India Diaries Part I – Goa and Corbett

Going to India never counts as a typical vacation for me. The trip is a blink and you’ll miss it affair that involves rushed visits to relative’s homes, eating like we’re preparing for a season without food and some last minute shopping. Everything is carefully scheduled into a couple of weeks and we’re left slightly exhausted from keeping up with the plan. We always come back wanting more.

Our last visit to India was a mixed bag of new experiences. It was every bit as rushed as a typical trip to India is but we made so many new memories that it was a refreshing change from the ordinary. When we first began planning our visit I was almost convinced that it would be a logistical nightmare. Thanks to my husband’s awesome planning skills and good luck, everything fell into place.

The trip began with a short visit to my friend R’s home in Goa. R is one of my closest friends and someone I admire a lot. She and I know each other from elementary school and strangely our lives are always running in parallel. I am so happy that I grabbed the opportunity to visit her. It was a wonderful weekend of catching up, delicious food and gorgeous weather. We didn’t do any sight seeing – just long sessions of catching up interrupted by food. Both R and I reported deep REM sleep after the weekend – We were probably spent from all the talking. PK couldn’t make it to Goa this time but I cannot wait to explore this slice of paradise with him someday.

Up next was a short visit to the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. Our friends from grad school, N and U were getting married there at the spectacular Aahana resort, which incidentally is owned by U’s uncle. We were treated to the best rooms, luscious food (PK still talks about the kababs and biryani he ate at the wedding) and we even went on a early morning safari in Corbett National Park. Our friends’ families are genuinely some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. It was heartwarming to see how they went all out to take care of the wedding guests. It was a privilege being part of our friends’ big day and I am glad we could make trip work. Here are some pictures from the safari – No tigers were spotted but it was fun being out in the jungle in the fresh morning air.

There’s more from our visit so I am dividing this into two posts. Up next is Part II – Our visit to my parent’s home state of Kerala and PK’s father’s home town Karkala.