Nakke: Cabin in the forest

the house

30th April 2021 was 'Store Bededag' in Denmark. Literally meaning the Great Prayer day. It's celebrated on 4th Friday after Easter. The day was introduced in the Church of Denmark in 1686 by King Christian V. No, I am no expert in Christianity but a quick read on big bad internet gave me this shallow understanding. So this King decided something in 1686 which had presented us with a nice long weekend on 30 Apr - 2 May in 2021. Damn. Thank you Christian V! I promise to raise a toast to you but now let me look for an AirBnb.

After the last outing's success, Amruta and I were a bit confident that we can take the girls on a considerably long drive so AirBnb search had expanded to a 100KMs. Since we were booking on a Tuesday to check in on Thursday quite a few hosts declined the request but as they say 'Jo hota hain, Achhe ke liye hota hain' we got confirmation from this forest cabin listing. We were a bit reluctant since Meera was still -

Professional Bird!

Birds!

So the forest was actually kind of bird sanctuary and that's the reason we heard quite a lot of birds and saw a few. One very interesting woodpecker had his home tree right in front of the house so Mukta and I had a nice afternoon hour trying to track him fly around and make the distinctive tik tik tik noise as he went about doing what he does. Got a decent click of Mr Woodpecker spying on us.

I see you.

Here is a quick video of this woodpecker. Listen to the background music.

The trampoline

In the front yard of this house, there stood a trampoline. We must have spent at least 4-5 hours over this weekend. It was an instant hit with Mukta. Ok, I will be honest even I enjoyed it a lot. Damn. We should get trampolines everywhere. A few jumps on this and you feel energised. Here's a video. It's a bit long but it was so much fun.

Flying! Literally... :)

Food

Food needs a special mention. In the garden there was a unique fireplace. Something to sit around and it had chimney like outlet so the smoke won't come towards people sitting around.

Well. Isn't fireplace just another name for Tandoor! :P

We had packed chicken, salmon and paneer for barbequing but of course if it can be tandoored it will be tandoored. Salmon fillet were marinated, coated with coconut flakes, wrapped in a foil and went in the fire for 5-10 minutes. What returned was an authentic La-Salmone-Coco-Tandooré! ( yes, I just made up this name!)

oh salmon! I love thee..

Paired with a glass of red wine and this was our quite authentic fine dining experience in the woods! I love the lunches which are spread over the entire afternoon and end with an afternoon nap. This was one of those satisfying lunches with a happy ending :P Here's some photos.

Protein protein everywhere!

Foodie Family

That was it. To be honest, there was this bird sanctuary less than a kilometre away and beach was 250 meters away. BUT we just didn't leave the house. It was lazy, chilled out couple of days with good food, some afternoon naps, a lot of jumping and running around and listening to the birds.

House didn't have WiFi. Can you imagine that! :)

I know there is so much happening right now in Pune and India in general. Second wave is creating havoc. Depending on whose propaganda you are watching or reading, India is a colossal failure or a shining beacon in the otherwise dark world. There are so many views camouflaged as news that it's crazy to form an independent, informed opinion. One of the learning from these trying times are take real efforts to stay connected with your people. Your tribe. No government, or political outfit or employer or acquaintances are going to help you in such times. Not even money. Ultra rich couldn't do anything when Oxygen is what you need.

It is your close circle of family and friends would at least try to do something when you really are in need. WhatsApp and twitter help is once-in-a-bluemoon miracle so when shit hits the fan, relying on 'social media' to become the knight in shining armour is like pretending to drive with your eyes closed and hoping that you reach where you want to reach without ending up in a ditch.