All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is a proverb that you all have heard. 

 *Keeping this very ethos of our Inner Wheel club,* *combining fellowship and service with a* purpose to remind ourselves of the very essence of life we set out for *A trip to Remember*

Not just the trip but a journey to a beautiful place nestled between the lush green habitat of Karjat, Mesmerised by natures exquisite beauty, which any artist would love to paint  on her canvas, A rare sight which delighted and soothed our eyes and soul to which I would say seeing is believing.

The beauty doesn’t just end here. It’s an abode of exotic bonsai art beautifully crafted and grown with love, care, dedication, and a passion of a lifetime – *The Bonsai Vatika.*

Whom am I talking about, of course, our ever loving gracious host *VINITA AGARWAL* who has a heart full of abundance and a thumb greener than the color green itself.

And so with an early morning take-off   , though, it sounds like quite an adventure. Just imagine taking these 50 plus old oops young women on a trip with their unique quirks and challenges. Not to mention our urgency to take care of natures call en route was like who wins the race first.

So began our journey with hot tea and fruits flowing in the bus ( just to mention we are very diet conscious , only fruits we eat early in the morning). This is followed by fun games and music.

We are a group of women with very creative skills so much so that we crafted out leaves, flowers, a mini purse, a stick for the lame one , a baby pram out of the aluminum foil container from which we just ate are fruits. Interesting, right !!

As we neared our destination , just like they say, don’t accept anything that comes easily in life. We were met with our next challenge of the day.

A rock got wedged between the tire and axle shaking the entire bus.

Not to forget our Firdaus’s seamless coordination (shouting on top of her voice) with the bus driver and the local village handyman in removing this stone

Did I tell you all that we kidnapped this local handyman to get us through the unwinding roads.

 *It’s important to find humor and joy in unexpected* situations, and it was exactly what our group did!

There is always a light at the end of the tunnel and like a star in the shinning armor comes our saviour – vinita’s driver who finally guided us to our ultimate destination only to be greated by hot sumptuous breakfast.

As the day unfolded full of happy and pleasurable happenings, we had a blast of the time with more games and fun.

Followed by a guided tour of the organic garden by vinita leading all of us to a leisurely walk by the the cool river side to beat the scorching heat with constant flow of cold drinks and tongue smacking raw mango smothered with salt and chilli — oooh!!!.

Like we hadn’t had anything to eat so far, we were served lip smacking authentic Maharashtrian food by lovely local village women.

Time of doze off, hey !! Not at all. We played more games. I must say I had the best aerial view of these women half dozing and trying to keep up Bhavna and Sadhana’s constant wake-up shouts.

Time to depart, but hey, can we women leave without a hot cup of our evening tea. So here comes our high tea session – again with lots to eat!!

All in all, a day well spent amongst the bonhomie of like-minded friends and memories to carry forward for days to come.

We are speechless and are left with no words that could express our gratitude for a wonderful and hospitable courtesy extended to this battalion of 39 die-hard enthusiastic women. We are all grateful to our queen of bonsai Vinita  for her unparalleled generosity. So a big thank you and a big bear hug from all of us, Vinita .

I possibly couldn’t end this without thanking and expressing our deepest gratitude to —

 *Bhavna shah* – our fellowship in charge for her constant endeavor to organize these events.

(I am sure you are happy with this huge turnout.)

 *Sadhana Doshi* , for her well orchestrated and interesting games  making sure you don’t wink an eyelid. ( she’s got ants her pants )

 *Shilpa Bhartiya* for her selfless dedication to inner wheel members and with her constant supply of tea and snacks and also making sure that our elderly were well looked after.

Lastly, to all my friends and our senior members for making this a fun, memorable trip.

All in all, it’s a perfect getaway

           

PS : My apologies if I missed out on anyone in my list of gratitudes.

Dr Vidya Mukund