choose holidays.
Now with tablets and smart phones, even deciding a destination is an inclusive exercise with your child.
Aahh… some of the boons of the digital age.

We finally zeroed down to Kanatal -the highest peak in the Garhwal Range, opted for a 5-star boutique hotel and stopped at the very popular child-friendly resort JW Marriot @ Missourie on our way back. (this stopover was a very one-sided decision – and you’ll know why! Read on…)
And the mind can never stop racing…

After all hotel bookings done, my next set of questions to the dad & myself:
- Long time we haven’t done a road trip… errr are we ready? Skills on the hills?
- How will the 3 of us survive an 8-hour journey...! how much can you talk or play word games?
- And we’ve decided to go only one-stop to save time and extract most of the resort booking time (typical Indian mentality you may think… ‘maximum nichodo’, but who cares, we love ourselves like this only!)
- What do we carry to keep ourselves busy… ?? Kanatal is about just beautiful spots and treks
So there we pack in some games – UNO, LUDO, and we all carried a book each !
After creating doubts and searching solutions, we were ready to roll in the next few weeks…

And this is what really happened…
(now don’t blame me, if part 1 of the story sounds completely disconnected from part 2)

As we drove up the winding roads, we discovered so much more about each other…
- Took turns to play our favourite songs, so obviously the playlist range went from Kishore Kumar to chainsmokers!
- which multiplication tables we each knew best
- favourite memories from old holidays
- who had a better voice….
So much one packed inside a metal box on wheels! Wow… we didn’t realise when our destination arrived!

We stayed at a wonderful resort at Kanatal. It was the most scenic and breath-taking view of the Himalayan range and the quaint little station itself. The fresh air, smiling faces of the Garhwalis and the bliss of feeling so close to the sky was surreal!
The resort had beautiful landscaping… with different levelled structures for the cottages, restaurant, wood-fire pizza hatch on the tip of the hill and a small dhaba setting on the side.
While there was nothing kid-friendly or child specific attractions, we made the most of the place…

First day we spent exploring the resort, and ended up playing endless rounds of Hide ‘n’ Seek! While we play this game ever so often in board rooms, ‘dhappa’ was replaced with boring unending powerpoint presentations! Our little devil helped us become kids again!

The next day the experienced staff of the resort took us for a very special trek. It was through a dense forest where we collected leaves of the main trees found in the Garhwal range (there – show & tell project ready for the month ! - how cool to keep the education alive in their minds and share with their teachers & friends in school)

The next day we trekked right up to Surkanta Devi Temple (a popular spot that carries an ancient story of significance and might - Woman Power! @ 12,00 feet! )
It was a steep walk up, steps to climb… and we ALL DID IT! No help of 4-legged creatures, we just kept pushing and motivating each other… till we got there.
That point was enthralling… you could view the entire mountain range, you could look down to view Rishikesh on one side, kanatal on the other side, Dehradun at a distance and a whole lot of other sparsely populated hilly areas.

We trekked down, and relished the most amazing, mouth-watering Garhwali food run by two brothers at a nearby dhaba. What bliss!
Back at the resort, we sipped on old monk & coke as we sang songs under the moonlight with the resort’s very own one-man band and his guitar.

In no time, it was time to leave… we departed Kanatal with fresh air in our lungs and a thrill in our hearts.

As we were headed back to Delhi, we stopped over at the ‘famous’ kid-friendly resort JW Marriott in Missourie. This was a special request from the youngest amongst us.
The hotel was uber -luxury and you will feel super-pampered (that’s obvious considering it’s burning a hole in – you know where! )
Glass painting, pottery, art & craft, etc.. every hour to keep your kid occupied, evening tambola, music, games for kids… pizza making with the masterchefs, indoor swimming… bowling alleys you name it – and they have it – ALL FOR KIDS!
Wow – this place is perfect when you have kids with you on a holiday and don’t want to spend that time with them. Every Delhi kid that hails from a decent family would have heard or gone to this resort.
It’s for the well-to-do to rich homes; but it was definitely, not as en’rich’ing as Kanatal

Who wants pizzas, when you can teach your child to experience the leafy delicacies of Garhwal?
Who wants bowling alleys when you can convert the gardens of a pretty resort into a playing arena of your own?
Who wants hotel staff to watchover your kids when you watch over each other on a trek?

Just for the record…

Not once did we open our books to read, but can write pages about this short family trip

Not once did we play the board games, but invented 3 new games of our own

Not once did we get bored; in fact, it opened up our eyes that we still have so much to unearth about our own selves!

We became kids again with our little girl.

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