New year on road!

I will be leaving for Pune in another 2 and a half hours from now for the new year bash. Some friends have booked some place for the party..dont know the details!

But most probably i will be on road travelling towards Pune when the clock would strike 12!

Isnt it the best way (for me) to celebrate new year and the saying adieu to an year where i spent the most beautiful time of 2005 traversing various roads and routes of Maharashtra..from Alibagh to Kashid..from Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani to Ganpatiphule!

Happy new year to all of u..

Cheers...

Hashmi again...

Since last night I have seen short interviews of 3 beautiful, yet to be launched heroines. Their names are as forgettable as all of Ijaz Ahmed’s centuries. All of them are working with Emraan Hashmi in one film or the other. I am sure all of them must be having very ‘challenging’ roles in the movies.

All the best to all of them.

Home Delivery...Not delivered.

Somehow i survived but believe me this movie can proved to be fatal for anyone of you. Its deadly. Even the presence of Ayesha Takia couldn't light up the movie!

And if anyone of you decides to take the suicidal step of watching this movie, pls tell me after watching it, how creatively satisfying Mahima Chowdhary's role was for her?

PS: Dont raise eyebrows on my selection of movie. I started for Apaharan but couldn't get the tickets for the second consecutive day. My friend dragged me for this one. He is already dead.

Cheers...

Sleeveless Question!

Ever wondered how all 30-plus ladies of Delhi (or for that matter all north) manage to smile in 5 degree temperature in their sleeveless blouses during marriages while all the gentlemen continue to shiver in their suits!

Me jealous...

Its a sunday..the day when i can watch TV without thinking of how the rest of the day will go..

My day started exactly 3 hours ago and while i am surfing on net, surfing is going on the TV too. But what i get to see is this chap, Emran Hashmi all over the channels. Same leather jackets, same type of picturisation of songs and similar songs..probably only difference are the lyrics but to me they sound similar too! Every producer is trying to churn out one more "bheege honth" or "woh lamhe" or an " Aashiq banaya aapne".

I have not seen many of his films but i just hate this guy. I mean he is terrible. First, coz of his face. He looks like a total 'mawali' type! When i go out on street, i can see atleast 2 to 3 better faces standing at a pan stall chewing tobacco or smoking cigrette! And secondly (I guess this is THE reason) he get to kiss all the beautiful babes around and he does not stop at that, he get the smooches too...and he get to.....i guess i shud shut my mouth now and continue to surf channes...

Take Care..

Stats never lie...

A few moments back i was surfing cricinfo site when i found out a rather disappointing piece of statistic. Disappointing coz it is related to the god of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.

Its about the dismal performances of batsmen in the 4th innings in their test career and sadly enough, Sachin is featuring in that list. Against a splendid career average of 57.25, the maestro has managed a paltry 34.88 in the 35 4th innings he has played in his career. On top of that he just has 2 centuries and 2 half centuries in the fourth innings compared to 34 centuries and 41 half centuries overall!

A sad scorecard for a great batsman. Also, he has 14 single digit scores in those 35 innings! Surely he is cutting a sorry figure as far as fourth innings performance is concerned and nobody is more disappointed than the writer of this post.

You can check the stats here

Salute..

Here is the story of a young guy who lost his life just for doing his job with the honesty of highest order. IIM-L graduate, Manjunath was an official with PSU IOC.

My Salute to the man and condolences to the family.

Read more Here.

And he is back...

And the man is back in the team and I am puzzled. It’s beyond my imagination to understand what prompted Kiran More and co. to re-induct him in the team. Ganguly’s forte has always been the shorter version of the game. He never looked ominous or ‘in touch’ in the longer version atleast during any outing in the last 3 years barring a century in first test against Australia down under.


I wonder what has he done in the last one month after being dropped from the one-day squad to force his selection in the test team? Did I hear a century against Zimbabwe XI in Duleep Trophy? I beg to differ. Zimbabwe’s attack is not even at par with any club level attack and one should not read too much in such performances.

Also I wonder what shape the dressing room will take place now with clear differences between Chappell and Ganguly. Was it necessary for the selectors to mess up with things in the dressing room by including Ganguly at the time when the team is performing well under Dravid and is again looking a dangerous and cohesive outfit after a long gap of 2 years?

I am not a Ganguly basher. I praised him whole-heartedly for all the runs he scored for the team all these years and I vehemently supported his aggressive and innovative captaincy in all my discussions with friends. He nurtured a bunch of talented young lads and converted them into world-beaters. But in the process, his willow stopped making runs. His bat was not talking but his mouth was and he paid the price with his exit from the team.

After taking all the bold decisions in the last few days, the selectors blundered at this juncture. I would have been happier if Ganguly would have been included in the team after 2-3 good knocks in the domestic circuit. Still he can prove me and the likes horribly wrong by scoring tons of runs against the lankans and I will be more than happy to see the ‘old’ Ganguly but going by the present form I don’t think he deserves a place in the 15 atleast in the longer version of the game.

All the best to him.

PS: And just read the news thet he is picked as an 'allrounder'. An allrounder with 25 wickets in 84 tests! and with 5 wickets in the last 5 years! Good job done Mr. Kiran More!

Types of beggers...

At a traffic signal one can expect two kinds of beggars. Type-1 have nothing to wear and eat, Type-2 have government uniform. Type-1 runs around your vehicles while vehicles runs around Type-2. Type –1 deals in multiples of 50 Paise, Type-2 deals in multiples of 50 Rs.

Hats off to our traffic police wallas….Corruption at its best.

Please forgive me..

I love politicians. I just love them. More so, the politicians from Maharashtra although the thinking men from UP and Bihar are always in the fray, giving a neck-to-neck fight to Maharashtra guys for the top spot. This morning a news item in the newspaper captured my attention. Maharashtra government is contemplating the idea of putting a huge Shivaji statue in the middle of the sea. The whole drama will cost the exchequer a cool 100 crores. I want to meet the consultant of this government. I mean, I just want to know the brain behind such ideas.

This is nothing new from this government. One fine day, one Mr. R R Patil woke up from his sleep and decided to ban the dance bars and actually did it. Poor girls are still finding it difficult to cope with the situation. Then came the July flood and the poor polythene was made to suffer this time. Reason? As given by the CM of the state, polythene blocked sewer and hence prevented the water outflow. Consequently, the polythene was banned. Poor ‘P’, it cannot even appeal in any court like the bar girls! Between these, there was a suggestion from none other than the environment minister of the state to sell the open available spaces, like mahalaxmi racecourse, in the city’s heart to pay heavy debt of Maharashtra. As if the existing concrete jungle is not enough for him.

Now comes Shivaji. No offence intended but I fail to understand what is he supposed to do in the middle of the sea. In Mumbai, we already have Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Chatrapati Shivaji Park, Chatrapati Shivaji stadium, Chatrapati Shivaji Airport, Chatrapati Shivaji Vaastu Sangrahlaya and what not. The only man, living or dead, ahead of Shivaji is Mr. Ambedker (again, no offence intended) we can see the total collection of Ambedkar’s in Uttar Pradesh. He was in full vogue when Mayawati was chief minister there but still you can find places named after Ambedker right from schools to parks, colleges to bus stands, streets to stations and infact an entire district is named after him there in the form of Ambedker Nagar!

I don’t know when the day will come when these politicians will realize that there is more to do than naming a building and putting a statue! There are starving people dying of hunger, under nutritious children, uneducated population, non-existent health facilities, invisible roads and unemployed youth. When they will realize that for every 100 crores spent on a statue, there are millions of homeless people who are spending freezing nights under the open skies!

God! When they will realize that there are better ways to make Mumbai, next Shanghai, than putting Shivaji Maharaj in deep waters….

Random Post...

Its been a long time since I posted last. A gap of over a month. A month that saw me changing my job, two quick trips to Gurgaon and finally settling into the groove in this new company. It was a hectic month to say the least. I barely got the time to open even my blog and I must say I missed your posts and lovely comments. But I guess things are taking a settled look now. Although the days here are longer than my previous job but at least now I know what is expected out of me here and what I need to put in here.

It was a long sleepy day after a long time and that it was Sunday served as icing on the cake. I just came back after a long lazy walk. I started my stroll with a big glass of sugarcane juice. Then after piercing through the crowded streets with vegetable market on footpath and all kinds of jewellary and cloths shops around me I had another Mumbai delicacy, Samosa Pav, stepbrother of vada pav. Now this is one thing that I have noticed in Mumbai’s roadside restaurants. They have the habit of stuffing either pav or coconut chutney in your plate. I guess they believe that the dish is of no use without either one of the things in the plate. Samosa Pav was followed by a ‘cuttin’ chai. Now I must accept that tea is something that gives a strange kick to this teetotaler. In my list, it is far above the cappuccinos. After covering some more distance, I reached Shivaji Park. It is one of the many colorful places in Mumbai and this is one place where you don’t complain about the crowd in Mumbai. After all who will complain when there are Oo-La-La gals all around you! After spending some time around the couples (who were holding hands as if they have been glued together) I started my walk back to my flat.

This wayward post marks my return to blog world. Thanks to my new company I am a proud owner of a laptop and in a matter of two days I will be having net connection at my flat. I hope to post regularly after that and hope to have YM sessions with you all.

Closing this post while listening to a version of “Summer of 69” sung by a guy from Manipal and its just brilliant.

Take Care…

PS: This post was written on Sunday evening and posted today.

2 Years 43 Days!

Four more days and it will be the closure of first chapter of my professional career. On 4th Aug'03, my foray into professional life started & exactly after 2 years & 43 days, it will be curtains to my first job experience. Yes..I am joining another company on 20th of this month but i will remain in the city of dreams..Mumbai!

Things have changed a lot in these two years and from this experience behind me, I can say that doing a job is a different ball game altogether than scoring marks in school and college! In these two years I haven't applied a single thing learnt/grasped/understood during four years of my engg.! Spending 21 years in school/college preparing yourself for the job and then actually doing the job are two entirely different things. As different as theory classes and the practicals; as different as mugging up the formulae and then actually cracking the numericals in IIT-JEE exam; as different as your girlfriend and wife! ;-)

So, once in job, what are the things you actually achieve? Experience? Learn new things? become a mature person? sense of responsibility? Yes, Yes..you do gain experience, you actually learn new things, you become mature ( this can be argued..some tends to go the other way!) and you actually shoulder some responsibilities but apart from all this crap, you achieve financial independence. Now you can go to a REEBOK showroom with a fair probability that you will come out with a pair of t-shirts, now you can go to a decent restaurant and can order without looking at the right hand side column and now you can actually go for back to back movies...that too in a multiplex with popcorn and pepsi in the intervals on both the days! ;-) Now compare this with the engg. days when there used to be a dog-fight on who will pay the bill, all of Rs 16 for 8 'cuttin'...Compare this with the days when we used to go to the petrol pump after pushing empty tanked old two wheeler for half a kilometer and get a refill of Rs 15! Still..those days were better...

With this post i complete one year in the blog world and in this past one year I have met/interacted with many wonderful souls. I would like to thank all those who commented and all those who didnt comment for various reasons or various degrees of laziness but appreciated my posts.

As far as statistics are concerned, this one is my 79th post in one year which makes 1 post every 4.6 days! Not bad..

The counter is showing 13122, which indicates 36 visitors per day..Not bad at all considering that there were 300 odd visitors in the first 3 months!

Thanx all of you..

Cheers...

The Cycle...

A series with Zimbabwe/Bangladesh/Uganda/ Tongo/Papua New Guinea and he will blast the opposition scoring countless runs maintaining his average in early forties.

He will play the next on the basis of his performance in the last series and a series of low scores will follow.

He will still play the next one on the basis of his records and past performances. Another string of low scores will follow.

Then again he will be the automatic choice for the next as he is the captain of the team. He will do all kind of acrobatics on the field facing the short pitch stuff from anybody ranging from genuine pace of Bond and Lee to military medium of Styris!

Then he will sit out of some games serving some ban for slow over rate or Excessive appealing or not cleaning his clothes or not brushing his teeth and what not.

He will make a comeback after the ban and another series of low scores!

Then…..A series with Zimbabwe/Bangladesh/Uganda/ Congo/Papua New Guinea…..
And the cycle continues….

And they are shining brightly...

Away from all the glitter of cttthroat advertising & expensive coaching institutes, two men are doing their bit for the society, for the country. The men, whose actual jobs are as distince as nabbing the criminals & educating the students!

I first read about them in an article published in 'India Today' last year. It really touched me. The news appeared in front of my eyes again in June this year in TOI. They were doing their dury, quietly, and the results were there to see.

Three years back, Abhayanand, Bihar's Additional Director-General of Police (Special wing) envisioned a dream; a dream to prepare the hidden gems from Bihar to clear arguably the toughest exam in this country, IIT-JEE. He joined hands with another teacher of Mathematics, Anand Kumar. Later, Neeraj Pratap Singh (Chemistry) joined in and the faculty was complete as the cop himself took the task of teaching Physics.

Now have a look at the students: Son of a rickshaw puller, Son of a brick kiln worker, Son of a vegetable vendor and so on.

The strategy is simple. They handpick 30 students from the govt. schools of Bihar after a screening test and bring them to patna. Not a single penny is charged to the students. Even the food and shelter is provided by these mentors, out of their own pockets. And the results? In the first year itself 18 out of 30 students cracked IIT. In the second year the figure was 22 and this year 26 out of 30 students made it to IIT. The boys who were struggling to gather the bare minimum amenities for life are now a part of one of the most prestigious institutes of the country.

My salute to the vision and to the three men.

Read the full story

1.www.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/20iit.htm

2. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=76655

Classical Dilemma!!

It was yet another rakhi for me away from my family. Its been a little more than 6 years now since i left my hometown. The distance which was approx. 550 kms for the first 4 years during my engg. days streatched to more than 1100 kms in the last two years. Out of the last three years, i could make it to Gwalior only once on rakhi. Coming out of the statistics, I received my rakhi well on time. To be precise, i got it on 17th, good two days before the festival and as an ideal brother, i dispatched my sister's gift on the same day.

After receiving it, everything boiled down to finding someone to do the honors on the D-day. For this purpose, female species were kept out of the question for all the obvious reasons. The only two targets in my mind were my two flat mates. As soon as i came out of the bed on 19th, i realised that i will have to wait till late in the evening as both of my flat mates were already off to their offices! The first of them, 'A' came back at 8 PM and i pounced on him to get the rakhi tied.

Now here is the scenerio that has prevailed!

1. He is officially my sister and i will have to protect him.

2. Going by the customs and traditions, I am also his sister as i tied the rakhi sent by his sister.

3. Two males are now sister to each other.

Now have a look at this..

4. My wife will have the option of calling him either 'Jeth' or 'Nanad'.

5. I can be his wife's 'devar' or 'Nanad'.

6. My children will have the liberty of calling him either 'Tauji' or 'Buaji'.

7. And I can play the dual role of 'Chacha' or 'Bua' at the same time for his children.

And i thought its just a matter of tying a thread on wrist!!

Happy Independence Day...Part-2

I never thought of writing part-2 of the previous post. But i am not the one who just turn deaf ears to such a statement by an innocent boy of that age. I decided to confront him again at his hotel. I couldn't do it that day itself as i was too surprised by his statement to react.

I was there at his place again day before yesterday. He came to take my order and i started:

Me: "Haan bhai...Gaye the kahin 15th ko?"
" Arre maine bola tha na..main nahin jaata.."
Me: Zara samjhaoge kyun nahi jaate?"

At this point another 13-14 year old, Jai, who is also working there (Came to know about his story too..That later) intervened and an entirely different story came up.

Jai informed me that the muslim boy is not an Indian! "Then who is he?" I asked. "He is a Bagladeshi"

So the boy turned out to be an illegal immigrant! (Thats a different issue altogether..) and he informed me that he is returning to his country next month.

So probably, in a way, the boy was justified when he said he doesn't go for flag hoisting. Probably he wanted to convey the message that he is a Bangladeshi and not an Indian. But in the process, he just took an entirely different way to convey the same!

Cheers!

Happy Independence Day...

I am a regular at a hotel ( a small one ) as far as my dinner is concerned. He serves delicious paranthas. The chap, who actually serves us, is a little boy with dark complexion and of medium height. He must be all of 14 years.

Last night i was at the same place along with my friend 'A'. Now, he is very good at striking conversation with anybody and anybody around. As soon as the chap took our order, 'A' asked him "Aur beta, kya plans hain kal ke? kahin jaa rahe ho jhanda lehraane?"

His reply " Nahin nahin, hum nahin jaate na..."

Here i joined. "Jao na..jaana chahiye..dekh kar toh aao kahin.."

and he replied "Arre..main muslim hoon na!"

I found myself devoid of any reaction.

This is what lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, complete ignorance and external influences can do to you.

Happy Independence Day...

Passwords!!!

1 Computer password

2 Lotus Notes Password

3 Clarity Password

4 Sap Password

5 U drive password

6 Yahoo mail Password

7 Rediffmail Password

8 37 mail password

9 Blogspot password

10 HDFC net banking password

11 ICICI net banking password

12 HDFC ATM Pin

13 ICICI ATM Pin

14 Demat account Password

15 ESS portal password

16 Naukri.com Password

17 Monster.com Password

18 Sify net Password

19 Gyanmandir portal Password

How the hell one can remember all these!!
This poor soul has lost 4 of the above listed 19 in the last two days!

Come here to pay the condolences...

Rains!

Its raining cats and dogs for the past two days..(or four?). And if it continues to rain in this fashion (I mean cats and dogs types) for two more days, the population of Cats and Dogs will easily beat the count of homosapians on earth!

PS: The Meteorological Department has predicted 'heavy' to 'very heavy' rainfall during the next 24 hours. I guess we humans will become minority in a day or two.

Cheers...

Upadtes....

1.
Hurray!!
Another trip is on cards and for a change its not a bike trip. This time i am going with 6 of my engg. friends. It will be a visit to Kihim, Kashid, Alibagh etc...Its been sometime since we had a get together. To be precise, last one was in January'05. So i am excited!

And yes, there will be no travelogue this time. Even i am finding them monotonous now! ;-)

2. For the first time in my life, today, i was trapped in the lift! I was on my way to ground floor when electricity decides to give a slip...and there i was...neither on ground floor nor on 1st floor! I could see the ground floor as well as the 1st as i was hanging between the two..Then there was this innocent aunty with the brain of Einstein. She was hell bent on breaking the door to rescue me. After all the futile attempts of breaking the door, she came up with "Its not opening!" I asked her to give a break to her head and call the watchman. The God cum Engg. cum Watchman came in time to save me. And let me tell u that 4 minute ordeal was not funny at all. In those 4 minutes i must have poked my nose in atleast 5 places just to have a feel of fresh air!

But i am alive and kicking.

Cheers!

And the season starts...

The selection committee finally picked the squad for the triangular series in Srilanka which will mark the start of cricketing season for our players. After all the hooplah, Dravid was given the responsibility of leading the team.

The team was picked on expected lines barring the omission of Dinesh Mongia. Poor lad was once again ignored by the 5 wise men. 2-3 years back he was failing to make the cut because of some indifferent performances in whatever chances he got and now when he is doing all correct things in english county, our selectors dropped him in favour of youngsters (Dinesh is 28).

Dada will be travelling with the team as the 16th man.

The silverlining in the team was the selection of two young turks namely Suresh Raina from UP and Y Venugopal Rao from AP. There is a whiff of fresh air with the inclusion of young blood in the team.These two youngsters deservedly got the reward after a series of consistent performances in the domestic circuit. Another youngster who is waiting in the wings is Delhi's Shikhar Dhawan.

Suresh Raina is all of 18 but he has played some gutsy and matured innings in domestic matches. Coming from a state which is not known for producing cricketers ( Suresh is only the 6th player representing the country from UP), he has already come a long way. Venugopal Rao is another batsman who literally forced his selection in the team with some big knocks. He performed consistently in the last season too. What more, they both can bowl a bit too!

Now that they have got the chance ( hope they will get the chance to be in playing 11), its up to them to rise up to the occassion and grab the chance with both hands. Infact sharing the dressing room with the likes of Dravid, Saurav and Sehwag is a coaching in itself.

With all the youngsters in the team and without Sachin and probably Saurav, Greg has his task cut out. This will be the tour on th basis of which he will be rated. This is a new beginning for the team after tasting all the success under John Wright.

Hope they will comeout with flying colours...

My Sunday...

1. Got up at 6:45 AM.
2. Off to Lonavala at 8:30AM.
3. Reached at 9:45AM
4. Near/around/beside/in the waterfall till 2:30PM.
5. Feel of drizzle at 3:30PM.
6. Back in Mumbai at 6:30PM
7. On the road for a bike trip at 7:00 PM
8. Packed burger and coke from McD at 7:30PM
9. Aimless drive on Palm Beach road.
10. Had burger/coke sitting roadside.
11. Saw "Pretty Woman" on Zee studio till 11:00 PM.
12. A round of Maggie and tea.
13. A leisurely walk on a highway bridge near the residence at 12:00 midnight
14. A peaceful sleep till 8 in the morning.

What else do u want from life Mr. Rathore?
Ans: 365 Sundays!

Break...

Wanted to write this few days back..
Taking a break from blogging..
It will be atleast a month long..(I hope it will not stretch longer than that)
Reasons are entirely professional...

Will try to keep visiting your pages.. :-)

And I will be back..

Cheers..

PS: Will try to complete part-2 soon.

Another One!!

It was not the first time we were going on a trip. We are now a grade above the amature riders as this was our 5th bike trip (Previous ones were Murud-Janzira, Lonavala, Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani & Ganpatipule). Still we were as excited as a 4 year old kid when he is about to get the toy for which he longed for 3 months!

Yes i never experienced such desparation for the rains. Blame it on high humidity content of Mumbai or my excitement to go on a trip in monsoons, i was just too excited. Destination this time? Regarding this Anurag wrote in his curtain raiser.... "The destination yet again is immaterial. Its the fun of riding again ...that has kept me and rathore on the edge of our seats all this week..." This says it all...But for the matter of fact, it was the waters of Kashid, a beautiful beach between Alibagh and Murud. Pretty clean with minimum decibel levels.

As always, we hit the bed late on saturday night with a resolution to get up in the mid-night at 5:30am. As always, both of us ignored the alarm for an extended sleep and for a change, this time it was Anurag who was kicking my ass to get up at 6:10am. It was totally overcast and the clouds were too heavy with the weight of water and ready to pour at anytime. We were out of my flat at 6:30 and it was the time to burn some rubber again (not exactly, weather was too cool for that! ;-) )

Rain gods were not too excited with our idea of this adventure ride in monsoons as if we were challenging their superemacy! They took it as a challenge ..so do we ;-). Barely 3 kms after the start, the downpour started. We were not even wearing out windcheaters! The rain lasted for 3 minutes to be precise. As soon as we covered ourselves,it stopped and we were drenched (Ok.That was an exaggeration..but we were wet) This 3 minute rain ensured that we will remain wet throughout our onward journey although we will not encounter rains anywhere else.

This 3 minute rain didnt hamper our progress. We were zooming on the road in full flow, above us the clouds were making different patterns and below, it was the wet clean road with occassional dry patches. The weather was something which was best when felt.

Just before we reached Pen (58 kms from Vashi) I was feeling the hunger.We didnt have our customary tea before rolling on the road and without tea i am like a piece of flesh without life. We decided to fuel our tanks at Pen. 4 cup tea, 4 vada pav and a plate of bhajiya later we were on road again. Now near Pen, you will encounter strange kind of speed breakers which the sign boards prefer to call as "Rumbling Strips ahead" Believe me, the sign boards should read as "Pain in the ass ahead" You must have the ass of Suniel Shetty to survive that torture. and there are planty of such strips there...dont know what purpose do they serve apart from causing..yeah...exactly..pain in the ass!

Now we have the habit of forgetting one thing or the other. In one trip i forgot my spects somewhere ( since then i am without them! ) on another trip it was the turn of Anurag's gogs and this time we forgot to buy the camera roll. Half of the trip was already over (Kashid is just 120 kms from Mumbai) when we realised that we have to buy a roll. I dont remember the place but fortunately we got the roll from a shop and there itself anurag posed on his bike insisting me to take his snap. I obliged. This was the second time we were traversing this route (first one was during our Murud-Janzira trip) and we made it a point to click the snaps where we took during our first visit. Like one narrow "kaccha road" with coconut trees all around...an off road sea shore...although mud prevented us to reach the exact spot still we managed to click the snaps somehow...

On the road it was total fun...We were enjoying the weather thoroughly and were doing all kinds of tantrum on road. Like this one..He clicked one of my snap in which i am sitting in the middle of the road and when his turn came i clicked when he was literally lying down on the road (Dont think we are mad caps..it was pure fun). We managed to reach Kashid at around 9:30am.

One of our common friend of our engg. days, Abhay, was supposed to be in Kashid during that day as a part of his companys tour. He mailed me the name of the resort along with its website in which he was staying and i comfortably managed to erase the name of that resort from my memory. Remember there was no reliance coverage in that part of india so the mobiles were mere toys. From there on our search of Abhay started. Imagine..no idea about the place where he is staying, no contact number and no mobiles!

PS: Abhi abhi max kaam aa gaya hai and i have to finish it before leaving office...will write the second post soon....Till then enjoy this one...

"Book Tagged"

I have already been tagged by Deepak, Rhicha and Ricky and now before anybody could even think of tagging me, i would like to finish off this one. I just love books but seeing the progress of my reading curve, i can easily say that i read in patches. Like 3 books in 12-15 days and then a gap of 3 months! No particular reason for this one.

I am an out and out non-fiction guy although in due course, i have read some fiction too like Lajja and Shodh by Taslima Nasreen, Alchemist and Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho, Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Some one, Segal's Love Story, Puzo's Godfather etc..but the number is limited. Most of the rest are non fiction works only.

I have read a fair share of Biographies..I love to know about someone inside out. This is a long list...have read Hitler's Mein Kempf, Jack Welch Straight from the gut, Kiran Bedi's I Dare, Sam Walton's Made in America, Akio Morita's Made in Japan, Abdul Kalam's etc...and trust me, each and every one of them is worth reading apart from probably Hitler's. I mean how can you expect a moderate guy like me to be in sync with his extremist approach!

Total Number of Books I Own:

Not many...Probably around 20 books here in Mumbai and around the same no. at my native place. You must know the reason if u have spent the engg. days in a paltry sum of money. Buying a book of 250 bucks was really a big deal in those hostel days! and like Manish, i also started buying books after i started earning.

The Last Book I Bought:

4-5 days back i bought Catch-22 by Joseph Heller which i am currently reading. I have read thouands of good reviews about this one so i though of checking it myself. I have just finished 40 odd pages so not in a position to give an opinion about it as of now.

The Last Book I Read:

It was Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. A book which keeps burning the desire in you to make it big (moneywise). Although this book can be summarized in 2 paragraphs , it was good to read the whole 250 pages because of the interesting way in which it was written. Not a 'must' read but a 'good' read if money fascinates you.

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me:

(Its difficult to pick just 5 books from so many but as i have mentioned some of them above, I will try to stick to 5 books here)

1. My Experiments with truth:Mahatma Gandhi -- One of the most honest autobiographies i have ever read. Although even he avoided discussing some of his controversial decisions and stands on political front, i dont think he hided anything from his personal life.. even the mistakes. To write an honest autobiography is one of the most difficult task one can ever have. If you want to learn discipline...read it.

2. Why I assassinated Mahatma Gandhi: Nathuram Godse -- After reading MEWT, i was very keen to read about someone who assassinated the great man. Afterall, Godse was not a petty criminal who killed Gandhi just like that. He was a well learned man with his own ideology and believe me, the book gave us a complete account of his views and at times he is successful in convincing you what he did was correct!

3. Iacocca: Lee Iacocca -- Another autobiography which impressed me a lot. He is the guy who was fired from the post of president in FORD and who later joined Chrysler Corp. He turned around the company and brought it out from the brink of bankruptcy. A splendid read indeed.

4. Train to Pakistan: Khushwant Singh -- A heart-rending story of a sleepy willage called Mano Majra on the border of India alongside Pakistan. Khushwant Singh beautifully captured the human dimension and the emotions at the time of partition.

5. Five Point Someone: Chetan Bhagat -- I know this is the odd-one out here. But believe me, this is one of the funniest book ever written. I mean it was more than successful in tickling my funny bone. Liked it coz it reminds me of my engineering days and my college buddies. and yes...I started writing (blogging) after reading this one only!

Tag Five People:

5 is a small number and there are so many to tag. I guess this queationaire is good enough to compel each and everyone of you to come up with your own list of favourites. So those who are still waiting, post soon..(Look how easy it is to preach!);-)

Cheers...

HOT n COOL

Ever wondered why gals are 'hot' and guys are not..err.. I mean gals are always mentioned as 'hot' while guys as 'cool'...These two terms for the two gender goes hand in hand...I know, they are used the other way too...but seldom.

In 99% of the cases we hear of 'hot gals' and "cool guys'. I stumbled on this mystery yesterday and tried to scrath my head looking of probably digging for an answer. But i was horribly out of ideas! Probably bcause there are somethings which are beyond explanations and reasonings! Like this one.. "Why the wives are always called the better half and not the husband!" Ever cared to think about it?

Now let me tell you how this 'hot' and 'cool' stuff struck me.

I was at my friends flat yesterday for dinner when she let out her observation " Yaar tumhaara flat ekdum thanda rehta hai aur hamaare flat main garmi rehti hai..Aisa kyun?" And this was my spontaneous reply " This is because we guys are cool and you gals are hot!" And with this we started our conversation on 'hot' and 'cool'.

If a girl wears her attitude, she is HOT, If a guy does the same, he is COOL.

If a girl wears revealing clothes, she is HOT, If a guy wears unbutton shirt, he is COOL.

I guess it has something to do with temper.

What say??

.......................

These days, i am not posting as regularly as i used to. I guess i have posted just 4 or 5 posts during the last two months. Any special reasons? NO REASONS. I guess " no reason" is again a reason big enough not to write! Probably i didnt coz life was/is not happening enough to force me to write. I hate to write "not happening enough" but i have to coz these days its actually not happening! I know, nobody goes for bungee jumping or scale everest every other day to infuse adventure in his/her life. Still i feel there is scope for many things that i can stuff in my 24 hrs long day.

Last of my flatmates left day before yesterday. So from 5 occupants just a month back, the walls of my flat are now observing just one soul there! To add to the misery, i have been asked to vacate this flat by 30th June. No No..i am paying my rent on time. But u cannot go against the wishes of the owner! So its time again for the hunt of a new 'palace'.

Last few days were so occupying that reading was on back burner. After Gurcharan Das' INDIA UNBOUND ( a splendid book indeed) i have started a new book yesterday, "Eleven Minutes" by Paul Coelho. I hate to write about a book unless it is finished. So i will restrain myself from writing about it.

Rest all is as dull as you can imagine (or you cant even imagine!)

I have been tagged!!

After being tagged by Anz, Ricky, Kaush, Neetie, Preeti, Sum...final nail came from DJ..

So here goes my "THREES.."

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
My parents and friends kept it simple for me..I mean no silly pet names! ;-)
1.RATHORE
2.GAURAV

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
Simple again...Never used any fake or fancy name even for chatting...plus no anonimity ever!
1. rathore_81@yahoo.co.in
2. gaurav_r@37.com
3. Maverick

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
C'mon..what do u think...i am brad pitt or what? Even after scratching my head for half an hour, i could think of just two!
1. My eyes..Nobody ever praised them but i like them...They never reflected a lie no matter what my mouth uttered...
2. My hair...there is complete democracy there..I comb them with a frequency like..Once a month (its true). and every hair is free to join any party or move anywhere depending on the flow of the wind! Still i love them!

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
So what if i am not a Brad Pitt! I am still Okay kind of! Again tried hard and i could come up with just two.
1. My height- Yeah..am not AB..So what..even he walks on ground..so do I! So those who think that 5' 7"s and 5'8"s are cute..Pls continue to think that way!
2. My hair- Yeah yet again..sometimes they can take weirdest of look!

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
Very confusing..still trying..
1. Mera bhartiya hona..
2. Mera Rajput hona..(Now dont think that i go on hunting lions and kill bad guys with my sword every other day!)

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
I guess the only thing that scares me is FAILURE...Nothing else.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Lots of tea or coffee.
2. A news bulletin
3. Am not too demanding..am ok with the above two.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
Ek dum official pehnawa
1. Shirt- Black & Gray checks
2. Black trousers
3. Black leather formal shoes

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
Now here one should be given a chance to write atleast five. Afterall, a perfect relationship is not a matter of 5 things.
1. TRUST ( This is must..otherwise your life is hell!)
2. Complete understanding ( This is not possible)
3. Space (Another important ingredient in a relationship)

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order):
I love you.
I have never been to a dance bar.
I have seen Ambani's residence.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
Physical? Do you really want me to write the truth? Okie..let me control myself..
1. Her eyes..I just love them..preferably brown!
2. A good smile..A good smile is enough to steal my heart...
3. Long straight hair...(they appeal me ..but not a must condition)
now give me a waiver here...and let me write the 4th one..THANKS..
4. The way of talking and not just the voice ( I have interacted with gals with sweetest of voices and weirdest of ways of talking!)


THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Want to buy a lappie.
2. Want to play electric guitar in front of a jam packed audience.
3. Want to go to Rohtang pass from mumbai on bike.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
Bit late to answer this question..I am already into a profession...
1. Traveller..I want to explore all the places..just hope that a travel magazine will hire me for that purpose.
2. Photographer with Discovery channel...purpose is same as above.
3. Still thinking...

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
Easiest question.
1. Sikkim and whole of north east
2. Egypt
3. Norway

THREE KIDS NAMES YOU LIKE:
I love most of the muslim female names.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
Let me limit myself to one again.
1. I want to die as a successful man. (I guess this sums it all..and yes,..dont ask me what i mean by 'successful'. The list is long and cannot be finished in '3 things')

THREE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:
I guess by now everybody is covered...still those who havent..do as soon as possible..Believe me..its far more exciting than u actually think it is.

Cheers!!

Just for the sake of posting...

Let me warn you. This is going to be a very ‘rookha’ post. But it’s high time now to update. Last few days were too hectic plus a little (??) depressing. I was spending a lot of time these days in office! Nice way to kill your life na?

Updates from my end? Okie let me start…

1. I will be residing alone in my flat from 4th June as the last of my four flat mates is scheduled to leave this place on that day. Getting separated from the guys with whom u have spent one or two good years of your life is just not easy.


2. I was about to join a new company in Goa on 13th June. Somehow things derailed at the last moment and that chapter is close now.

3. Attended a few online mini meets in the last few days and it was nice talking to you all although it’s a pain to get the mic work in a cyber café!

4. Planning to pick up guitar again. It’s been close to three months since I played the strings last…

5. Enjoying the emergence of Raefel Nadal in French open. I predicted about him in my post “ Incredible Open” during this years Australian Open.

6. I hate monotonous life..Desperately waiting for the first rains and dying to hit the road for a short trip with Anurag.

7. Hope to write something interesting soon.

Sunday Adventure!

This sunday i met with an accident. Don't worry. I am still in one piece as there was no vehicle involved in it. No truck, no car, no bike not even a bicycle. It was a rendezvous between two of us. This poor soul and the Giant Wheel (Jhoola). So the story goes like this...

I was on Mumbai darshan on sunday with Maa and Sis along with my 'bhanja'. We were at the last spot of our tour, the famed Juhu Choupati. There somehow i managed to collide with a Giant Wheel and that too head on. Now the 'basket' of the giant wheel, in which you are supposed to sit is not featherweight by any means plus its cast iron frame didn't help my cause either! Learnt a few physics lesson there like this one. 'The head on collision always has the greater impact as compared to angular collision' I tried to relieve the pain by rubbing by head but to my amazement blood started to flow! Now my mom is not too fond of red handkerchief but her white one was converted to red in just 10 min. of bleeding. Somehow i manged to stop the blood flow and we were back at my flat at 7. At 9, Maa compelled me to take anti-tetanus injection and i headed towards the nearest hospital. Found the nurse. She asked me to buy the injection. 12 Rs for the injection and 10 rs her charges. So in just 22 bucks, medical science was promising me a dodge to tetanus . Not a bad deal at all. Nurse came into the picture again, "Lie down". "Why should i? What are your plans maa'm?" I asked. She said " I will give you injection THERE" There!! NO WAY!! I told her that by god's grace i have two hands too! so torture me there. She warned me that there will be lot of pain. I was adamant and she relented. I continued to realise the meaning of her words even after two days of injection. It pained like hell and virtually paralysed my hand for a day!

Just before leaving i thought to get my wound checked by the same nurse. Now again those words "Lie Down". She was hell bent on making me lie down! ;-) I told her its on my head maa'm. In reply she repeated her two words. This time i relented. She started to clear the blood clot by cleaning it with cotton. Dont think it was gentle, it seemed as if she was scrubbing used utensils! Then came the verdict " Blood is still coming...you need two stiches". STICHES?? Forget it. I am pretty comfortable with my wound. I mean i am not feeling any pain!" Again she started to pursuade me like anything and this time she was hell bent on giving me stiches. She must have aspired to become a surgeon once. I fought my case valiantly in front of her. When she failed to convinced me, she calld a guy.

Now, there is a breed in medical circles called " Compoctors" (Self coined term). They know a lot more than a compounder and a lot less than a doctor. This guy was one of them. Now she had a company to pursuade me to pursue her dream of becoming a surgeon! After much resistance, i managed to convince the compocter that a bandage will do and there is no need of stiches and if the wound get worsens in the night i will come back in the morning to hand over myself to this lady to complete her desire!

She was clearly disappointed and did the dressing. More than the disappointment, she was angry and this anger was visible in the bill that she handed over to me. A cool 50 bucks for the dressing!

PS: Am absolutely fine now.

Random Thoughts...

I just realised that 38.7% of May has already evaporated and i have not posted a single word on my blog this month! Kaush wanted me to write a travelogue on my Delhi and Gwalior trip. I contemplated on the idea of writing and then realised that a train journey is not even 10% as exciting as the bike adventure! I mean there are no instances of dozing off on bike, no cuttin chai at road side stalls, no off road site seeing and no clicking of snaps at every odd location! I can directly compare the difference between the two journeys with a typical art film and an out and out masala movie of Rajnikanth or Mithun. The former is as lifeless as a stone. It just starts..crawls and then ends. Similar is the case with train journey. They start from the station, run on the tracks like a mad bull and reaches the destination and unless u have the company of a Jaspal Bhatti or a Johny Lever, you are bound to get bored in a 17 hour saga. On the other hand, Rajni's movies are full of hi teach dramas with twists and turns every two minutes and same applies for Bike trips too..You never know which scenic beauty is ahead of you!

This time i was in Delhi after a gap of good two years as Mumbai was keeping me busy for this duration and i must say it has changed a lot. No No..It is still hotter than mercury but it is growing infrastructure wise. Work was going on in every nook and corner for Delhi metro, still there were no traffic jams! Also, good results of CNG are coming up now. It has done wonders to the environmental scene of Delhi. I mean now you dont leave home in Delhi with a fear that you might be suffering from Asthama once you come back from market! This is what a political will with the good intentions can do to a city as big as Delhi. I still remember there was a huge hue & cry when the decision was taken to make CNG mandatory but now everybody is realising the long term benefits. I am sure we will have a different face to our capital in 2020.

While i was travelling back to Mumbai, i missed the VBM ( Kaush: Next time i will decide the time.)and after going through the details on some of the blogs like JI's, Saba's and Kaush's i think i have missed something great. I have to be there next time.

Although i am just back after visiting my family and infact my Maa and sister are here with me in Bombay for a short visit, still i am realizing that the life is again taking a monotonous shape with nothing exciting on cards. This is what i hate most-- A routine life. Probably i am dull as all my 4 flatmates will be leaving for different companies by the end of this month. The other day i was discussing with Anurag to come out of this loop and as always we contemplated on the possibilities of a visit somewhere. Destination undecided and even dates are not planned yet. We are planning to wait for the monsoons as its quite hot on road these days...

So now waiting for the first rains....

Mama i m comin home..

While i was advocating the dance bars and appreciating the sudden warmth in the relations between India & Pakistan, lots of things were happening on personal front too. Its already last week of April. Two more days and i will be off to Delhi. One of my dear friend is getting married on 1st of may (labor day!). I keep pulling her leg saying that you are going to make a guy, slave for entire life and that too on 'labor day'! The Delhi visit will be a short one and apart from attending her marriage, i will be meeting some of my old school friends and hoping to receive a call from Deepak ;-).

After the Delhi trip, it will be destination Gwalior for me. Its been ages since i met my family. It feels as if i haven't met them in the AD era! So if i say 'i am excited' then that will be an understatement. Hoping to spend some vintage time at home. So all in all, it will be a welcome break from office. Waise bhi, 'no' office is always a welcome break.!

Even at Mumbai, these days, life is moving too fast to handle. Just 15 days back, we were 5 sharing a flat & working for the same company. Now one of them has already joined another firm and is going abroad in two weeks time. Out of the four left (including me), two are in the process of joining new company and they will leave bombay on or around 15th May. So from '5' just 15 days back, we will be reduced to '2' in another 15 days!

Life sometimes moves too fast to leave you any time to realize whats happening...

Peace Recipe...

Things never looked so bright. Suddenly, there is a feel that the atmosphere is changing. Things are moving, and although they are moving at their own pace, at least they are moving in right direction. Really, things were never so bright, not even in the days of Vajpayee’s Lahore visit. May be this is just another bubble, blown by the politicians (if we can call Musharaff a politician) of both the sides and it might bust but I am happy that for the first time, the confidence building measures or CBMs are working in favour of comman man of the valley. They are meeting their long lost relatives on the other side of Kashmir. I saw on television, a brother from POK meeting his sister in the Indian side of Kashmir after 57 years! Compare it to the fact that I am craving to meet my family and its only been 6 months!

There are a variety of reasons for this change of heart from both the sides. First, I firmly believe that up gradation of both the nations to the nuclear powers acted as THE MOST important deterrent to keep them away from a war or a war like situation.

Second, both the countries realized that engaging into a military warfare is just not a solution to the Kashmir problem. It only leads to a huge burden on economy and a ‘stick’ from the US. Although it took a “Kargil” and an “Operation Parakram” for them to realize this.

Third, Pakistan realized that breeding, training & promoting militants is becoming more and more unacceptable throughout the globe. Gone are the days when the militants used to execute the directions issued by the military of Pakistan. Now, Pakistan military are working under pressure of US and Musharaff is bravely trying to put up a mask of “messiah against terrorism”. Pakistan realized that the hardliners and the militants are not playing in the hands of Pakistan military anymore and they are freely taking their own decisions.

Fourth, they realized that good relations between the two countries are as favorable for India as they are for Pakistan. India is taking fast strides to make its mark in on the globe. Its on the verge of securing a permanent seat in UN Security Council which will automatically stamp India’s authority in the world. On the other hand, a war or a proxy war with Pakistan will jeopardize its chances beyond repair. Similarly for Pakistan, good relations with India will not only convert into good trade ties with India, which in turn will fuse life into its nearly dead economy but also establish it as a liberal Islamic state, a tag for which Musharaff is vying for so long.

Now the question is where to go from here? A start has already been made and a good start is equivalent to half job done. Still there are a lot of areas where we can move.

1. Discourage the use of army from both the sides to solve any issue, as both are equipped with nuclear warheads and the deadliest of weapons. They should work towards de-militarizing the siachin glaciar. Really its ridiculous to maintain army from both sides at such a high cost and inhuman conditions.
2. Trade and social ties should be encouraged beyond vision. Bring the people from both the sides closer. Nobody and no issue (not even Kashmir) can create the rift between the nations if there are no differences among the folks.

3. Political talks should never be stopped (and yes, its ridiculous to sever cricketing ties even at the neutral venues!). They are the only means and the platform the discuss core issues. CBMs will continue at their own pace but the hard and ‘out of the box’ decisions have to taken on the table only.


4. The concept of ‘soft border’ should be given a thought and implemented, if worth. More road and rail routes should be opened. Cultural ties and social ties should be encouraged.

These are just the few of many steps which will consolidate the relationship between the two countries. I personally feel that because of its bad ties with Pakistan, India is 10 years behind from where it could have been and for Pakistan, it has been much worse. It could not even start! Its high time that the politicians, hardliners and the comman man from both the sides realize this and move forward this peace process which many experts are terming as “irreversible”. I just hope that they are right.

PS: This article has not come out the way I was expecting it to be. I have skipped many points and left some issues untouched. I hope to discuss them in comments column.

Bar barred...

Another dictum by a democratic government and more than 100,000 rendered jobless. Yes, the state govt. has decided to ban all the dance bars in the state of Maharashtra including Mumbai, stating that they promote crime and prostitution. The decision has directly affected not only the bar girls (75,000) but also the managers (1500), waiters (20,000), bouncers (6,000) and cooks (6000). The figure easily crosses the astonishing mark of 100 thousand! At least bar girls are lucky enough to have an association of their own which is desperately fighting for them. Rest all are not as privileged and they will have to find the alternative jobs over night.

The very ground on which they are banned is stupid enough to justify that the government here reacted in a hurry and pushed the accelerator a little too early. They reacted without any plan of their rehabilitation! Afterall one lakh is not a small number by any means.

According to the govt, they are promoting crime. How come? I don’t think that the murder mysteries and robbery plans are hatched there in dance bars with a dozen females dancing around you and where you find it difficult to hear even your own voice! I would be highly surprised if the crime chart shows a dip of even one percent after the ban on dance bars. My only question is..If they are talking about promoting crime, why only dance bars? Why not all the public bars? Infact they provide more conducive ambience for making devilish plans and they are the breeding ground to criminals more than the dance bars. Food for thought Mr. Deshmukh.

Secondly, according to them, they are the routes to prostitution. May be. Or I should say it’s partially true. But do you think it is justified to crush each and everybody on the road if 10% are guilty? And forget about Mumbai, each and every city has a well-defined ‘red light area’ where you can find prostitutes. Nobody bother to raid them or close them. Infact by banning the dance bars, there is every probability that these girls will take the route of prostitution and the govt. adventure of stopping it will only increase the prostitution in the city. Remember, most of these girls come from very poor families of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & West Bengal and it’s very easy to coax them into the hell as they are vulnerable enough and they have to support their families back home.

The problem does not end here? It is more grave than it seems. Look at the bigger picture The question is..For how long we will have to bow ourselves to the moral policing of the government or of the certain section of the society. For how long Hallmark and Archies will bear the brunt of a certain political outfit on every 14th Feb? For how long we will be forced to accept that FTV and the likes should not be a part of our TV channel list? After all, Liquor shops are there all over the places but still teetotalers exist in this society. Same applies for lotteries and all. The point that I am trying to drive is simple. In this era when the society is getting more open with each passing day, you just cannot force anybody what to drink, what to see, where to visit and what to wear. Even a conservative nation like china with communists in command does not come up with such mind-boggling decisions and laws.

Probably the reason of our current mindset lies here. We are in a transition phase. At present, neither we are having a totally conservative society nor we are having a completely open or westernized one. Hence, when these dance bars comes up, we get afraid of loosing our moral values and traditions. But remember, 15 years back, when only DD national channel was in place, even a glimpse of scantly clad female was rare. And 15 years hence, we have a total collection of Sherawats and Dhupias…

I am not saying wherever we are heading to is the only way to progress. But my simple point is, in today’s world, moral policing is as bad as keeping a slave and I think we have progressed enough to make our own mind on what’s correct and what’s not. Still, the transition of our mind set is not complete. It’s happening. It will take sometime before we will realize that one cannot and should not keep a vigil as far as deciding moral values is concerned. And I don’t think in the era of my grandchildren, anybody will be bothered to burn Valentine’s Day cards or any government will take such drastic steps like the ban on dance bars without even blinking their eyelids about the future of 1,00,000 citizens.

Ganpatipule...Curtains

It was yet again a much needed sleep and we must have got a lot of blessings from our bodies specially the arse for this long sleep after torturing them brutally throughout the journey. Yet again we were planning to catch the sunset and yet again we missed the simple trick that getting up from the bed is pre-requisite to see the show! I woke up when all the friends were well dressed to visit the Ganpati temple on the beach. As an atheist, I was not too much inclined to go all the way to temple so I asked them to go ahead and convince them that I will follow soon. It was the time to hit the bed again but to my dismay this fellow Anurag got ready within no time (after his nth bath) and then forced me to follow the suit. 15 minutes later, we were moving leisurely to the temple. Somehow I always find it difficult to watch all the rituals there so I entered the temple and duly came to its verandah within no time. This time anurag sacrificed his 25 bucks there (to my surprise as he is also a non believer in god).

At this time, all got dispersed. Some were interested in ‘parikrama’ so they went ahead with it. Some were into their own zone, so we didn’t disturb them, while for us, it was ‘wading time’ again! This time another friend of mine gave us company. Another walk in the ankle deep see water, another stroll under the glittering sky or in short..another heavenly and unforgettable experience! 45 minutes and a round of coconut water later all were back from their respective zones and we finally halted at MTDC restaurant (I guess we two had every single breakfast, lunch and dinner at this place only and I enjoyed fresh lime water soda every time. No applause for MTDC required as you don’t need to have a mastery over this drink as soda is all that you need to make it!). Now we had plenty of time to kill, the whole night to be precise, and nobody was in mood to sleep early. We took atleast 25 minutes to select the dishes and the waiter took his own half an hour to serve. Still nobody complained. We ate till everybody’s stomach was filled to the throat. Now it was the time to go on beach again err..yet again.

Some of us were hell bent on having a bon fire there on the beach itself just to add to that ‘chill’ mood although the weather was not at all conducive for the fire thingie. The bonfire was as oddly placed as a 10-year-old kid in a Mumbai dance bar! Now somebody cried for the guitar. But as Anurag put it “...but I guess both rathore's and my prowess with the guitar was rather disappointing for the audience..so they continued with there dumb C”. Now, I am not at all a fan of Dumb C still just to extract some life out of it for myself…I came up with some imaginary movie names and left them all puzzled. One of them was “Hamlavaron ki toli aur raniyon ka mela!!”

After a lot of deliberation and persuasion, we dropped the idea of going to Ratnagiri as we have to come back all the way to Bombay and we didn’t want to ride during the daytime. Next day, Anurag was insisting on leaving as at 5:00 while I wanted to catch some sleep. Somehow I stretched the time to 6:15 am, the time at which we finally left for Bombay. Again no jacket and again the time for me to convert into an ice cream. This is one lesson I have learnt from this trip. Always go with a jacket even if u are heading towards the sun. By 7, I was totally frozen while he was having the cover of his newly bought jacket, which was again dropping temperature for me by 5 more degrees! At this time, we stopped for refueling and I snapped this opportunity to insert two ‘cuttin’ into my veins just to raise the temperature a bit. We rode on appreciating the black carpets of Maharashtra maintaining a speed of not less than 85 at anytime and in fact touched 107 at a particular instant! (But it was safe). Second stop was Chiplun where we had a ‘local’ burger but the guy charged handsomely for it. By 9’O Clock the markets were buzzed with activities and every now and then we were intercepting one of them. Now our sore asses started to give us trouble. Another halt to have bhajiya and chai. By 10 O’clock, sun was showing its true colors and with our helmets on, the conditions became all the more sapping. From there onwards, it was a continuous struggle with heat and thirst. Two more halts followed just to add substantial quantities of cold drinks and neebu-paani. We were exhausted by the time we were just 3 kms away from Panvel but our adventurist souls were still at large. We took a left turn in order to discover a new road hoping that it will take us to the beauty of Palm Beach road. We were horribly wrong. We were totally lost at 1:30 pm! After an aimless drive of 20 minutes (which at least I didn’t enjoy) we took a kuccha road and it infact took us to palm beach road but added another needless 10 kms and 20 minutes to our journey.

Finally we reached the flat at 2:00 pm sharp with a bottle of chilled water and another coke. The distance meter showed a whopping 815 kms of journey! He ended up with his sun burnt legs in cold-water bucket while I went off to sleeping mode sipping cola and watching the match!

Thus ended our 4th and most probably the last trip of the season….

Destination Ganpatipule (Continued...)

When we were about to die under the sun after fighting for the accomodation, we decided to shift the gear from hotels to lodges and fortunately for us, the first one that we inspected was as good as a decent hotel. Without blinking our eye, we decided to make it our "sweet home" for the next two nights. Anurag insisted on a balcony wala room, although it was a bit costly than others, as if he was going to pose in front of it whole evening! By this time, we were dead tired, skipping lunch we were dead on the bed for the next 3 and a half hours.

Anurag was interested in seeing the beauty of sun set but he just forgot that we need to get out of the bed on time to watch it. Probably he satisfied himself taking glimpses of setting sun in his dreams! Finally we got up at around 7. After taking bath (this was the second bath of the day and there were plenty in the next two days!) we decided to take a leisurely walk to the beach which was just behind our lodge. Chewing peanuts, we set our foot on the white sand of Ganpatipule which was exceptionally smooth! Coconut water was followed by the long walk on the beach with occassional wading in the sea water. We were in no mood to immerse ourselves in water so we laid our backs on the rocks there. The waves were quite a distance from the rocks but they were moving towards us with each passing minute (high tide). With nothing planned for the evening, we were just gazing at the stars and the vast sea. Now, there is something very unique with the sea. Its vastness, on the one hand mesmerises you and on the other the same vastness frighten you. Atleast i experience this.

To make myself more comfortable, i took out my wallet and placed it on the rocks. After about half an hour of heavenly pleasure, the first sea waves touched the feet of the rocks and it was the time for us to go back. We were too hungry and had to make a few phone calls too...again a leisurely walk through the beach and to the STD booth. Time to pay Mr. Gaurav. Just a minute, where is the wallet? It must be sitting pretty on the rock?or take this...The rock must be completely immersed in the water by now..and with it my wallet must be somewhere in the midst of the sea! With these thoughts, I probably ran the fastest 800mts on this planet. I guess i clocked better than Wilson Kipketar that day! Now, my wallet was not as expensive as of any young lady as there were no lipsticks, nailpolishes and face powder, still it had credit cards, pan card, driving license and cash which by no means are lesser than the cosmatics! Fortunately when i reached the rock, there was still some time left for the sea to gulp it and i got back my wallet just in time!

After the drama, we were too hungry and decided to have dinner at MTDC restaurant. and the quantity was suggesting as if we were having dinner after ages! After dinner it was beach time again. One of the best feeling that u can have on earth is to wade bare footed in the sea water. The pleasure is beyond words. We returned to the room pretty late in the night and soon after started making plans for the next day. By this time, all my 13 friends joined us too. Before sleeping, we decided to visit another Shivaji's fort, named Jaigad Fort, which was 35 kms from Ganpatipule. As always we decided to leave early. Our bodies served us a clear cut 'NO' when it was the time to awake and we finally woke up at 8. As soon as we got ready to leave, we realised that my friends had other ideas. And within 20 minutes we were in the sea waves again. Without colours but plenty of water. Really a unique experience to celebrate holi on the beach! After 2 hrs of sheer fun, we were back to the room and another bath followed and soon after we were on road to Jaigad. Reached there in half an hour and like all other Shivaji's fort this too had nothing except walls. But the sea behing it was making things beautiful. Again our camera roll ditched us and there were no signs of life around the fort, let alone a shop to purchase roll.We were so disgusted that we decided not to click any more snaps and because of this reason we just have 12 snaps of this entire visit!

On our way back, we spotted another sea beach, yet to be named and probably yet to be touched by man (this is a slight exaggeration). We just love to follow non existant routes and followed another one to get to that beach and we were the only guys there! It seemed like a private property to us! Another encounter with the waves followed for the next 45 minutes and when our satisfaction quotient reached 200%, we decided to go back only to find our room mates missing from the lodge. We had no other option but to take another walk on the beach...Fortunately the fellows returned after sometime and in no time we were dead again....

To be continued.....

Destination Ganpatipule...

Eyes wanted to dream but the sleep proved to be elusive for us. Probably our souls were too excited! Yes, we were about to embark on our new and the longest trip till date on bike...to the white sand beach of Ganpatipule..full 350 kms drive from Mumbai. We decided to leave as early as possible because we wanted to beat the traffic as well as the scorching heat of the sun. We went off to the bed at 1:30 am and we were planning to leave at 5:00am. Blame it on mosquitoes or the adrenaline that was flowing, there were no signs of sleep. When i was taking my (n+m)th turn on bed, I realised that even this fellow, Anurag was awake! And guess what he uttered in the middle of the night? "Its 3'O Clock, Chalein kya?" Now avoiding sun is OK but we also made a resolution few months back not to drive in dark! Some how I could convince him to continue his struggle with mosquitoes for one hour more! Alarm was set at 4:30 but we were off the bed at 4:00am. A round of chai (obviously prepared by me) followed by the map reading (i duly forgot the map in office but fortunately my friend brought it from there).

And there we were, on road at 4:45 am sharp. Resetted the distance meter which was supposed to show some large numbers this time, enveloped with the excitement, we hit the road. Withing 15 minutes of drive , i realised my blunder. I forgot to bring any jacket and at 5:00 the breeze was as cool as u can imagine. So, for the next one and a half hour, my destiny was to become an icy flesh. I was desparately waiting for the sun rise, this time not for the photoshoot but for its warmth. Although we were pretty early, still, as they say, this city never sleeps, and even at that time there was considerable traffic on road whose full beam flashes were causing some trouble to Anurag. First halt came after 81kms of drive. At a filling station, tank full and we were on road again after a 10 minute break. Roads were smooth and we were flowing on it. Sun showed its first sign at around 7:00 and it simultaneously put some life in me.

Our first halt came after 157 kms of ride at a stretch. This time it was our turn to get the refill. Filled ourselves with idli dosa stuff with tea coffe...bought a packet of "chingum" as Anurag pronounce it. and we were on road again.. After covering a mere 30kms we were forced to break the journey again! Reason? We were dozing off on bike! I can count atleast 3 occassions and even Anurag confessed that he too dozed twice! So, it was the time for the much needed Chai!

From there, ghats started which were not looking so beautiful as they were devoid of any greenry, but still we enjoyed those curves! We continued to float on the black beauty (roads) and our third and the final break came at 50 kms prior tp Ganpatipule (GP Pule as we call it). Anurag forced a 'kokam' sharbat on me and a round of bhurji pav followed...In the backyard of that roadside hotel , i spotted the beautiful location and literally dragged Anurag for a photosession and after satisfying the photographer in me we moved ahead...

As soon as we took the turn to Ganpatipule, the total scenery around us changed completely. Instead of large mountains and ghats, there was large barren land on both sides of the road with no signs of vegetation at all..We were nearing our destination..Just before 7 kms to ganpatipule, i clicked the snaps in front of a mile stone showing "Ganpatipule-7kms". Somehow i like to capture the mortals with different milestones..Strange na? As soon as we touched GP, we got a divine glimpse of the vast sea which promised a lot...We knew we were on the right place!

Now first challange was to get an accomodation as the fatigue and heat took its toll on us...and we had to book hotel for 13 of my friends including my room mates who were scheduled to reach there in the night....We decided on a tent in MTDC resort and more or less finalised it but the lady luck played the cruel joke again. It was available for just a day and we wanted it for two! From there the torture of finding a place for 15 guys started that too in 2'Oclock sun and after a drive of 350 odd kms! The three hotels that we spotted on the net were running in their full capacities and it seemed everybody on the earth came to ganpatipule to play holi as if it is the only place on planet where you can get the colours!

We were exhausted, tired, tortured and about to die and still without roof! Just imagine...two night stay under the open sky on the beach!

To be continued....
Anurag's Perspective

and again!!!

I was supposed to visit Gwalior in these days. Somehow things didn't materialize and Anurag was elated for obvious reasons.

So, this time we will be celebrating our holi at a very special place. This time the destination is Ganpatipule, one of the only two white sand beaches in Maharashtra (other being Kashid Beach). Ganpatipule is 375 odd kms from Mumbai. So, the to and fro journey will be more than 750 kms! As always, we are three in number. Anurag, Highway star & yours truely.

This will be our fourth tour on bike after 1. Murud/Janzira via Alibagh 2. Lonavala 3. Mahabaleshwar / Panchgani.

I know it will be hot out there on the road and humid at the beach. But who cares as long as we are enjoying our ride! Like every other trip, we are too lazy to book any sort of accomodation there. So, it will be another hunt for the hotel once we reach there. I have been assigned to find the road map to the GP but i have not been successful till now to get a decent one online!

We will leave very early in the morning (or night?) at 5:30 am(god help me here...) tomorrow to avoid the traffic and to reduce the total tanning time in sun.

This will be my first experience of playing holi in the midst of sea waves! Too excited to write anything more...
I will be back on Monday...(Office Sucks..)

Travelogue will follow soon....

Cheers..

Thanks a lot!!

I have not posted anything for the last few days and in the mean time, the comment box in the last post crossed century mark. Thanks to you all and thanks to Mr. Finisher CHANDU and i am as elated as Narendra Hirwani would have been after scoring a century!

Before writing anything, i would like to thank all of you for those lovely wishes that you showered on me on my B'day. Although some missed the train and came late still the feelings were same. Because of you all, this B'day was a little different for me. I have made a bond of sorts with you all. and never in my life time i have accepted B'day wishes from so many guys...atleast not from those whom i haven't seen or met at all! Such is the power of this blog world!

I was supposed to visit my hometown these days but somehow plan doomed. Now i will be leaving in April last week. Really its been a long time since i had been to my home. A very short Delhi trip is also on the anvil to attend a friend's marriage.

Saturday was entertaining, Sunday was lazy as usual while Monday was hectic, depressing and demotivating and i think i can throw some light atleast on the first two.

On saturday i changed my workstation for the second time in as many months and the location is the worst u can imagine. My comp is in direct line of sight of my boss! As the shifting was taking place I decided to go out from the office a little early. Anurag was killing his time in Vashi on the name of giving a farewell to one of his many 'friends'.He picked me from office and then it was snacks time along with watching cricket. Evening was reserved for a long drive and we traversed the lonely and peaceful palm beach road. We tried hard to find a coffee machine wala coffee (I hate Cuppachinos) but all efforts failed. The drive party ended when my flatmate called me and asked me to come back as they were making a plan for a movie. We duly followed his order and reached flat. There we met the most indecisive creature on earth..gals..oh god..why they cannot take a quick decision after all they just have to made their mind to watch a movie..i was not asking them to interpret the mysterious smile of Monalisa! Alas..another plan bombed! and the day ended with icecreams...

Sunday was sporty..watched india's triumph on Pakistan at Eden Gardens and another commendable performance by Karthikeyan at Malasian Grand Prix. This man is showing real guts and class..He was the best among rookies yet again and finished 11th overall...Rest of the day passed in sleeping, washing, finishing a few pending stuff and like that...

I would like to skip the details of dreaded monday! Another weekend is approaching..i m getting two consecutive holidays..nope..Friday is not a holiday for us...Somehow my company walas are not feeling anything "good" about this good friday...but i m taking leave...yes..you guessed it right...another plan in the pipeline!!

Will post about the plan soon..may be tomorrow...Till then

Cheers...(writing this post in a jiffy...so forgive me if i bored u in this post...;-)

24 Years!

I have always maintained that the time does not melts…it just evaporates. You just cannot believe that the moments u cherished so much are now a part of past. You try to hold those precious moments but they just fade away..The tightier you hold the sand, the easier it will slip away. And with these thoughts, I exhausted one more year of my life or more appropriately I “lived” one more year of my life. It’s been 24 long years! Still the memories of the past are afresh.

Still remember the days when I used to cry to go to school as my big brother was already in school and I was dying to wear the uniform!

My cricketing days, when cricket was my religion and I used to spend 6 hours at stadium in scorching heat sweating it out with the cricket gear to make it big. And the day, when I left the game altogether to put my head into studies. That was a difficult decision. But in retrospect, probably a right one and a turning point in my life.

The day when my brother and sister fought with my mom to pack me outside Gwalior for my engineering although I was getting admission in Gwalior also. That move was aimed to make me more independent. I came to Indore for the next four years and the move paid off. I can call that second turning point.

The day when I could not make it to TCS. It was one of the only two companies that came to our college for campus and the time was worst ever for freshers. I cried and was shattered.

4th Aug’03. The day when I cleared my first ever job interview and came to Mumbai for a new beginning.

These are just few of the most defining moments of my life. A life full of twists and turns or we can say its been a true roller-coaster ride. It never came to me on a platter but I faced and enjoyed every moment of it. I am sure there are many more years to come, and many twists to unveil but afterall..Life is like that!

In the last one year…

1. 5 of my friends got married.
2. I completed one year of official life.
3. I had the 2nd get together at Hyderabad with my college gang.
4. Started my blog and made many new friends.
5. had a couple of memorable bike trips with Anurag

and more importantly, realized what is financial independence.

So, with this sober post, 3 cheers…and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
…TO ME!!!

Best on Marriage & Wife! Isn't it true?

Not enough incidents to write..or should i say, not enough time to write or more appropriately, not enough drive to write..
So posting this one..

******************************************************************

I recently read that love is entirely a matter of chemistry. That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.

- David Bissonette
===================================================
When a man steals your wife, there is no better revenge than to let him keep her.
- Sacha Guitry
===================================================

After marriage, husband and wife become two sides of a coin; they just can't face each other, but still they stay together.
-- Hemant Joshi
===================================================
By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
-- Socrates
===================================================
It's true that all men are born free and equal, but some of them get MARRIED!
===================================================
A happy marriage is a matter of giving and taking; the husband gives and the wife takes.
===================================================
Woman inspires us to great things, and prevents us from achieving them.
-- Dumas
===================================================
The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, "What does a woman want?
-- Freud
===================================================
I had some words with my wife, and she had some paragraphs with me.
===================================================
"Some people ask the secret of our long marriage. We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week. A little candlelight, dinner, soft music and dancing. She goes Tuesdays, I go Fridays."
- Henry Youngman
===================================================
"I don't worry about terrorism. I was married for two years."
- Sam Kinison
===================================================
"There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage."
- James Holt McGavran
===================================================
"I've had bad luck with both my wives. The first one left me and the second one didn't."
- Patrick Murray
===================================================
It's true that all men are born free and equal, but some of them get married!
===================================================
Marriage is the process of finding out what kind of man your wife would have preferred.
===================================================
Marry not a tennis player. For love means nothing to them.
===================================================

Two secrets to keep your marriage brimming
1. Whenever you're wrong, admit it,
2. Whenever you're right, shut up.
-- Nash
===================================================
The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once..
===================================================
My wife only has 2 complaints. Nothing to wear and not enough closet space.
===================================================

You know what I did before I married? Anything I wanted to.
-- Henny Youngman
===================================================
My wife and I were happy for twenty years.
Then we met.
-- Rodney Dangerfield
===================================================
A good wife always forgives her husband when she's
wrong.
-- Milton Berle
===================================================
Marriage is the only war where one sleeps with the enemy.
-- Anonymous
===================================================

A man inserted an 'ad' in the classifieds: "Wife
wanted". Next day he received a hundred letters. They
all said the same thing: "You can have mine."
===================================================
First Guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!"
Second Guy "You're lucky, mine's still alive."
===================================================

and this one takes the cake!

"I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her."
- Rodney Dangerfield
===================================================

Cheers!!

Sunday...Monday...Tuesday...

It was another sleepy Sunday when I woke up at 9:00 am with nothing to do for the whole day! I mean nothing to shop, no dusting, no visits to any place, no guests expected and above all, no clothes to wash! The day started with usual T & TOI (I mean, Tea and Times of India). After flipping the sports pages and then the front page (I read newspaper in that order only!), Movie reviews grabbed my attention. It was the review of movie “Socha Na Tha”..Don’t get puzzled..There is actually a movie of this name, which released last Friday with Abhay Deol & Ayesha Takia in lead. The review covered not more than 8-10 lines but somehow I decided to go for that movie. I mean I didn’t want to spend my Sunday sleeping for 2 hours after every 2 hours! My flat mates readily agreed (Even they were totally Vela!). And there we were, at the theatre at 3:00 PM!

You know, life is best when you don’t expect anything out of it and let the things come to your way one by one. This macro principle applies for micro things too… like movies! When we went inside the theatre, we were completely blank and were not expecting anything from the movie. Neither we were expecting a crap nor a masterpiece! And I must admit that all three of us came out of the movie hall completely satisfied. I mean, if u want me to describe the movie in one word, I would say, entertaining. It had a minty fresh feeling (borrowing the word from TOI!). The dialogues were good and were enacted on screen very casually by the two lead actors. The story had the pace that is required to bind the audience and Abhay and Ayesha in their first and third film respectively, didn’t disappoint. I am not saying Abhay is the next superstar or something. Infact he would require all the luck in the world to get a second film and u can get atleast three better faces than him if u start searching in your own colony. But if you can keep his face aside for some moments, then the guy was as natural as possible.

I had a pretty dull day in the form of Monday. I was pretty busy with usual Monday things and had a severe headache in the evening, which continued till late in the night. After 4 medicines and 3 vomits, I was OK at 12:30 am! Slept peacefully till 8:00 in the morning but I was still feeling dizzy. I bravely encountered it till lunch but gave up after that and came back from office to catch some much-needed rest. I was dead on my bed for the next three hours. At 4:30, Anurag called me to inform that he is coming. An hour later, he was at my place and I was feeling as fit as John Abraham! Now we were hungry as always. Although Vashi McD is just 10 minutes drive from my place, we decided to go all the way to Panvel MCD as we wanted a drive too!! Just imagine, a 60 kms to and fro drive for a petty burger and French fries! As usual, we enjoyed the drive to the fullest and also made a quick plan for the night show. And guess which movie? Yeah..again” Socha Na Tha!” We still had some time in our hands, so we visited a bookshop and bought 3 books.. I took India Unbound by Gurucharan Das. After that watched the movie for the second time and loved it again.

For me, who is very choosy when it comes to watching movies in theatre, watching it for the second time in 3 days was totally unexpected! Really “Socha Na Tha”. As far as rating is concerned, I would say, It’s recommendable. Watch it and you will know why I am recommending it! But don’t beat me if u don’t like it! I mean it depends on your taste and the state of mind in which you go into the theatre!

Cheers!!

I am happy!!

For this post, all sorts of topics crossed my mind varying from juvenile crimes to the misadventure of Governors of Goa & Jharkhand, but then my own daily idiotic chores scored over them and here I am writing about myself again!

After the Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani trip, the days were not as happening as I would have liked but they were not as dull as I was expecting them. For the last few weeks I am realizing that I am tilting towards many new things or I should say many things which I always wanted to do but couldn’t due to either lack of resources or time or favorable conditions & one of then is photography. The very thought of capturing the scenic beauty of nature in camera is enough to give me goose bumps. I am planning to acquire a digital camera within 2 months and then I will start experimenting with all sorts of photographs. I don’t know when I will be able to learn full-fledged photography, so, for the time being, I have started to read whatever is available on web.

My guitar is still crying on its fate. It’s been more than a month now when it started to produce weird sound overnight. It needs proper medication & in all probabilities I will take it to a doctor today (This is the third straight weekend when I m hoping this!) Hope it will recover soon.

I am pretty happy today & there are two good reasons to support this sudden rise in “happiness Quotient” of mine.

1. My brother won prestigious “news editing competition” yesterday which was meant for journalist only. Among the participants, there were journalists having more than 15 years of experience! He stood first among them and its hard to believe that he is a commerce graduate who has done his MBA in marketing and has changed his field to journalism exactly 5 months back! He will be awarded by Rajat Sharma today. I am really happy for him.

2. I have become “mama” for the second time…No no…this time its not my real sister, but the sister of a real close friend of mine, Thakur. His sister gave birth to a baby boy & I am happy again!

So, 2 good news in a span of 4 hours! What more one can ask for!

Have a nice weekend,

Cheers.

Sad Demise...

I am fresh now. Fresh after surviving the heavy shelling and artillery fire from Anurag. Thank god I was talking to him on cell otherwise if I would have been in front of him, then by now I would be no more than a pulp!

As you all know we are just back from our adventure ride to Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani. We are having off on 26th & 27th March. For that we more or less finalized our next trip. We were planning to go to either Goa or Ganapathiphule this time and as always we were elated till this morning. It was the time for my brother to blast me. When I told him that I am coming home sometime in April (last time I visited in October!), he asked, “Are u not coming on holi?” Hearing my NO, he came out firing all cylinders and I surrendered!!

Current status: I have already called the travel agent to book my tickets for 19th March and will be back on 28th. Poor Anurag. He is having 3 days consecutive holidays and no place to go!! This was probably our last trip of the season because summers are catching up and now I guess I will have to wait for 3 more months for next! Even I am disappointed.

PS: Anurag, Please accept my full sympathy and sincere apologies as our plan is now buried six feet under! And apologies to Abhay too…;-)

Back from heaven...

Next morning….

We beat Kumbhkaran again for the umpteenth time and woke up at 8:30 only while we were supposed to leave for Panchgani at 9:00! The yawns and the reluctance to get out of bed were followed by hot tea. This is something that charges me to no extent even in the most odd hours of the day! So, after the long sleep and the tea, we were pretty refreshed..I mean our asses gave us permission to travel next 280 kms.

As I have already written, we decided to follow a different route for the return journey to see different locations. So this time it was via Panchgani, Pune, & Lonavala. We left Mahabaleshwar at 10:00. Panchgani is just 18 kms drive from there and the road is again ‘glass like’ with picturesque hills all around. Enroute Panchgani, we stopped at a factory outlet to buy jam, jellies, shakes & gulkand. Now, I was interested in Rajapuri caves, the board of which I saw somewhere in Panchgani while Anurag was hell bent on taking me to tabletop mountain. Every now and then he was coming up with this dialogue “Abbe..Ghode daudte hain wahan”. As if that is the only place on earth where u can see horses running!! Finally, we decided to visit both. We reached the tabletop mountain after some steep climbing (done by our 350 CC elephant!). The view from the top was awesome, hills all around with little houses (at least they were looking little from that height) built on them and a lake!! So it was the perfect time to click snaps. But you know, the severity of the itch will be maximum at the part where it is difficult for your hand to reach. Similarly, your camera roll will finish when you are at the most obscure of places. We were standing at the top of the mountain after scaling all the height and our roll surrendered. We took it as a challenge and came all the way down to buy a new roll then climbed again and took some snaps. The table top mountain was as flat as a football ground and it can have at least 10 such grounds! We skipped the horse ride. After all we were riding on our elephant!

Now it was the time to see Rajapuri caves. We started to ask for the direction after every two kms and every guy was asking us to travel 2 kms more!! In the process we crossed two villages and stumbled at at least two wrong routes. Finally we reached Rajapuri village and there we get to know why those caves are called Rajapuri caves! They were 5000 yrs old caves and as there was a little temple of ‘Karthikeyan’, ladies were not allowed! Also, camera was barred there.

After that..it was the time to take the return route. But before that it was the time to fuel our tanks. Anurag spotted a “too good” hotel in Panchgani itself and we decided to have breakfast there (at 12:30). Now why that hotel and not a road side dhaba? Because Anurag wanted to freshen up royally as we skipped our bath in the morning! While ordering, the breakfast converted to heavy dinner and the only signs of breakfast on our table was the sole omlette that we ordered. Hotel was one of the best u can get with tennis court, basketball court and Gym. The best part was..the waiter allowed us to take pictures there and we started to clicked snaps from garden to Gymnasium as if we stayed at that place only! With stomach full (more than full!), we were on road for the return journey. Pune is 100 odd kms from Panchgani. But the road permitted us to reach there well before we expected. On an average we traveled at 80kmph with Mr. Schumacher touching the barrier of 100 kms twice. Our rears were aching again and even the sun was not offering any respite, we halt at Juice World, Pune. After refreshing ourselves with apple milk shakes and orange juice we headed straight to Lonavala where one of our friend was waiting. Had one of the best espresso coffees there…a welcome respite from Cappuccinos while Anurag had the colder version. After spending an hour there, we were on track again. Bombay welcomed us with a traffic jam even before we entered the city! After encountering that we headed straight to photo shop to develop rolls and a quick bite at McD followed.

As far as the high points of the trip are concerned, I will remember it for the carpet roads, boating in lake Vienna, site seeing from tabletop mountain and the breathtaking ghats. The distance meter was showing a journey of over 560 kms when we reached our house putting curtains on a fabulous trip with memories captured in camera.

And as far as I remember, we were pretty excited when we closed our eyes as we were making plans for the next!!