Kaner Retreat - An ode to a childhood spent in the Thar desert
I spent my childhood on a small farm in the Thar desert. It is not easy for things to grow and blossom in the desert. You have to wait for everything in the desert. Tiny seeds stay dormant for most of the year, waiting for the perfect day to break into roots and shoots. A small shrub may take 20 years to become a tree. Flowers blossom once a year. And, the longest wait is for “Meh’ or the monsoon. It is the reason why peacocks dance, women sing songs on the swings, and saffron and cardamom infused delicacies are created to celebrate the arrival of the monsoon or “Sawan”. The air gets heavy with the smell of Petrichor and everyone seems to be dancing on the short-lived verdant carpet of grass. My life back then was connected with the plants, animals and the culture. The folk music and the language weaved it all into words to be etched in my mind forever. Then I moved away, first to Delhi and then to London covering stories as an international journalist. It was like a pla