The Roaming Shoes

I stand on the balcony of our treehouse, watching the sky change its mind. One moment, it is a brilliant blue, dotted with huge cotton candy clouds. The next, grey monsoon clouds roll in and the rain begins to fall. Even in the middle of the afternoon, the chorus of crickets and cicadas fills the air. And songs of countless birds echo through the trees. A peacock, its magnificent plumage glistening, strolls out of the bushes to forage without a care in the world. I find myself smiling as I gaze out at the endless velvety green, trying to identify the little bird perched on a tree in the distance. And my heart quietly wonders, how can a place be this beautiful and so incredibly soothing? We have been to Wayanad many times before. Yet this trip was different in many ways. It is the first time we drove there in our own car. And instead of a hotel or resort in the more popular side of Wayanad, we chose to stay in a quiet treehouse managed by a local family. I must say, our whole exper...