As We Step Out- Parenting, Unschooling, and more

When we travel, travel especially with kids, our effort is always towards offering them experiences which are outside their daily life. We try to bring fun into their lives through these experiences. Now these usually are a mix of ‘trending’ places, new finds, and tourist attractions. But if you are traveling to a place where you spent your childhood, there’s an interesting twist! You also try to incorporate experiences that you have lived as a child! Here I am going to share the 5 experiences, which are a yummy mix of all the above :P some trending, some new, some from the good old days! So let me transport you to the city that's so close to my heart - Pune (and read it as पुणे not पुने ;) ) We were in Pune with kids for a few days and out of all the places we went, listing the top 5 based on kids' rating. And food? While it deserves a separate write-up altogether, it will sure find its way here and there in this write-up :P  Let the virtual tour begin! 1. The Railway Mu...

 It was pure curiosity that nudged me to sign up for the Vipassana meditation course. Had heard a lot of good things about it from acquaintances and decided to take the step!  But there are so many centers! Which one to choose? That's when I came across  Saee Bapat 's recommendation for the Tiruvannamalai Vipassana Center . And I decided to apply here.  Frankly, near and dear ones had a lot of reservations about this course, and rightly so, as we had very little information about it. Questions came up like: - It is religious? - You will be a changed person - These things are to be done during old age - Householders cannot sustain themselves here - What if something bad happens? Talking, phone access is not allowed even. But I am glad I listened to my heart and went ahead, this was one of the best things I have gifted myself! Now here's a short day-wise recollection of how the 10 days unfolded for me: Day 0: Arrived at the center just in time. The female coordinator t...

I - The plan "What amazing pictures dude! When are we going to Leh?" A discussion I have encountered on countless occasions, whenever someone in our group would come across pictures from somebody else who went exploring Ladakh. Excitement would build up and that would trigger a splurge in everybody's eagerness to make this happen.......for a few days! Ultimately, we would settle down with the usual one day rides and the more frequent weekend breakfast 'rides'! This routine continued for a few years, and we made peace with the fact that this dream ladakh ride would happen for us 'someday'! This was about to change last year (2021). During one of our usual catchup rides, a dear friend - Rayhan again sparked the same conversation all over. We had been through this enough number of times to simply brush it off saying, "sure, why not?', and leave it at that. However, it was different this time. Rayhan was determined to make it happen soon; enough of wa...

 II: Bengaluru to Delhi - Man and the Machine Days passed by, and excitement started to build up as my travel date got closer and closer. I already had all the tank/ tail bags I intended to carry. Got the other essentials in terms of the ride and protection from cold and rain. Got the Xpulse serviced, switched to fully synthetic engine oil, and got spare clutch cable installed.  It was going to be my first time shipping the bike, and my first individual interaction with the railways. Was a good idea to get some first hand information on how things work here, and I knew just the right person to reach out. Called Saquib, and as expected, got a detailed step by step account of how the whole process would flow. Saquib has done this on multiple occasions on his previous rides, so this was valuable information. Things looked good, I was prepared, I was ready to go! The day was finally here! The train was scheduled to depart at 8PM, the plan was to reach the parcel office as early as...