A short trip

Last weekend being a long one, took me and my family to my in-laws home in Belgaum. We were all planning to laze by the beaches in southern Maharashtra which is less than 3 hrs drive and spent three days there.
As luck would have it, Ani picked up fever in the evening of the day we landed and there was the cancellation. So, to avoid rusting of the joints, my better half and I decided to jog around the park right in front of the house filled up with mango tree bearing green fruits. The sound of the koel is so sweet to hear at day break and I haven't missed these in years.
My brother in law, who has impressed everyone including myself with his tremendous physical fitness as a result of gymming and right diet treated us to a delicious smoothie made with avocado during the day and in the evening with a honey mustard chicken barbecue. My Aai-in-law pitched in with a lovely sweet corn chicken soup as an appetizer prelude.
Prior to this trip, I had heard about a Marathi movie named "Mi Shivaji Raje Bhosle Bolthoi" which was creating waves with my in-law brethen in the neighbouring state which was running at a local theatre too. My baba-in-law and I went to watch it and we loved it. Strong recommendation for people to watch if they understand the language.
On Apr 12th, went to Kolhapur on a trip. Apparently the town is famous for a McD on the highway from my nephew's perspective and that had to be the lunch stop. But before that,we went to a place on the outskirts of Kolhapur called Kaneri-math. My better half and I were pleasantly surprised to see a full scale village model with people sculpted in stone in village huts, each hut depicting a profession like carpentry, weaving, black smith, wada or tharavad homes, fields with farmers and ploughing cattle all models. Opposite side of this complex is a Rashi garden depicting all the constellations with life size models depicting the constellation and trivia about the actual stars comprising these constellations.
After the lunch stop for the kids at McD, my in-laws took me to Hotel Opal which is famous for chicken and mutton dishes. We ordered a few dishes and something unique about this was that the dishes were common orders and by default two rasa's are served - pandhara (white) and tambedu (red). My in-laws enjoyed while I was happy with the jowar roti's and chicken. So much for the enjoyment with family that I forgot to wish a close friend on her wedding anniversary. Duh!!! Finally made it back to base by late eve.
The next day I had to leave B2B and that was a mixed bag of feelings. One of leaving my kids back there and second the happiness of being a bachelor atleast for sometime here. But now, getting back here life is getting monotonous and early morning visits to gym and spirited evenings have taken over.