Another trip

The boy's uniform for VNM has been bought and only the shoes from Bata were pending.

Since the wife had the month off too like the boy, we decided to make a trip to Chennai. There was also paperwork at the Thiruvanmiyur post office that was pending. The wife and the boy left early (the boy was excited to be in the day train) while I drove down for the weekend.

At the Besant Nagar beach

We went to our usual haunts, met friends and visited relatives. The shopkeeper in the neighborhood we stayed earlier, recognized us instantly - we were walking into his shop after years. There is that sense of friendliness I miss nowadays.

Vacation time

The summer camp in April was coming to an end and it was time for holidays to start.

As I look back, this holiday to Uttrakhand, turned out to be a list of firsts for the boy :

- For the first time he traveled in an overnight train. He loved it, eventually learned how to climb up to the side upper berth and also learnt to call out "Chai, chai, adrak ki chai"
- For the first time, he was out on a 11 day trip. He coped up with it considerably well. Missed afternoon naps, walked a lot (he had to be carried when he was tired), learnt to play games like "I spy with  my little eye",  "Treasure Hunt" (he sucked it as he immediately pointed  to where the treasure was hidden after hiding it), "Hopscotch" and did not fuss for food. There were bouts of  tantrum, bad words (his birthday party was canceled because the bad word count exceeded 10) and he threw up once

On one of the treks

- For the first time, he boarded an aircraft. He was excited! Couldn't take his eyes off  it and did not believe that it was faster than  a Bugatti Veyron on the runway. Thankfully there was no ear pain, the boy couldn't believe we were flying once we were in the air and slept as we were about to land

Couldn't take his eyes off the plane!

It was a good break. The sad part was the human effect on environment was showing. Places are getting hotter, tree cover was disappearing and the hills were strewn with empty packaged water bottles  and chips packet wrappers - neither of them are biodegradable.

The boy has a one month break now before his classes start at VNM.