In search of the shady tree…
The journey after the Coffee stop was refreshing as the kids woke up and had their refreshments too! It was a high energy throttle until the next stop. My dad had taken over the steering which meant we all shift places.
It was fun with M on my mom’s lap in the front and V on my sister’s lap at the back. With M singing away whatever she could muster up and V squealing in joy to give her company. Hearing V’s squeals M thinks he is having a Party of his own with us at the back and demands to jump over. We after a lot of tantrum she squeezes herself between the front seats and joins us. Brother and sister exchange such loving glances. 
Only we know that it will not last long and they’d get into a quick tiff for toys if we didn’t distract them from each other. I encouraged her to continue singing something fun. We sang rhymes and clapped and cuddled. Soon she got bored and jumped back to the front seat.
After awhile the kids dozed off and the ride continued. Soon the scenery was whizzing past us, the humming of the vehicle on the road tearing through the air and an occasional sound of a truck or bus we overtake. Most of us drifted off to sleep as the music from the car’s player melted into our dreams…rather my dreams! Guess I dozed off too. After a series of fun adventures I wake up to voices of my mother talking about her grumbling stomach. Imaginary aroma of delicious lunch she had packed for us in the trunk started encircling me and soon I felt hungry too. Slowly one after the other every one but the children woke up much to the relief of my dad who had been awake driving.
We then decided to look for a shady tree to stop for lunch. However the face of the highway has changed over the years and throughout the route we didn’t spot a suitable place to safely park the vehicle and have lunch. After driving past some distance we decided to go off the highway into one of the tiny villages that dotted the stretch of the highway looking for a nice tree. We final spotted a small tree and drove into the narrow lane only to discover that the tree was inside a fence of a tiny little village house. It was after noon and we were sure that the inmates of the house ( may be enjoying their afternoon siesta) wouldn’t prefer to have some strangers’ vehicle parked in front of their house. We moved ahead closer to an open ground with a hand pump and a small construction in progress. there was no on around so we parked the car and spread out the fare. Dad walked a bit stretching his legs. My husband who was stuck in the back seat with the luggage was eager to jump out and get a sense of freedom. My mom and sister quickly served the food while the boys had a tough time keeping the “Whizzing Meg” under control. I quickly fed V and grabbed a plate for myself. It was a bit hard with V constantly reaching out to the plate to pull it thinking it to be some kind of fun activity every time i panicked taking it far beyond his reach. Finally my dad took charge of V so that I could eat in peace. After filling ourselves up with nice fluffy Idlis – tomato chutney and Tamarind rice with boiled egg it was diaper change time.
V didn’t prefer diaper change in the car seat but there wasn’t much we could do about that. After a lot of resistance and sheer persistence I successfully changed his diaper. We then cleaned up and packed and started from the not so cozy little spot in the village. The journey continues as the highway unfolded like a pathway to infinity…
Popsicle 