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It was an unlikely trip and I am pleasantly surprised that we were able to do it.

When we were planning the things we would want to do in India, this was one of the things in my mind.

I have fond (although vague) memories of visiting Maitri baag with Babuji (and potentially Hemu bahan) way back when I was a kid. Hemu bahan must have been in 10th or 12th as I remember this trip to Durg/Bhilai was for her to take the PPT/PMT exam.

I remember someone asking me if I will remember the trip when I get old. I was young as stupid. I said I don't know. On top of that I added something stupid related to death. Something like whether they know when they will die. Now when I think about it, it doesn't even make sense but back then I must have felt proud about being so intelligent.

"I think I am getting stupid as I am getting old," I had told Rashi after picking up a fight with Ammaji and bhai. Turns out I was always stupid.

I should have ideally told bhai and everyone about visiting Maitri baag when everyone was here during the winter vacation, but somehow I didn't remember to bring it up. It would have been such a wonderful family outing.

I was about to go and complete my account closure work on 31st when I proposed the idea to Neha. As always she was supportive. As there were no drivers, I would have to drive the automatic car. I asked Amma and she happily agreed. I proposed the same to bhai who had a few reservations but supported my idea anyway. 

We needed to do a lot of preparation as we were going to travel with Neo. I got his buggy at the back of the car. We packed some fruits, rice and daal for him. Dilip bhai was there and it was a lot of help.

We started at around 2. It shows that it will take about 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the garden which is also a zoo. It took us 2 hours but we got there alright, there was an incident where I was about to hit another vehicle while passing it, likely to damage our side mirror but we managed to avoid it. We also bought badaa at Gunderdehi that we had in the zoo (life saver).

We reached the garden at around 4. Entering, parking, going to the toilet, walking to the zoo etc meant that we had little time to explore the zoo before it closed at 5:30. It was a winter evening and was about to get dark as well. Toilets as expected were disappointing. Luckily Neha had kept a hand wash.

It was a good idea to keep the buggy to get Neo moving within the zoo.

What did we see? We saw plenty of birds. Unfortunately they were caged which I did not enjoy. There were caged monkeys on the other side. Apart from these, we saw a leopard, a white tiger, a royal bengal tiger, a hyena and plenty of deer. We did not get a chance to see the lion. Perhaps next time.

Driving back at night was no fun. I thought it was an unnecessary risk with little Neo in the car.

One thing I had not anticipated was that Neha had to take care of Neo while I was driving the car. As a result, she was quite tired.

We got back home. Dilip bhai cooked food. There were many missed calls from Shashi didi. She wanted to know where we were and could have cooked food for us. Unfortunately I was driving and Amma's phone was deep inside the bag.

It was a good trip and I am happy we did it.

After leaving from Balod, we stopped just before hitting the highway at Rajnandgaon at a little hotel for some tea and had some samosas as well. Neha said she liked the samosas I got in Balod better.

At around 8pm, we wanted to have dinner. Although we had some food packed, we wanted to stop at a hotel/dhaba and relax as well as eat. Get some hot food for Neo as well. But it was a December night and quite dark and we couldn't stop just at any hotel. It had to be a safe hotel. How do you say whether a hotel is safe or not? Well lit? Enough number of people? No smoking or drinking? We got lucky and found a restaurant called Goan Restaurant just before entering Bhandara.  The bathrooms were super clean and the staff was helpful. The menu looked delicious. Unfortunately, the daal and currys were too hot for Neha or I to enjoy.

Before I forget I must mention that we were travelling with Rajkumar and Sangram bhai. Very helpful as always.

The plan was to leave Balod by 2. But I went with Rajkumar bhai to get the following items from Balod: a water bottle that Shashi bahan forgot at Ahuja collection, some bananas and apples, confirmation that my and Neha's HDFC account was closed. We picked up Khyati betu from her school on our way back as well. There was one particular task that I needed to do that made the trip necessary but I can't remember it now. On our way back we also had Khyati, Telisa, and Atharva betu and we stopped at Sumit Bazar and I got a Cadbury Silk for Neha there.

I did lots of packing. I just take too much time packing things. One simple rule I have found useful is you pack what you find.