Big Red Tent: Camping in Mumbai (for the utterly unprepared)

In the light of this week's focus on the environment and oneness with nature, camping company Big Red Tent wants to take you outdoors for a weekend to learn the basics of camping. After all, once Mumbai goes under water in 2012, you'll need to know how to pitch a tent on higher ground.

Let's assume you've never had to use kindling or tighten guy ropes. Let's assume you don't even know what this means. Let's accept that Indians aren't the most outward-bound people on the planet.

One man that understands this is 31-year-old Mumbaiker Rahil Mehta, who has created a unique campground a few hours outside the city in Kavdas Village Shahpur, Thane. Along the road, Rahil was joined by Janki Shah, a graphic designer, and Milind Mokashi, a plant nursery owner, and Big Red Tent officially began operations this past Diwali.

The big idea here is 'organized camping.' That is, camping in specially designated spots with facilities instead of in the wild. In other words, camping tweaked for Indian sensibilities.

"Indians aren’t used to the concept of camping unless it’s part of a larger excursion into the wild," says Mehta. "But here, it’s camping for camping’s sake. Also, here, people will want tents and even their own firewood provided."

What's in it for me?

Located in Shahpur, a town just outside Mumbai, the campground is flanked by a plant nursery and the serene banks of the Bhatsa river. Here, you can rent a site, a tent if you don’t have your own (that you will be taught to erect, if you wish), and even a sleeping bag complete with blow-up head cushion. The site comes with its own picnic table and seating, and a bundle of firewood.

The highlight of course is the private, zip-up tented showers and loos equipped with toilets, washbasins and every typical bathroom appointment, right down to the toilet paper. To take the edges off of roughing it.

Food, what about food?

Meal options include highway restaurants and Shahpur town, and may even be ordered in, if requested in advance. But to get into the camping spirit, Rahil encourages bringing one’s own food (like pre-marinated paneer or corn on the cob) that may be heated on the camp's coal-fired barbecue.

Will we get bored?

Besides setting up your own tent, lighting your own campfire, feeding yourself and watching stars? Chill, play some carrom, toss a Frisbee, fly a kite, read a book from the bookshelf tent, meditate in the bamboo grove, identify birds, get kinetic on a tree swing or laze in a hammock, dip your toes in the Bhatsa. Or, plan a trek to the Mahuli fort, visit the nearby Manas mandir, Jain temple or Ajoba ashram.

And finally, the answer to the big, unavoidable question is yes, you can charge your cellphone here, too.