Polo time!!!

It was yet another eagerly awaited time of the year. Come winter and we wait for that one circular to come from our daughter's school that heralds opportunity for a quality family time of three of us - the wanderers. This year the camp was to be held on 26-28 October at Polo forest camp site. There was no question of whether to go for it or not; we explored for some like-minded company from family and friends. Alas, it is generally 'ekla chalo re' for us and so we did walk alone.



After spending a night at my elder brother's in Himatnagar, we drove to Polo in the morning of 26th and reached at around noon time. Our base was at the forest campsite, and we were welcomed by a young looking well-experienced expert guide - Mayur Mistry (Rathod).









To give his introduction would be to belittle him. Only thing I can share with you is this screenshot while searching for him. before I could type his full name in google search engine appears four words; first two words depicts who he is and the last two indicates what he is knwon for!!!

Dhingalighar is unique institution that promotes child-focused and child-centric life through active living through keeping in touch with nature. Therefore, apart from 30 weekly picnics, they organize such nature/adventure/marine etc kind of camps at various sites that provides opportunities, not only to kids but also to their parents, especially mothers, to spend quality time together with their kids, away from daily chores. Maitreya Rajpriya is guardian of this institution along with his lifetime companion Kailashben. So, for us in this camp there was this 'junglee duo' of Mayur and Maitreya, who have been self-proclaimed as Shivaji and Maharana Pratap. Both of them thoroughly entertained, guided, educated and enriched all the participants with utmost care and lot of compassion.

About Polo forest

The forest is dry deciduous kind and is beautiful especially during rainy season. While in our previous trip during the rain, we had good time spotting velvet bugs, snakes and other creatures, this time polo was like a spider country. Another feature of this place is scattered ruins of polo kingdom, which is said to have been destroyed during mughal invansion. However, the few temple complex that are accessible portrays well advanced sense of architecture, planning, structural designing as well as cultural exchange across different cultures. Following is a collage from my last monsoon trip that depicts true nature of polo forest area.

While the focus of last trip was photography, this time around it was having really cool time amidst nature and that is what we did during the 50 hours that we had in the forest.The group of around 25 was diverse with age ranging from 11 months to more than 50 years, with almost equal proportion of children below 5 years, adolescents, and adults.

The 50 odd hours, including two nights, were filled with three treks, a visit to dam site, study visits to three heritage temple sites, two camp-fires, a session full of bathing in running stream and splashing water on each other, one night walk and two fun-filled assemblies. The treks were full of surprises as the season was like perfect for spiders; Polo has became a spider country with webs - ranging from few inches to few feet - dangling from every other trees. Each web was resulting in stronger 'wow' than the previous one. At the end of every trek camera was full of clicks, heart full of content and mind full of excitement. The only empty thing was stomach, which was to be filled as soon as we reach the base. 

Delicious food served with warmth on time was like an icing on the cake. While the treks were facilitated by a local guide Mr Dalsukhbhai, the temple visited were guided by Mayur Mistry. And what a through explanation of the historical perspective of the ruins with equally gusto and passion. All that with utmost humility and scintifically, with tinge of humour sprinkled time to time on it.

While the adults were busy talking, walking, discussing, end enjoying their bit of escape from urban life and daily chores, the adolescents were exploring the nature as well as each other subtly. The best beneficiaries were the kids, some of them were really toddlers. Full freedom to run around, to play with sand, to chase butterflies, to climb trees, and most importantly to be on their own. The mothers of these young ones too were having gala time away from their otherwise routine life of being a wife, a mother, a daughter in-law etc.

While one of the participants Ms Tanna shared an activity report in the form a bulletin, others shared their experience and learning from the camp at the end in the feedback session. There were other stories to share from different campers with
experiences ranging from dealing with unknown fears to learning about
bird calls and animals.

What a session it was. It is not always you hear such stories from young women and couples about their feelings out of such outdoor camps. Two feedback were especially touching, both from young women in their 20s. These women, with lump in throat and tears in their eyes, shared in chocked voices what these three days meant to them. It would be gross injustice to their feelings if I try to share that in words what they shared. Another mother of 2 year old daughter shared how comfortable she was during the camp stay as her daughter was well-taken care of by otherwise unknown campers.

It takes such camps to experience
nature, wildlife, heritage learning, experiencing fears and
experimenting with it. Above all, where else you get to feel goose
pimples while listening to stories of one's experiences emerging from
deep feelings with tears rolling on the cheeks but with a broad smile on
the faces!!!!

Kudos to Maitreya Rajpriya and Mayur Mistry for arranging and delivering such a life-enriching experience us!!!