Two years ago, close to 1,800 guests turned up at Mahim’s Maharashtra Nature Park for the first edition of Under The Peepal Tree, a father-child festival organised by Grooming Babies, a city-based platform founded in 2010 by a group of moms, who ditched their corporate careers to make family a priority and support involved parenting. “We introduced the festival with the belief that dads need to bond with as much intensity as mums with their kids. The festival provides an opportunity for dads to engage in activities that stimulate the multiple intelligences of children,” shares Oindrila Purohit, founder-director, now geared up to host the third edition of the festival, scheduled over the weekend at the same venue. “Since we deal with kids, who prefer lesser crowded and more physical space, this time, we’ve restricted the participation to 300 families a day,” she adds.

Guests on a bicycle trail at an earlier edition of the festival