Comedy Of Errors

Travel along with filmmaker and mother, Arwa Mamji, as she leaves her life in Mumbai behind, to jet set across the world and experience new things, all with her baby girl. Here are a few anecdotes from her experiences

- Arwa Mamji

How do you pack your entire life in a suitcase when you plan to travel for an entire year? If you are travelling with a child, this process becomes even more challenging. When my daughter turned one, early this year, my husband and I decided that we had to make fond memories of her childhood, rather than get caught up in the rut of routine life. Both of us have been travel junkies, so travelling was the easiest answer to living a fulfilling life.

Anyone trying to pack up their house and life for a year away from the life they know, with a child along for the right, who thinks it is a piece of cake, has another thing coming. It is not! It is extremely exhausting to make endless checklists, just to making sure you are not forgetting anything important that your child might need. Trust me when I say, the amount of stuff a small human requires when she travels, was definitely a wake-up call.

My initial checklists for my daughter included the most natural items such as her medication, toiletries, diapers and stroller. Though we wanted her to experience every place in a holistic sensory fashion, I, like any Indian mother, made sure to pack some basic food staples.