Children from city are dumping hill stations and beaches to vacation in rural India.
The 35 students from different schools in Ahmedabad who recently spent some time at summer camps in Bhateliaya or Gangachaul villages of Uttranchal are unlikely to forget their memorable experience.
Breaking away from the routine of vacations at hill stations or on beaches, these intrepid youngsters spent around 10 days living with villagers thousands of miles from their homes. They lived with the residents of the two villages and shared in their daily work, all with the aim of experiencing rural life in circumstances far removed from their own. They at the food the villagers ate and did daily chores unique to villages in the mountains.
Yashswi Soni, 16, of Udgam School, Aditya Shah, 16, of Eklavya School, and cousin sisters Divya and Meswa Rawat, both 8, from JM Chaudhari School and Mt. Carmel School, Gandhinagar, were among the students who went to the Uttaranchal villages this summer. Incidentally, Divya and Mesa Rawat were the youngest in the team. The 35 students formed groups to visit one or the other of the two villages, and have returned to the city revitalised by their experience.
Their stay in the mountain village taught them things they could never have learnt from their textbooks. They spent their days gambolling with cows and sheep in grazing fields, learning to cook food in clay ovens and to distinguish between wood that will burn well and that which won’t.
The children’s vacation is indicative of a new trend in travelling. A pioneer of the new trend is 44-year-old S Dinesh, a graphic designer who loves to trek. He started these off-the-beaten-track expeditions for children in the 10 to 17 age group, solely to give them an experience of rural life.
His itinerary has included some unexplored spots such as the Pindari and Kafni glaciers, Ranikhet in Uttaranchal, the Panchachuli glacier near the Indo-Tibet border, and Khada Pathhar in Himachal Pradesh.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}