Corbett, at a Slower Pace

We left Gurugram early in the morning for Jim Corbett with a fairly simple plan. Spend three days away from the usual routine, practise yoga, be outdoors and leave enough time in between to actually enjoy being there.

There was no long sightseeing list waiting for us. No rush to cover one place after another.

By the time we arrived at the resort, had lunch and settled into our rooms, that slower pace had already begun to feel good.

Some headed towards the pool. Some found a quiet corner. Others sat around talking. Nobody seemed particularly interested in checking what came next.

Our first evening began with a guided nature walk around the resort.

It was an easy start to the trip. No big agenda, just a chance to step outside after the drive, stretch our legs and take in the surroundings.

The forest has a way of making you notice small things. Bird calls become louder. You start looking more closely at the trees. Even an ordinary walk feels different when there is no traffic or screen competing for your attention.

By the time we returned for yoga and meditation, the group was already beginning to settle in.

Dinner that evening was relaxed. Conversations moved from introductions to families, work, travel and the usual stories that appear when a table of people have nowhere else they need to be.

There is something especially nice about doing yoga when the day around you is only just beginning.

The sessions were not about complicated poses or how flexible anyone was. People came with different levels of experience and simply joined in at their own pace.

There was movement, breathing and meditation, followed by breakfast and an entire day that did not feel as though it was chasing us.

At home, most mornings quickly become a list of things to do.

Here, there was time to finish a cup of tea while it was still hot.

A lot of holidays somehow leave us needing another holiday afterwards.

There was time for the pool, reading, resting, chatting and doing absolutely nothing without feeling that we should be somewhere else.

Lunch could stretch a little longer. Someone could disappear for a nap. A conversation could continue without anybody checking the time.

There were games and lighter moments too, and by then the group had moved well beyond polite first day conversation.

People who had arrived knowing very little about one another were saving seats at meals, sharing photographs and laughing about things that would probably make very little sense to anyone outside the group.

The evening sessions had a different energy from the mornings. Everyone was more relaxed, both with the practice and with one another.

Afterwards came tea, time around the resort and an evening that gave everyone a reason to dress up a little and enjoy being together.

By then, phones were appearing mostly for photographs rather than emails.

Dinner ran into conversation. Conversation ran into laughter. And nobody seemed to mind that there was not much more to report about the evening than that.