My first Holiday

It is a very common location for us since we go there all the time, but it was the first time I was there. The place was called Chikhaldara and Semadoh. These are small hill stations, so close to my hometown that my dad used to drive us there once every three months. Soon after when I and my brothers were old enough to drive ourselves, these hill stations became our go-to destination. Every time any of us feels low or needs some change we crank our vehicle and visit this place.

So it was just the start of summer, and as I said it was a hill station we were driving to, the road that leads to this place was a curvy ghat road. I remember sitting on the back seat of the Jeep in my granny’s lap and counting every tree we passed by. The entire pathway was a jungle, huge dense forest with zillions of huge trees and rocky mountains. Initially, when the ride started I was afraid of the mountains and the surprisingly unknown location, but eventually, I blended into the vibe.

Throughout the way, I asked my granny thousands of questions, many were answered and the ones ignored might have been totally stupid or senseless questions. LOL. After some time we finally reached our first destination – Semadoh. We checked into our A-huts in a forest resort completely surrounded by trees and a shiny blazing river on its side, it was awesome. It was still morning, my dad likes to leave for picnics early morning. He says we get to feel the fresh air, mild sunlight, the sound of birds chirping, and most importantly stay energetic for the entire day.

Soon after we checked in, we had some breakfast which we already bought, ordered some tea, and sat outside our rooms to enjoy nature. It was noon by then. We decided to take a quick nap, as all of us were exhausted, and especially our moms, who got up early in the morning, prepared some food and made us ready too.

All of us woke up after an hour-long sleep when we decided to take a jungle safari. My first ever jungle safari, we all were so excited to see some animals in the wild, but sadly the dices rolled out on us. It was a bad safari as all we saw were monkeys. But it is true what they say, “God has made plans for everyone”. It was dark by the time we returned from the safari and the moment we entered the resort area, the entire surrounding was lit like a festival. And to our astonishment, all these were fireflies.

The entire place was lit with fireflies and it was the second thing in the trip I completely remember. We all stayed up for a long time, had our dinner outdoors. After the dinner was done, we lit up a small bonfire to make it more memorable. And all of us kids soon fell asleep on our parent’s laps like a well-fed lion.