yeva kokan aploch asa.. (Season II)

Its not very often that u get a chance to spend time wd ur college frnz. And for all of us, these ver the memorable days in our life. It was Deek's wedding which created an opportunity for all of us MCA maniacs to visit Kokan, thanx to Deek for arranging it in Kokan. Kokan is one of the best places God has created on earth. The beautiful beaches, the ppl, the sea-food, the temples, the muddy village roads, the mountains and wild life and lastly the forts built in sea-water. Our preparations had started couple of months back when Deek announced about his wedding. To be on the safer side we had booked tickets in advance. The excitement was increasing with the month of decemeber approaching near. I would like to pen down all the happy, sad, adventurous and funfilled memories of our Kokan trip.

Day 1 - 2030hrs : I was running towards the reservation chartlist @ platform no 5 of Dadar station. I found the chartboard and started looking for my ticket number in the chart listed on the board. Suddenly i heard someone murmuring behind me. "Praful hai na, hamesha paisa paisa karte rehta hai. Us din mujhe call kiya aur puchne laga kab dega mera paise." I understood it must be Pashya and Rahul since they had called me @ 9pm that they have reached Thane and will catch Kokan Kanya express from there itself. But i was bit surprised to see them @ Dadar. Immediately i turned behind and gave them a mixed look.. filled up wd lil anger and smile on my face wd tweeny eyez. We all laughed then. Just when we were exchanging our smiles and handshakes a cute female walked and smiled with a big 32 toothy closeup smile. Yeah Sree spotted us and came near the chartboard along with Tillu and Mansi, whom i had never met before. She happily gave her affirmation to Sree when she heard about the Kokan trip. Whereas Tillu takla was a last minute replacement to Prafulla Naik who cudnt make it coz of some personal reasons. After exchanging smiles and friendly abuses we moved to our coach position. The Kokan Kanya express luckily was on time and entered the Dadar station @ exactly 2320hrs. Meanwhile Avi and Deepak were continuously eating up my cellphone battery by their not-so-meaningful but curiousity filled up calls. Even i was busy answering each of their call. We entered the S9 compartment with lotta excitement and immediately grabbed out respective seats. The compartment was immediately flooded wd WL passengers and made the sleeper coach compartment look like a normal general boogie.

Day 1 - 2345hrs : The train touched the Thane platform. Avi, Gaurya and Onya alongwith Deepak's sister and brother in-law got into the door from other side of the compartment. Pashya and Rahul caught them in the middle before they cud reach us. We gave Deek's sis and brother-in-law two seats. I had already retired to the fact that v wud have to share berths, since 3 of our tickets were not confirmed. But it proved as a plus point since, as far as i remember, that night 15 of us travelled on ticket of 11 ppl. So it was very easy to tell the TTE that since our tickets dint confirm we have to share our berths. Apart from the seats in the S9 compartment there were 2 berths in s2 and 1 berth in s4 where Deepak sent his another sister along with his aunt and two more relatives. Deepak and Amtya got into the train @ Panvel. I tried to keep the surprise about Deek joining us to Kokan till the last moment. Only Avi knew about this. When Gaurya and Onya saw Deek they were surprised.

Day 2 - 0030hrs : Gaurya/Amtya, Deek/Rahul, Onya/Pashya, Sree/Mansi, Deek's sis/niece, Tillu/Me and (Avi and our sacks). This was our sleeping position till next day morning.

Day 2 - 0500hrs : Amit's eating habit has still not changed. I remember our Chinchwad days when we had spent two years together. He was feeling very hungry and waiting for any possible caterer from Indian railway. Gaurya and Amtya's personal discussion and social talks which included everything from global recession to Rakhi Sawant's short dresses @ 5 am in the morning had already brought almost every passenger from the surrounding berths out of their sleep. Deek's sis who was sleeping on the middle berth heard that Amit is feeling very hungry so removed a box from her bag which had chaklis inside it. Amit and Gaurya finished it wdin a fraction of minute. After a coffe break, even i joined their discussion. By this time, the fellow passengers had given up their hopes of we keeping quite.

Day 2 - 0600hrs : Around 20-30ppl gathered near the gate. Station was Ratnagiri. The Waitlisters immedialtely occupied the seats to complete their pending sleep.
I went towards Onya's berth to see if they have woke up or not. Yeah except Avi, every one was awake. Avi had promised that he will wake up @ 5am to visit the loo and take atleast half an hour to come out and leave his mark on the Kokan railway track (heheheh :D). I guess, its his favourite place. We pinched, patted, did as much we cud to wake up the kumbhakaran and finally he woke up. The cool breeze coming from the windows and doors made everyone to pull out their monkey caps and sweat shirts. We all ran towards the gate to enjoy the sunrise and the foggy climate. The photosession ceremony had already started.

Day 2 - 0730hrs : We had reached Vaibhavwadi station. Since kokan railway has only one track, most of the time passenger trains have to spend their time waiting at the railway station so the express trains may get the route clear. The train waited @ Vaibhavwadi for nearly 15 mins. From Vaibhavwadi, Kankavli was just 20 mins away.

Day 2 - 0800 hrs : We reached our destination. Kankavli station it was. While throwing our luggage outside, one of us brought an extra bag outside on the platform and a man cam out running near the door saying, "Mera bag vapaas kardo" That was really funny. Someone actually by mistake brought some body else's bag outa the train. Our SUMO was ready @ the station. I had already booked a SUMO and lodge in Kankavli in advance. Everyone was pretty satisfied and happy wd the arrangements i cud manage to do. Deek hired an omni from Kanakavli to his native which is 1 hour away. There were around 6-7 ppl along wd Deek.

Day 2 - 0830 hrs : Reached lodge. The arrangements were much much better than what v had expected for. Infact everyone was happy with the kind of arrangements. And they admitted it too, which made me happy. By 1030am everyone was ready; though there was an uneven girl to boy ratio, still the girls took more time to get ready than the guys. We were in total 8 boys and 2 girls. Now think on it. Initially we had planned to go to the Vijaydurg fort but our plan somehow changed @ the last moment with the driver being already made his mind about taking us to various places. Still we had thought of visiting Vijaydurg fort on the last day.

Day 2 - 1200 hrs : Kunkeshwar temple, one of the oldest temple in Kokan Area. It lies in the Devgad Taluka. The speciality of most of the temples in Kokan is that
each of them have a sea @ its backyard. Same with Kukeshwar. The water @ Kunkeshwar beach was blue. Long coastline was clearly visible. The temple was recently renovated with white color carved ceiling and nice artistic marble and granite flooring. The deepsthambh right in front of the temple had its own story and witnesses the history of Kunkeshwar temple. The main entrance of Kunkeshwar temple is very very old. Infact i wud say, it must not have been touched time since its constructed.

Day 2 - 1315 hrs : Returning to the SUMO, i read the expressions on the driver's face. By now, he had become aware, which type of customer we were. From there he tuk us to Malwan-Medhe, Ganpati Mandir. One of the famous tourist spot in Malwan. It is built by Kalniryanaywaale Salgaonkar. The yellow-white dual-colored temple looks gr8 from every angle. Exactly opposite to the temple is the house of Salgaonkar which is evenly painted. The temple has two Airawats(white-elepants) at the entrance and the dome has 8 different types of Ganesh idols and a jhumbar in the middle. The Ganesh idol is made up of gold it seems and is spread one where Ganesh is nicely relaxing with Riddhi - Siddhi sitting beside him. Its very peaceful in that temple and you dont feel like stepping out, but we had to.

Day 2 - 1400hrs : Driver stopped the SUMO in some small lane in Malwan. And stepped out. He tuk us inside the compound of an old house, those typical houses which can be seen in any kokani village. We followed him admiring the simple yet beautiful house. Visiting kokan and not eating nonveg or specifically sea-food was like _______________________________(i dint find a matching Figure of speech for this place, pls suggest me one!). While in a non-veg restaurant, the person to be watched is Gaurya. Thou he is a pukka veggie @ home, drinking veg water in a non-veg rest is like a sin to him. He wont even sit next to Avadhut since Avdhut is a pukka veggie. The food was simply gr8. Fried KingFish (Surmaiy), Pomfret(Paplet) were the special items. More than anything else, the fish was vei vei fresh. As if jus pulled out from the sea. We made a pretty fat bill, but less as compared to what we make @ Hotel Sindhudurg, Dadar when we meet in Mumbai. The best part which everyone likes about kokan food is the solkadi prepared from Kokam and nariyal which is served after the food.

Day 2 - 1530hrs : Driver stopped the car near a beach. We cud see a fort on an island @ distance of around 1-1.5 nautical miles from the beach. Yes it was the Malwan fort. There was a walkthrough bridge which seemed to be newly constructed where there were many ppl waiting in a queue to get into the miniboats which take em to the fort. Except the 20 mins boat ride there is nothing amusing about the Malwan fort. There are half a dozen families which reside inside the fort and the only temple of Shivaji Maharaj in entire Maharashtra, which is poorly maintained by the tourism department. By the time our number came, a new boat came and stood in front of us but v were not allowed to sit inside coz by the local rule there shd be atleast 15 ppl. And we were 12 in total with a couple accompanied us. Our wait was continuously getting longer and longer so we decided to bear the ticket expense of the 3 ppl and shared it wd the couple. The couple seemed to be in a hurry. Those boatriders instructed us to return wdin an hour near the boat. The ride was very amusing especially when the waves hit the boat it slightly goes off balance leaving a fear
in mind. There were Sea-gulls enjoying the evening sunbath on mini-islands next to the fort. A series of ships returning from far shore portraying a typical evening sunset painting scene. My digicam battery went off at the last moment otherwise i wud have captured it for u. After a quick photosession round on the broken pillars and huge rocky fence of the fort we returned back to out boat. Luckily the couple too returned on time.

Day 2 - 1800hrs : We started moving towards Tarkarli beach. Thou the name resembles my surname, ironically i dunt have any roots in Tarkarli. I wish i had :(. The roads in Tarkarli infact all the outskirts of Malwan are covered wd sand. Not only this, the backdoor of 90% of the houses open into a sea, pretty much like the JW Mariots and Taj Land End's in Mumbai. Yeah, but its much pleasant in Tarkarli huts than in those costly Mumbai 5 stars. The way to Tarkarli beach is through the MTDC resorts. The MTDC resort are really cool wd tall trees which looks similar to coconut trees but not. Beside these small cottages, there were two huge special suits which looked like mini-ships made up of raw wood. From outside it seemed it had a bar in the ground floor and rooms wd balcony on the upper deck. We spent our time @ the sea. Few of us got drenched, few preferred to walk, whereas Sree, Tillu and me opted to play in the sand. The sand was very soft and it had tiny insects inside.

Day 2 - 1930hrs : Guys wanted to do shopping, our driver parked the SUMO in Malwan market. There is a famous store for cashewnuts and other kokan special items in Malwan. Onya, Gaurya and Pashya went to a medical shop to buy a special gift for Deek. Fun part was, the druggist was a female so they had to do lotta excercise to explain her what exactly they want. After half an hr or so, they returned back. A huge fat person with two kids and one lady came walking towards Onya and exchanged handshakes. We were all surprised to see this. Luckily Deek's gift was with Pashya otherwise Onya wud have been tossed by that fat man there itself and v wud have enjoyed it.. :P hehee..

Day 2 - 2000hrs : That fat man suggested put a worm into Onya's brain about Dolphins @ Tarkarli. All of us too ver really excited about it. It was Rs. 1000 for 6 ppl but somehow Onya's Uncles fixed up the deal for all 10 of us in the same amount. Thanx to him. We started back home from Malwan @ around 2030hrs. The driver was bit bugged up becoza our lazzzy-butt behaviour. @ the same time there was a small argument between me and these guys about the driver's daily wage, which i clarified the next day after speaking wd my cousin, who had actually fixed up the SUMO just on a single phone call. We ver heading towards Kankavli and everyone was so tired that no one bothered to take the notice of who was sitting next to whom. Avdhut and Pashya lied on the middle seat like dead bodies. Just a thought cropped up in my mind.. how difficult it must be for the drivers to drive during night, since all the passengers are sleeping and human body weight is slightly more than normal while sleeping. After 45 mins or so the driver slowed down the cab in front of a small restaurant and asked me whether we want to have our dinner in that hotel. Couple of them replied almost with closed eyes, "nopes take it to the lodge, we wanna sleep.." lazzy asso's! i muttered.. Actually i had some place in my stomach for the dinner but no one wud have agreed to join me, so i kept my mouth shut. Within next 5 mins, we were @ the lodge. Meanwhile Deepak had called me up and asked to bring special wedding garlands, a pheta and couple of other puja paath stuff from Kankavli market. Deepak's last minute requirements were bit difficult to accomplish but Amit, Tillu and I stepped outa the lodge to checkout if we can manage to get those garlands.

Day 2 - 2300hrs : We were walking on the Mumbai-Goa highway, NH-17 @ the last hour of night, expecting to see atleast one garland shop open near the Kankavli bazar peth (market). Luckily Amit found one. Actually there were many weddings on the next day, 7th december so he had to keep the shop open to complete the pending orders, thats what the owner told us. We gave him advance and told him to keep the haar's ready by 830am. Thanks that he dint had a pen and so cudnt make a receipt of it and take my contact number, u ll know the reason in a short while, y m saying this.

Day 2 - 2330hrs : While our way to the market, Tillu saw one Chinese fast food corner with few late nyt customers open in one lane. I was already hungry as i said earlier. Amit and Tillu were too. By midnyt we returned back to the lodge. We went to bed ASAP. Next morning we had to go to Kudal, Ghotage, i.e. Deek's native.

Day 3 - 0830hrs : Morning v got a call from Deek's father, that he has come for some wedding related shopping in Kankavli and can take us while going back to Ghotage. He was about to leave in few minutes, but all the Raja's and Yuvraaj's were yet to get ready, so we suggested him to go ahead. From Deek's father i came to know that he has already purchased garlands and those we had booked wud be a waste now. :D. After that we dint bother to go to that Garland shop (I call this as Typical SE behaviour..)

Day 3 - 0930hrs : Sree and Amit knew my cousin and Sree especially wanted to meet her. Right behind my cousin's house is "Bhalchandra Math". It one of the famous temples in Kankavli. Any one who comes to Kankavli dont go back without taking the blessings from that temple. I suggested others to wait in the temple, till we come back from my cousin's house. We left from that place by 1000hrs. The driver had done his homework properly about the road to Ghotage. by 1115hrs, we were @ the base village. Deek's house was @ 15 mins walking distance from the place we parked the Sumo. Though the road was muddy many vehicles actually go till Deek's house. But our driver neva wanted to take the risk. We kept on walking in the direction of the loudspeaker. Deek's house is on a tiny hill. Right behind Ghotage village is a hilly range of Sahyadris and once u cross those mountains comes the Kolhapur district. Geography sounds interesting only after you have completed ur primary education, isnt it?? ;) There was a small water stream which had dried up and a metal bridge with cement logs on it which is the only source to cross the stream in rainy season. Deek's wedding ceremony had already started. People spotted our rally of 10 desi's walking from the rice fields towards Deek's house. Bihag stood on the entrance with his Camcorder and asking everyone to give their intro b4 entering deek's house. Bihag one of the most entertaining character of our colj and Deek's best friend ryt from his grad days and a great person. He has an amazing sense of humour and will make u laugh with his funny gestures. Deepak and Shweta were looking gr8 in the traditional attire. Deek had warned me to not to forgot my Cam since there were no photographers available @ such a remote place. But there were atleast 5 guys who had their cams and recorders who ver busy clicking each and every special moment of Deek and Shwetas' life. The first time we met Shweta was @ Avadhut's house during Ganpati festival. The ease with which she mingled with us was really aprreaciable. May be Deek had already told her about each one of us in detail. Shweta and Deek make a gr8 pair.

Day 3 - 1100hrs : A wedding in a konkani village was a treat for all of us. Though i had been to one such wedding few years back in Sawantwadi, Deek's wedding was a bit different. The panditji was also dashing and he continuosly kept on mumbling mantra's along wd the few sarcasm filled phrases as the muhurat was coming closer. Each small ceremony in any wedding is gr8 to watch. Deek's weddin also had many of such special moments. And the best part was right from the ring exchange ceremony to saath phere, all was done on the same day. Before the haldi program, few of Deek's aunties and grannies gathered together and sang some traditional song and with a long wooden stick they crushed pieces of turmeric stones in a bucket. The song came after lot of requests from the pandit and other ppl. A very old lady with her tremoring voice initiated the song while rest of the ladies gave a chorus. After applying the turmeric face pack, Deek was looking like some stage actor of a Dashavtari(traditional folk play in kokan region) natak. After lil bit of masti @ the haldi ceremony, Bihag and Sammy's dad took over the drums and sticks and started playing it in a funny way. The hidden drummer from my inside gave me a call and i too joined them, whereas other started to move their legs on the not so rhythmic band. It was a funny sight for all the villagers. A series of other small ceremonies followed and then the bride and groom came out of the house with Deek dressed in Sherwani and Shweta in a fancy sari and a chunri over head.

Day 3 - 1230hrs : They exchanged garlands @ the Vitthal mandir which is just next to Deek's house. All of us were very excited to see the opening knock of Deepak. He is the first from our MCA maniacs group to tie the knot. Gaurya and Amito were the most happiest since they are the next contenders :P. I heard Gaurav is already planning to go to Nagpur for some Kaande-Pohe program, All the best Gaurya.. Hope the girls select u... :D:D hope u got my joke... hehehe.. By 0130hrs, all of us just ran to have lunch since everyone was very hungry. The lunch was served on a plate made from dried tree leaves joined/merged(a word in IT terms :P) together with small toothpic like sticks. Its fun to eat on these plates especially when the dal drips out from the plate before u cud mix it wd the rice. hehe..

Day3 : 1430hrs : Deek and Shweta were still downstairs in the temple. When all the guests, relative were giving them blessings for their marriage life, we were looking for a chance to sneak in with our gift and the suprise elements we had brought wd us. One was the album and the second was the special gift which Onya and others purchased in the medical store in Malwan. After lil bit of photography we gave the album to Deek. We were pleased to see the joy on his face when he was turning the pages of the album and reminiscing about every photo in the album. I had read somwhere long back that gifting frnz wd their own photos on their bde's and specl occasion can be the most spcl gift to anyone. Deek's mother and sisters and even Shweta was very exicted to see the photo album. Till date Shweta might have only heard about Deek's past but today she was really very excited to watch it in the form of photos.

Day3 - 1530hrs : Finally there was a small miravnuk wherein everyone danced including Deek's father. I cud see the joy on Deek's father's face. Everyone was surprised to see him dancing in his very own e-style. He was the most happiest man on the earth i wud say @ that moment. Even the bride and groom danced with us. Bihag's unique dance steps were special attraction for knee-height village kids. After they entered the house, Onya quietly went to Deek and made him aware about the special gift. :p We left from Ghotage @ 0400 hrs. After a wardrobe change @ a local village house, all of us were dressed in an attire to have fun on the Vengurla beach, except me :P.. Yeah i kno.. i m a borekut @times.. Our driver uncle knew all the shorcuts and he touched the vehicle @ Vengurla beach before sunset. The vengurla beach was a beauty . The sky was looking as if an artist has just finished the best painting of his lyf. With the sun's see-haw rays falling on the streched clouds, the clouds resemble gold plated cotton balls. Far-far away a small mountain stretched till the end of the beach had a light house @ its tip which had a red light revolving around and flashing @ regular intervals. The human objects playing @ the beach were looking like uni-colored black images since it was getting darker and the moon and the stars were sprinkling their beautiful twilight on the beach. Sree, Onya and Pashya were playing catch-me-if-u-can game with the waves whereas Amito was busy talking to Appu madam over phone, Mansi was in her lost world whereas others had gone for a long walk over the beach. Usually ppl forget everything when they reach @ such a beautiful place, so did these guys.. But in my case its different, i forget myself and start observing others and try to find out the hidden personality of people. I kno.. i talk crap and hypothetical @ times.. neways... chuck it.. The horizon had gone all pinky-violet shade which was continuously changing. The fishing boats which were returning after their daily fishing gave a rendition of a perfect sunset.

Day 3 - 1900hrs : With a no-no mood to leave that place our feet dragged our body till the SUMO, since it was gettting darker and we had planned to visit the famous Vetoba temple @ Aravli which is 14kms away from Vengurla. One special thing about Vetoba is ppl give king-size Kolhapuri chappals to this god. And it is said that these chappals torn-out in few months as the Vetoba wear them and patrol the village and protect these villagers from evil. Surprising!! Different ppl, different beliefs...

Day 3 - 2000hrs : To butter driver uncle for our next day early morning visit to Tarkarli, i sat next to him. We had planned to leave our lodge by 0600 hrs. Luckily he agreed after his taunt filled statement, "Tumhi tayar raha.. Amcha kaai naai.. Amhi yeto..." (You guys better be on time, i have no issues, i l be there @ 0545). Everyone of us was weally vei vei hungry and with non-veg dinner plans running everone's mind, we went to the same restaurant where the driver had taken us the previous nyt but these lazy bums had the last thought about dinner and were sitting in the sumo like dead bodies. These same dead bodies behaved like hungry cannibals when they saw the menu card and the delicious non-veg cuisine from that restaurant. It was pretty cold our there and the dinner table talks and nonveg jokes had crossed all limits so did our dinner bill. The most suffered/unlucky chaps ver Avi and Amtya. Both veggie. Its not that Kokan doesnt have veg delicacies but the places we had been ver all moreof non-veg rest's.. So Avi always had to suffer, whereas Amito used to consolate his stomach with the burji and omlets. The most hot-selling item amongst us was the sol-kadhi prepared from coconut juice and kokam juice and the most favourite drink of any kokan-lover. There were numerous repeats after every lunch or dinner for this drink. I remember, the last time we had been to Ganpatipule, one of the hotel owner refused to repeat sol-kadi even when he had it. we simply go mad laughing when we remember that incident.

Day 3 - 2200hrs : We finished all 3 cakes which we had bought from Malwan the previous nyt. After the long chats and masti and accounts work Onya, Amito, Pashya and i went to the hotel reception to clear our bills. We went to bed early that nyt since the next morning was going to be a early one.

Day 3 - 0530hrs : We were ready outside the lodge with our luggage waiting for the SUMO. None of us took bath. Sree and Mansi dint wanted to get drenched in water so they had come all prepared. We dumped our luggage @ my cousins place and started from Kankavli @ arnd 0600hrs. One gud thing about the driver was, no matter how much we delayed he used to try to take us to the places within time. Parked the cab @ Mayekar's bunder @ sharp 0715hrs. Boats were ready to take us to the backwater ride. Everyone was excited. It was cold out there in the mid of the sea. Gud arrangements by Onya's uncle we must admit. The captain of the boat, a local fisherman, Kubal kaka who has no relation with Alka Kubal(the eldest debut actress in Marathi movies) explained us each and every part of Malwan and its outskirt. Malwan is one of the most beautiful places in KOkan but the beauty lies in the small villages attached to Malwan. Say Tarkarli, Bhogve, Devbaug. Fishing is the primary occupation of the people in this area.

Day 3 - 0800hrs : Just when we were moving towards the spot where Dolphins are usually seen, the driver of a speed boat coming from opposite direction signaled somthing to Kubal uncle. Kubal uncle noded and diverted the boat to the right. He gave strict instructions to all of us by saying, "Kuni bi ubhe naka rhau. Saglyanka disatale. Sagle eka bajus ilaat tar balance uthtalo ani boat kalandtali.." (Dont get excited when u see dolphin, the boat may get unbalanced.) First person to see some movement in water was Tillu. He spotted some black object moving above water, which immediately disappeared. Kubal uncle immediately shutdown the engine of the boat. (Gossh!! how usedto, u become to ur professional terms. I cud have used "switched off" instead of "shutdown" here.) Dolphins are afraid of engine noise. My expectations ver a bit high. I had thought that dolphins might come near our boat and we cud actually touch their head and the boat owners might give us some dolphin special food to feed the Dolphins. Expectation kills!! man!!!.. Neways, i cud hardly capture any still of the Dolphin. Though Tilak has captured a 5 min video of the dolphins, which is of 49 MB and not worth, because u cud hardly make out whether the moving object is a dolphin or a local fish found in city aquariums.

Day 3 - 900hrs : The Dolphins were moving away from us. There was no point following them, coz we had already crossed Devbag beach and Kubal uncle was hesistant to take us more ahead. He then tuk a u-turn and parked the boat @ an island where there were many many many....... sea-gulls. Bad thing about we human beings is we dont hesistate to behave selfishly @times. Same thing happened over here. We kept on walkin in the direction of the sea gulls, jus to get a gud snap of them and they flew away.

Day 4- 0930hrs : The water on Bhogave beach was very shallow. The mini island formed jus in front of Bhogve beach had very silky sand and shallow water where we did a lil bit of swimming. The fun we had on Ganpati pule beach in the month March has no replacement. Unlike Bhogve beach, Gpule beach is more violent i wud say.. Beaches in Kokan are very dangerous as the sand @ the shore is very slippery. After an hour of masti, Kubal uncle signaled us to move out. Next to Bhogve beach is one more island, where the famous Oscar nominated marathi movie 'Shwas' was shooted. The houses in these part of Kokan have a retro look but they have the charm of its own which can beat the bestestestest rowhouse in this world. The houses here have an open space which has a compound made from big red stones which are called as 'Chirey' mined out from ground. The workers are paid @ Rs.5/6 per stone to carve it in proper cubical shape. There are many houses which are more than 75 yrs old. During those days the houses used to be plastered using jaggery and limestone paste. The roofs of these houses are slanted. When u enter inside the main gate of the compound there will be a tulsi vrindavan right in the centre of the open space. There is a 'padvi' for each house. A padvi is a place before u enter the house and most of the house owners have a jhula tied in the padvi, wherein the members spend their time chit-chatting after their lunch or dinner. The inner structure and the number of rooms inside differ from house to house but one common thing all of them have is there is no tile flooring infact the floor is made of gobar. One common thing found in each of the house is the backyard where normally cow's are kept and also a place where there will be a smal stove made from Chirey and on top of it will be a huge copper vessel which is used to boil water which is used for bathing and other purpose. This particular structure is called as 'chool'.

Day 4 - 1100hrs : The most important thing when we returned back to the bay was to take bath. Kubal uncle suggested us to go to Mayekar's house who owned the boat. @ Mayekar's house we got two bathrooms to wind up our morning activities. It took nearly an hour for eveyone to get ready. Mayekar aunty prepared garma-garam kanda poha and onion-pokoda along wd kokan special tea which had less milk in it. By the time we left that place it was 1200hrs. Mayekar uncle suggested us to visit Bhadrakali mandir built by famous marathi(kokani) tv personality Late. Mr. Machindra Kambli. But our driver refused since we had yet to do our lunch and catch 1615hrs janshatabdi express from Kankavli station. Reached Kankvli by 1300hrs.

Day4 - 1330hrs : We finished our lunch and tuk the sumo to my cousin's place where we had kept our luggage in the morning. After exchanging Hi, hello wd my cousins' neighbours i returned back to the Bhalchandra maharaj math where i had made all these folks sit. We reached Kankavli station by 1600hrs. Train timing was 1620hrs and luckily it was on time. We all ver excited coz unlike onward journey this time all our seats where in one compartment rather in one row so it was going to be fun for us. We had two extra tickets which i cudnt cancel @ the last moment.. (Akela Praful kya kya karega kamino!!! :x). For the inital one hour we all were quite and in a sleepy mood. Some were reading news paper borrowed from fellow passengers whereas Onya, Pashya and Tillu were buzy reading stupid ladies magzine which Tilak had bought @ Dadar station the nyt we left from Mumbai. I was feeling so sleepy that i was literally dosing in the fast moving jan-shatabdi express and for one moment i almost droped on the lap of my fellow passenger aunty who dint mind much and laughed @ me when i suddenly woke up and looked at her wd apologized eyes. After Ratnagiri station all the seats were occupied. The continuous to and fro of the railway caterers was annoying. Finally someone squeaked in "Lets play dum-sharaz" sharak or sharat.. or whateva it is... The game begin and slowly slowly everyone started enjoying it.. By the time we reach Panvel all the passengers had also started guessing the answers. Sree was the one who gave most difficult movies, half of which were her own creation. Amito, Pashya and Rahul got down @ Panvel. Avi, Gaurya and Onya @ Thane. It was one of the best trips of my life since i enjoyed a lot lot lot in these four days... It was midnyt 12 o clk by the time we reached Malad. Sree and Mansi came along wd me to my house.

Deek's wedding is one of our special memory which we have shared. None of us is going to forget those golden days and if anyone does then just jump back to this
post of mine and re-live those moments. :)

K-series continues...

K-Series continues... Last couple of months had been very adventurous and thrilling for me.. Reason is the frequency with which i have been going on treks. 5th trek in 6th week. This time it was the Bhandup group and not Urja. I came to kno about this group coza Tillu, one of my gud frnd. This was my third trek wd them. Kulang, Kalwantin and now Kalsubai. One of the highest peak in Maharashtra Sahyardis, 5500 feet from sea level and 3500 from base village Bari. I was a bit nervous since my colleague Sarika had joined me for this trek and she was a first timer. Still i tried my best to keep my nervousness aside till that moment..
We decided to meet @ Dadar station @ 5.45 pm. I wud have luvd if Tillu had joined, but he had some other commitments, still he confirmed me that he will come to meet me @ Dadar station, coz he was anyways in Dadar area that evening. But his plan somehow tumbled and he decided to join us at the last moment, His friend Satkar and Sachin also quite easily agreed. Since he was running late by 10-15 mins we cud only be a spectator watching Panchavati express leaving Dadar platform 5 and wait for the Vidarbha express which was scheduled @ 730pm @ Dadar. Meanwhile i also informed the Bhandup guys that there are 3 more ppl joining us. Bhandup guys had planned to catch the train from Kalyan station. There were around 10-12 guys waiting for us @ Kalyan. We had to get down @ Igatpuri which is approximately 120 kms from Mumbai and takes around 3 to 3 and 1/2 hrs by rail. The journey was something new for Tillu and Sarika. The general compartment was jam packed. Ppl slept on the floor of the train. Few managed to set their bed under the seats, few in the corridor. Teenagers and desi dudes occupied the gate. After a small fight we managed to get couple of seats on the upper deck. The general compartments in Indian Railways has its own rule. If you step on someone's hand or foot by mistake while passing thro' the corridor then u wl get a immediate reaction.. "Abey oye dikhta nahi kya tujhe??" and if u are standing @ some place and somehow trying to balance your weight in the fast moving express and accidently ur feet touches the head of a lady who is sleeping ryt next to u, you will get a gift on ur foot, .. yea a hit! not only this you will also get couple of complimentary local badwords. "Aandhla aahes ka melya??" And all you can do is jus say sorry, coz its not their fault that they are sleeping in the corridor, but its ur fault that u can't adjust to the situation.
After an entertaining journey, we got down @ Igatpuri station @ 1030pm. It wasnt taht much cold as i had expected to be. The fun part was, Satkar and Sachin were not able to find Bhandup guys(Rakesh and team) @ Kalyan station. So they got in to another compartment. Rakesh and team got into some other compartment. So, we were split into three teams. Finally @ Igatpuri station we all were able to identify everyone's faces. Tillu and I exchanged handshakes with the guys whom we already knew and introductory smiles with the new faces, there were quite a few new faces. The group count was 18 now. After coming outa Igatpuri station we started moving towards Igatpur bus station. Rakesh and Suresh (Rakesh's colleague) went to arrange the dinner. We had missed the last bus to Bari station so we were left with an option of spending our nyt @ Igatpuri bus depo. Meanwhile Sarika had become quite friendly with Prajakta and my worry of, will she be able to adjust wd the ppl? had vanished. Soon after few minutes Rakesh and Suresh returned with our dinner. The dinner menu was mostly non-veg and all of them were non-veggie except Sarika. Luckily Rakesh had brought a veg item as well. After the bus-stand hosted special dinner, we moved out to take a night walk in the Igatpuri village whereas few of them opted to stay back @ the bus-depo and book their beds for the short nap of 3hrs since we had planned to take the first bus to Pune which goes through Bari village scheduled @ 5 am. The sky was a treat to watch since there was no infiltration of light. I started giving gyan to Sarika whatever i knew about the stars and whatever i had heard from the sky-gazing programme which takes place @ Vangni village situtated in the outskirts of Kalyan. If tonite i wudnt have been @ Igatpuri for Kalsubai trek, i wud have been @ Vangni since there was one similar sky-gazing programme organized by Nat-Geo Mumbai team. And few of our trek members had already registered for the same so they dint turn up for the trek. We kept on walking through the otherwise crowded market road till the street light stop guiding us. We were not feeling sleepy at all.
The two-three storied old houses on market raod had their own story. I felt as if those windows and balconies had been watching Igatpuri growing for not less than 100 yrs. They witness the horn of railway engines which keep on moving in and out of the workshop near the Igatpuri station from years when the entire Igatpuri sleeps. None of us slept that nyt. Two hours passed like twenty minutes. All set to go @ 5am. There were few villagers who were going for their routine work. They were surprised when they heard that we spent our entire nyt @ the bus-station. But it was nuthing gr8 for us since we normally spend our nyts either @ station or bus-depots when go for treks. We reached Bari village @ 630 am. The atmos was amazing and was slightly cold out there. We tuk our mrng tea @ a small tapri and started uphill march @ 7 am.
Though Kalsubai is the highest peak in Sahyradris, half of your work is done by the transport system. The only distance which now remains is to climb through the tiny hills next to the bari village. We were told by the villagers to fill our water bottles since there was no water available @ top. Female villagers had come to fill up water with all possible sized vessels available @ their home. We wanted to clear as much height as we cud before the temperature cud increase. After a climb of 10 mins or so, my nervousness creeped back into my mind when i saw Sarika counting her steps. I cud straight away see a feeling of forfeit on her face, but i knew she is a strong girl, she wont give up so easily. Honestly speaking my worry wasnt Sarika not able to climb any more but i wud miss this trek, since if she decides to stay back in the village till others return from top i wud have had to wait with her. I dont feel ashamed being selfish and openly speaking this since i m passionate when it comes to trekking. I nervousness was increasing with Sarika's halts. Till that time, the rest of the group had reached @ a small shed or a refreshment place built by a villager. He offered nibbu-paani @ Rs5/ glass. All of us had one glass each. When we reached that place, everyone clapped for Sarika which was more intented towards pulling her leg. Sarika's problem was she dint had proper dinner the nyt before and all those things she was experiencing for the first time. The train journey, the sleepless night, the early mrng bus ride, and after all this climb the hill and that too for the first time. She was struck with acidity. She threw out everything from her stomach and felt relaxed after that. By that time everyone was familiar with eachother and had started craking jokes on eachother. At that rest point, i told Tillu to stay wd me and told Sarika to go ahead. I dint wanted to be with Sarika, since i knew she wud have given excuses if i wud have accompanied her. We left from that point after 10 mins and i was surprised to see no one till lon long. I was expecting Sarika must have sat somewhere for her mini-break but i was wrong. She somehow was feeling much much relaxed after the puke of hers. I was happy to not to see her sitting. But still a gr8 exprience for her. Though we were the last group to reach the top we enjoyed every bit of it. Along with Sarika, Atish the fatso also takes many halts during all his treks. Our group of 18 got split into three mini groups with uneven headcounts. We were the tailenders and enjoyed the optimum. There were 5-6 metal ladders on the way to the temple. couple of them were very long. The problem with the ladders was they were custom made for the rocky patchs. The legs of the ladder were rested on the rocks and if the weight on the ladder increases then the ladder used to bend. That was actually risky. We reached top by 1130 am. My memories from Kulang trek became fresh as i cud clearly see the fort from the top. It was a gr8 experience to see Kulang from top of Kalsubai and especially when i had seen the later from top of the former and had a wish, someday i l climb Kalsubai and watch Kulan from there. I had neva thought my wish wud come true so early. There was a temple of Kalsubai @ the top. The kiddo pujari told us the story of Kalsubai. There was a young female staying in the village Bari. Her father used to harrass her alot. She used to wash utensils and wash villagers clothes. She was pissed off of her daily routine and fathers harassment. One day she decided to go the the top of the hill and stay there. People saw her on the hill for few days and after a few days she vanished from there. No one saw her after that. Some people say she left the village, some say she did a suicide. But Kalsubai is still an unsolved mystery for all of them and for us too. We did our brunch @ that place. Boiled egg is always a hot selling item on treks. We started out downhill march @ 1pm. Sarika was the first one to reach down along with Rakesh, Sachin and Prajakta. Her acidity was the main culprit in her uphill march. Everyone reached @ the Bari bus stop by 2:45pm. Satkar and Sachin had to reach Mumbai b4 730pm since they wanted to attend a bachelor's party. All our struggle to come early so that we can reach home early was in vain since there were no Public Transport available and all the jeeps and sumo's were jam packed. Satkar and Sachin managed to get place in a Mahindra pickup van which was ready to drop them till Ambewadi phata. The van was vacant, the driver suggested us to join Satkar and Sachin, and he was ready to drop us till Ambewadi phata. Apart from marketing strategy, he was willing to help us explained us that there are more options for us to reach Ghoti. So we joined them. In few minutes we reached Ambewadi phata. Ambewadi phata was the same place from where we had gone to Kulang a month back. I was the most happiest person on the earth and very excited since i knew i had added one more major name to my trek list. We waited for nearly 30 mins not even a single ST bus came which wud take us to Kasara, Igatpuri or even Ghoti. Satkar and Sachin managed to get a pickup van till Ghoti. I explained them the way from Ghoti to Kasara. There were two options open in front of us. One was anyhow reaching Ghoti and take a cab from Ghoti till Kasara which i had done last month and other option was reaching Igatpuri and catch any express/ mail towards Mumbai. Since everyone was tired the first option was most loved. We decided to go till Kasara anyhow and catch the 6.12 Kasara-CST local. Luckily we saw one Igatpuri bus coming from the zigzag Ambewadi ghat. Everyone got inside the bus ASAP. That journey of one hour was chucking crowded. Reached Ghoti @ 5.30pm. Now i was very sure that we gonna miss the 6.12pm Kasara local. Thanks to the ST officials and the local villagers who called up @ Igatpuri station and told the depo manager to stop the 5.30 Ghoti-Kasara ST @ Igatpuri until we reach Igatpuri. That was surprising decision for us, coz most of the time we listen and watch from media about the mismanagement of PTS. Well, there was a fight for a seat in that ST between me and a drunked person. He pushed me down from the seat. When Rakesh and Sarika saw this, everyone came running to fight with that person. Sarika was watching all the drama when the oral battle was between me and the drunked. But when the man pushed me outa the seat Sarika furiously controverted and almost ran over the person. His wife pulled him back and poked her pallu in her saree and showed her willingness to fight. She was bit afraid since by that time Suresh and Rakesh also had started arguing with that man. A lady sitting behind Sarika suggested me to keep quite as he was drunk, she was accompanying that drunked person's family. His daughter was continuously tugging his shirt and started crying. After a lotta hash out finally the fight calmed down. By the time we reach Kasara it was 630pm. Rakesh and Suresh went to get some snacks whereas rest all of us ran to catch the train. We occupied two rows and the extreme end of a compartment. Satkar and Sachin missed the 6.12 local and joined us. There was ample time for the train to depart. 7.25pm train left from Kasara station. Enjoying the batawada and bhaji paav from a mini-hotel outside kasara station, we started out journey back home. What game would have been better than Antakshari. Usually i get pumped up towards the end of any trek. During the onward journey i was mostly quite. Enjoyed the antakshari to the optimum. It continued till Bhandup station until Rakesh and company got down @ Bhandup. A short lil girl Rupali(i actually thought she studies in some school and i did ask Rakesh, in which std. is she studying, on which Rakesh laughed crazily) from Rakesh's office, Amey, Sarika and me got down @ Dadar. By 1130pm i think everyone reached home. Thanks to Sarika, that she dint give up in the beginning, as a result i cud complete my wish. Its always fun trekking with this Bhandup group.
Though we missed David, the perfectionist who usually arrange trek for Bhandup group. This time cudnt join us but glad that he transferred all his GYAN
to Rakesh and we cud complete it in a proper way, rather an organized way. Besides him, thanks to Sachin and Satkar as well, only for them we started our march downhill early.

4500 feet experience!!!

4500 feet experience! One of the best treks so far. Kulang! Not many groups opt for this trek since its in a very remote area where PTS is not available very easily.
Fri-10:30 PM We started @ around 1030 Friday nyt from Dadar station. It was my first trek wd Urja group, and that too coza Shantanu. Thanks Shantanu. But it was very unfortunate that u dint turn up. As a result all the faces ver new to me and vice versa. The plan was changed @ the last moment. Instead of Dadar-Amritsar express, Yatin (65 treks- the Lead) surprised us by telling that weel be going to Ghoti(Igatpuri) by ST. We waited for bus @ Dadar TT for an hour but cudnt find a vacant bus. To travel standing was not an issue but we dint want to loose our enery ryt from the first hour.
Sat-1:00 AM So we moved to Bombay Central ST depo and tuk a 1 o'clock ST to Nashik. By that time everyone had become familiar wd eachother and guys who already knew eachother were sharing their past experiences. We purposely opted the last seat, so by the time we reached half way mark over ass had got a very gud massage. Courtesy : National Highway's :P.
Sat-5.45 AM Reached Ghoti. It was very dark and quite cold out there. Yatin knew all the shortcuts. We followed him till Ghoti bus depot. But unfortunately we were late by few minutes and we had missed our bus to Ambewadi which is the only bus early morning. A local chai-tapriwala told us that the next bus will be @ 8am. But everyone knew, if we wait for this bus it wud be pretty difficult for us to hike in the afternoon. Luckily Yatin managed to pataofy (convince) a goods carrier to drop us till Ambewadi. Thanks to him! He took us through the shortcuts and man! i tell u it was so foggy out there and these local drivers are gr8! They have amazing skills driving in such a climate. That Schumi dropped us as much close to Kulang fort as he cud.
Sat-9:00 AM We then started marching to Kurangwadi through the tiny tops. We hired two local heroes (Kashinath whom we called Tere Naam for his Sallu ishtlye haircut and his brother from Kurangwadi) to guide us till the top. It was a very tempting view from the bottom but a tough one too, i must say. We started following them. They were moving really very fast. There were couple of reasons for that. Firstly they were from the same village and quite often go to the same forest to get fuel. Secondly, they dint had heavy hump(sacks) on their back and these light-weighted kids had amazing stamina. I am sure they must have got pissed off coz of our regular haults and drink-breaks and must be laughing at us. Anyways, it was fun walking through the forest. After some time we unknowingly got split up into two groups the under 25 and over 25. thats wat we named our groups. :D :D Even after walking and climbing the small patches for about two hours the top was still @ the same height it felt like. Still a long way to go! baby!.. keep moving.. throat had dried up. Biscuits, glucose powder, apples. we tried to keep up the enery level high. After around three hours of marching, we cud see rocky steps and i sighed with relief that its closer now. Those 3 rocky patches gave us a lead of around 500 feet in few minutes. We cud see a gr8 view of Kurangwadi and Ambewadi from that point. Those patches were bit difficult since if one looses his balance @ that point he will straight away fall into the valley and even Tere Naam and his brother wont be able to find out the remains :O
Sat-1:30 PM : It was 1.30pm we reached @ the top. Every fort in Maharashtra has a special Maha-Darwaza (Entry Gate). But this fort was missing the maha-darwaza. I think it must have broken down and someone might have removed it. We removed our tiffins and finished it ASAP like hungry dogs. Those kids who guided us till the top ate few chapatis and returned to their home. We promised them to pay their balance amount when they return the next morning to pick us up.
Sat-2:30 PM : v finished our lunch. It was a pleasant atmosphere on top. And most of us opted to take a short nap. Few of us moved out to check out the scenes around the fort. Me too accompanied them along wd my cam hoping to capture few clicks for my photoblog. Yatin told us, this is the only fort in Sahyadris from which you will be able to spot out maximum forts in Sahyadris, yes offcourse on a clear day with clear atmosphere. You need to have a gud binocs wd you for that. Yatin did show us Ratangad, Harishchandra gad, Kalsubai, Alang, Madan and Harihar. Actually Alang and Madan are right next to Kulang. There is a route to climb Alang but as per Yatin's information the only way to reach Madan's peak is using a rope way since the base of Madan was destroyed by Britishers and this is not only wd Madan but many other forts in Sahyadri region, since they were skeptical about the Maratha Empire might use these forts to attack Britishers and re-establish its dynasty. It was an amazing experience standing @ the top of tallest fort in the Sahyadris. After we finished exploring the fort and view of its neighbouring forts we started returning to our base camp. We had reached around a km away from our base camp. Our expectations of a sunset cudnt be fulfilled since the blackies had already gathered around the fort and were about to burst. yea.. the rain-clouds. The sun-rays were still piercing from these black snow-balls, portraid an amazing view in the sky. We ran to the cave as fast as we cud. But it neva rained. the clouds just passed away.. leaving back an orange-reddish shade at the horizon. Yatin and Prem started preparing the dinner whereas few of us started collecting fuel for our campfire. It was justa matter of few hours and the blue sky had turned into a dark with twinkling stars which looked a bit saddy saddy since their friend moon was on leave. yeah! it was a no-moon night.
Sat- 8:30 PM : our dinner was ready. The main topic of camp-fire was non-veg jokes.. :P. I too attempted one. But no one laughed on it.. Succha big popat.. :(.. Everyone busy eating the common dish-dinner except Kiran who was trying hard to keep the fire alive. Thanx mate.. :P ...
Sat-10 PM : We decided to go to bed early. The weather becoming more and more cold as the night became younger... Even one slept lika dead body. I was second from the entrance of the cave so you can imagine my condition. Glad that Sharad was the first one. But i remember throughout the entire night Sharad was very uneasy. Continuosly changing his positions and trying to cover his body as much as he cud.
Sun-5:00 AM : Yatin's alarm started ringing. I covered my ears with my bag and again went back to sleep. Suddenly after few minutes i heard someone shouting "Guys come out, Its beautiful view outside." I thought i m dreaming but someone stepped on my hand and tahdaaakk!!! i woke up.. and saw everyone running outa the base camp with their digicams.. My nose had become an ice cream cone. I too ran wd my digicam. Clicked as many clicks as possible of the beautiful sunrise.. But the clouds which had gathered over the Ambewadi village for their morning meeting was a treat to watch. Simply fantabulous... Slowly slowly as the time passed the clouds disappeared.. We had our morning tea and hot Maggi breakfast and prepared our body for the day ahead.
Sun-10:30 AM : Started down hill. The kids dint turn up. Now it was really risky since, now we cud actually see the valley whereas while climbing, the valley was behind us, so we neva noticed that @ what height we are from the base. After reaching the half way mark, we met those kids, they came to take us downhill.. These kids dropped us till the (so called) main road which connects Kurangwadi to Ambewadi.
Sun-2:30 PM : After almost 3-4 kms of walk we reached Ambewadi. waiting for 3 o'clock bus @ the bus stand. Managed to get a glass full of tea from a local villagers house, which was very sweet. But reminded me of tea made in houses in konkan region. As soon as the bus reached the stop we ran towards the bus, which was unnecessary actually coz that was the starting point of the bus so no one was gonna get into the bus apart from us.. :D .. Lil bita of photo session and keeping intact the memories of Kulang in our mind we left Ambewadi and reached Ghoti depo @ around 5 pm..
Sun 5:10PM : Ankush and Yatin managed to arrange a jeep till Kasara. Man!! these guys had amazing bargaining skills.. ;)... that jeep had a broken back door which opened with remote control i guess or with a swipe card as Sid said. :D The handle was missing.. The driver opened the door for us. He touched the jeep @ kasara station @ 5.45pm..
Sun-6:12PM : Kasara local.. By the time Yatin brought vadapaav and bhaji paav as snacks. since we were feeling very very hungry.. Every one got down @ their respective stations starting wd Yatin @ Kalyan, few @ vikhroli, vidyavihar and Ghatkopar, Rohit and i got down @ Dadar. Kishore and Sharad were going till Byculla and Curry road. Reached home @ 10pm. This was one of the best treks in all of my trek's till date. Thankyou all and special thanx to Shantanu. But missed u a lot dude...!!! Waiting for Kulwantini.. somewhere in October.. Rock On!!!!

Different ppl, Different thinking: Humanity @ its best!

Since i have started working, travelling wd the mumbai BEST has become a necessity for me. Paps of yestrde who used to hate travelling by bus has left wd no option now. But travelling was always my hobby and the best thing i luv about travelling by public transport system (PTS) is you get to meet new ppl and discover their varied behaviour. One such experience i had on last friday when i was returning from office. It was 11pm i tuk 460 bus from Aarey market stop. At this hour of night, the buses are usually vacant with only handful of passengers and empty roads, as a result the drivers also feel as if they are Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button of F1. Even this bus driver was inspired by Narain Karthikeyan i guess. He was very aggressive. I love to watch BEST drivers driving furiously, so mosta da time i opt the seat very next to the driver (the single seat). The bus had just came outa da Dindoshi depot and the driver who was thinking that he is a pilot few minutes back was now transformed into a villager who is riding a bullock cart, yea the bus speed was cut off short. Reason, there was an insane walking right in front of the bus, the driver honked his typical BEST bus horn(pom pomm!) just couple of times and then kept driving the bus slowly and dint utter a single word. Ppl in the bus used their mumbaiyya slang language to remove their frustration on him. The driver was still quite. Atlast the man turned back and saw that he is walking right in front of the bus and slowly moved aside. He wasnt aware of what the passengers are talking about him. with his head down and an umbrella in his hand kept on walking.. Soon he moved outa the way the bullock cart driver transformed back into Schumacher. I laughed and said the driver, "Kai mansa astat na... Aikaila yet nahi kai tyala?? Tumhala raag yet asel na?? aslya lokancha??" (How foolish that man was! cudnt he hear the horn?? You guys must be getting pissed off coza such ppl ryt??).. Making sure that the speed has settled down to acceptable limit and no one on the road ahead the driver turned to me and replied, "Nahi bala, toh bicchara aaplya tension madhe asawa, Tyacha laksha nasnaar.." (No dear, that guy was tensed so he dint even notice the bus!) I was stunned by that reply, the Vin Diesel of TFTF had turned into a person who had so much understanding about ppl and their mindset!! He was simply gr8! If everyone of us start thinking like the bus driver then wont there be a happy world for us to live ??

Photographic day

We tend to overlook things which are closer to us. Thats what i realized when i saw SagarUpvan @ churchgate. This place is a storehouse for photographers, nature lovers; ppl who need peace; love to spent time @ sea shore, who love silence, etc,etc... Friday we planned to visit this place about which we had heard lotta things and experienced it when we actually spent nearly 3-4 hours there. It is located just opposite to colaba bus stop behind BPT dockyard, Colaba. I was lil bit reluctant to go there since i dint had my cam wd me but thanx to megz that she had brought her canon along wd her and i could try my hand @ it. Though i love photography but i m more of a galli ka photographer who dont bother much about the focusing, the aperture and composition :O and blah blah blah. Well meguzu taught me lotta things this sunde and now i can spell these words more confidently :P. There were many small insects, different species of two medium sized hens which quack like a duck but are not. They keep on roaming around the garden with their quack quack sound. U wud feel that they might bite u but they wont. There were tiny grasshoppers who gave us quite gr8 poses so that we can capture those. There ver quiverring butterflies which dint even give us a single chance to capture their beautiful n delicate wings. There ver fluoroscent colored mosquitoes and bees, there ver snails which had a rounded shell on top of their plasmatic body. There were flars which u wud have neva seen and each of them had a placards next to it which displayed its name which was so difficult to pronounce that we might lock our tounge between our teeth :P. The best experience for me was that i learnt lotta thing and look @ any object closely meaning, have u eva seen tissues on a snail's body? have u eva seen how does a spider actually weaves it web?? Yeah, we saw these things over there. A must must visit place, especially if u bugged up wd ur busy schedule and boring office work, this is a gr8 place to experience the silence of nature. We left from there @ arnd 11 and went to a wild photography exhibition @ ravindra Natya Mandir. Wow! it was! This was the first time i have been to some photography exhibition. Since m a newbie, all those stills captured by Vilas, Kaustubh, Gaurav were very encouraging for me and making my interest in photography a more rigid one. Megz keeps on giving me pointers offline a-w-a online and i keep on trying implementing em. All this diggaj photographer mandali are doing a gr8 job since they do it not only in their personal interest but they have a noble cause behind it. They run an organization names "Jungle lore" which conducts trekking camps, weekend hiking, fort cleaning activities, etc. The fund that is raised from these activities is used for fort maintenance. I dont know exactly what they mean by fort maintenance, but i m really interested to know more about it. The exhibition mainly displayed their best captures from wild life of Ranathambore forest. Deers, Langurs, Tigers, various birds which i dint even knew exists! Butterflies were wow! This exhibition is open to everyone till 13th of september from 11am to 8pm. Moreover, if you wish to register yourself and stay updated with the activities of Jungle lore group, simply fill up a membership form and they will mail u, or give u a call wheneva the next activity is planned. I was curious to talk to one of the photographers. And thanks to Gaurav that he shared with me all this info when i told him, i wud love to write about this exhibition. I m pretty excited about the events these guys organize and appreciate their love towards the nature and our historical monuments. Whenever we go for a trek we crib about the government not doing anything for the renovating the old forts. At the max what we do is we dont loiter place and tell others not to do so. But hats off to Jungle lore team that they have gone one step ahead and showed that, if we wish to do something then we can do it; dont need to wait for others. Gud work guys keep it up. Moreover, when i asked him abt any training for photography, he replied "No formal classes as such, but informally we keep on giving pointers and suggestions". Well it was a gr8 experience overall. Please do visit this exhibition if u are a nature savvy or even if u r nt..

Ale re Ale... Ganpati allee.....

With only two days left for Ganpati festival to begin, all the Ganesh idol artists are busy giving their final touch in their art-workshop. Last friday i went to one of such workshop near my colony. Since last one week i was very curious to go there and check out the kinda work they are involved in. There were hundreds of idols ready to take home and ganesh pandaals.. Few of them posted here.. I spent a few mins talking to them about their work. These artists start their work 3 months before Ganesh festival. The person whom i met is Mr. Vishnu Mestry who has been conducting this Ganesh idol-workshop since 15 years. He was very happy to tell me all the info i needed and showed me few of his master pieces. There was one Ganesh-idol colored totally in dark orange color and he asked me to take a snap of this. I refuse since its eyes were yet to be painted.. But he said, "its my master piece, i will paint them after i finish my sundry work. This particular idol is very dear to me. So i wanna do it in my idle time, Fursat se!" and he winked. I could see his dedication towards the work and attachment he had with each of his babies... (idols).. Explaining a few idols he said, "One always have to be in the best of his mood, since our mood has a gr8 impact on the things we do and the way we do it. A small mistake in the color combination and shading off the idols may entirely change the look of the idol." He then got busy wd something, so i went to another co-worker who was so excited to give a pose along wd the ganesh idol he was giving finishing touch. "What kinda colors do u use to paint them?" Trying to help him out i added "meaning.. plastic distemper, oil paint??" He laughed aloud and said, "NAhi mitra, dye che colors waparto amhi!" (No friend! We use Dye colors). All those idols were made from plaster of paris(POP), which actually is not environment friendly. On asking about this he said, "Now-a-days, people choose POP idols over traditional idol made from mud since POP are lighter and even we have to do less efforts. Even if we make mud-idols, ppl ask them @ the cost of POP. POP idols are much cheaper!" I m posting few stils on my photoblog. please feel free to chk em out. The "atmo" is all set for this bigggieeeee event in Maharashtra. Thanks to our gr8 gr8 freedom fighter "Baal Gangadhar Tilak" he started this event to bring all the Indians together. As an addon this year is very special since Monday onwards our Muslim brothers are celebrating Ramzan! So its gonna be double fun. I wish all Muslim frnz "Happy Ramzan" and "Ganpati bappa Morya!" or say "Kaaybalbati molya" in dhruv's language. Well, Dhruv is kiddo of Raut kaka from Chinchwad where i used to go for my dinner when i was studying in Pune. Dhruv unable to pronounce Ganpati bappa morya used to say "Kaybalbatti molya" hehehe.. But his excitement while saying those words was double then ours. He is choo cute.. miss u Dhruva.. With all the excitement ready to come our way in just a period of 2 days, m very happy and ready to see my fav god come home soon...
Ganpati Bappa Morya!!!!
or in Dhruva's language.. "Kaaybalbatti Molya"

Dahi Handi Special....

waiting for ur call.....

Dunno why,
but m feeling like cry.
U stole my days,
but i neva complained.
u fought wd me
but i neva uttered a word.
i miss u alot,
but i think thats ur last thought
please call back..
m waiting for ur call...
please call back...

urs loving,
fool :)

love this song...

i m in love wd this song...
whole day i was singing this..
i have heard this song many times.. but today was... dunno some special day.. i heard this song on a fellow passenger's cellphone in a BEST bus while going to office.. Unfortunately cudnt listen the entire song... since I got down from the bus @ my stop. I ran towards my office cab which was waiting near RP gate. As i was moving near to the cab i was still able to hear the same song.. and the sound was getting clearer and clearer.. I found that our office cab driver was listening to the same song.. Reached ofis. entire day i was singing tune of this song.... During the eveng coffe break i called up one of my friend and his hello tune was this song.. OMG!!!!wats happening... Day ended while returning home i again heard this song couple of times.. i know u wont believe this.. but its true.... otherwise i wudnt have wrote this post..

Pehli Nazar Mein
Kaise Jaado Kar Diya
Tera Ban Baita Hai
Mera Jiya
Jaane Kya Hoga
Kya Hoga Kya Pata
Is Pal Ko Milke
Aa Jee Le Zara

Mein Hoon Yahan
Tu Hai Yahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Aa Bhi Ja
O Jaan-E-Jaan
Dono Jahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Bhool Ja Aa

O Jaan-E-Jaan
Dono Jahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Bhool Ja Aa

Baby I Love U, Baby I Love You, Baby I Love You, Baby I Love You … So..
Baby I Love U
Oh I Love U
I Love U
I Love U So
Baby I Love U

Har Dua Mein Shamil Tera Pyaar Hai
Bin Tere Lamha Bhi Dushwar Hai
Dhadhkon Ko Tujhe Se Hi Darkar Hai
Tujhse Hai Rahtein
Tujhse Hai Chahtein

Har Dua Mein Shamil Tera Pyaar Hai
Bin Tere Lamha Bhi Dushwar Hai
Dhadhkon Ko Tujhe Se Hi Darkar Hai
Tujhse Hai Rahtein
Tujhse Hai Chahtein

Tu Jo Mili Ek Din Mujhe
Mein Kahin Ho Gaya Lapata

(O Jaan-E-Jaan
Dono Jahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Bhool Ja Aa ) ….. 2

(Kar Diya Deewana Dard-E-Kash Ne
Chain Cheena Isqh Ke Ehsaas Ne
Bekhayali Di Hai Tere Pyaas Ne
Chaya Suroor Hai
Kuch To Zaroor Hai) ….. 2

Yeh Dooriyan
Jeene Na De
Hal Mera Tujhe Na Pata

(O Jaan-E-Jaan
Dono Jahan
Meri Bahon Mein Aa
Bhool Ja Aa) ….. 2

Baby I Love U, Baby I Love You, Baby I Love You, Baby I Love You … So..
Baby I Love U
Oh I Love U
Baby I Love U
I Love U… ....

...and i saw her

Just like every saturday, even on this saturday i went to Pune to freak out wid my frnz. And today was a special day since it was Sonal's bde and i was abt to give her a suprise by wishing her personally ;) so i was excited abt that. Since morning i was very happy coz i saw around 50 eye candies throughout the day with a best one early morning outside dadar station. I was about to fell down with the stunning beauty of that female ;).. Uffff.. kaaljat ghusli kataar.. I fell in love wd her @ that very moment. Well i will cut this off here because i dont want to discuss those eye candies over here but there is something else which i saw @ the end of the day. Actually my plan was to stay back in Pune on saturday since there was a trek scheduled on the next day that is 3rd august @ Lohgad, Malawli. But fortunately/unfortunately that trek got cancelled and i started my journey back home from Pune @ around 730pm. I reached Dadar at 11:15 i guess. Just playing wd my naughty thoughts i bet my mind that, "lets see whether i see the same stunning beauty @ that place again." So stupid i am or say over-ambitious ;). But AISA HI HOON MAIN :P.. But i cudnt see that female, it was quite obvious, what do u expect, that girl wud be waiting for me @ the 23rd hr of the day? :D :D :D. Just to give her pretty smile for me :p lolz....[Read attentively from here on] I ran to the ticket window since it was vacant. But guess what i saw a cute female in black t-shirt and red-chicken material patiala typo paijama dragging her red bag and rushing from one window to another along with another pretty old age woman (i thought she might be her mother). I was waiting @ the ticket counter admiring the beauty of that female. At one moment i thought i have seen this cutiepie somewhere but i suppressed that thought immediately coz every time i see a cute female i feel the same :D :D :D... But i was wrong this time, that female slowly came on the same ticket window on which i was standing, a name came into my mind and looking at her i went close to her searching ome book in my clumsy lil lappy bag i snatched out my autograph book and a pen and just looked @ her and asked softly, "Madhura Velankar?". Oh! god, she smiled and nodded her head affirmatively the "kataar" which had gone into my heart in the morning had now came out from the other side and was dead/stunned @ her beauty. She is ssooooooooooooo beautiful........ ufffff.. i cant describe it.. She smiled and gave her autograph on my lil autograph book. People started rushed into her to get her autograph. A lady offered her hand, and she nodded her head and said "Nahi Nahi.. Hatawar nahi.. Ajibaat naahi.." haai mai marjava.. kiti god toh awaaz.. burrrrrrrpppp!!!!!!.. i fel in love with her @ tht very moment.. Dun worry, i fall in love wd every new female which i find pretty :P... I followed her and she went to the platform number seven central railway dadar to catch her express train. I think she was going to Kolhapur for some shoot. dunno i just think so.. But u wont believe i am an asshole and the most idiot person on this land. Reason?? i had a digicam along wd me but i dint click her snap. how stupid isnt it?? totally insane.. But i kept admiring her beauty and i was lost.. i bought my ticket to Malad and took a borivali local and luckily got a window seat and you know wat?? for the entire 50 mins journey i was lost.. laughing smiling admiring and just reminiscing.. reminiscing.. reminiscing.. Muaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!!! And finally i saw her....

Microsoft Live Search

Microsoft Live Search advertisement on a bus stand near Dindoshi bus depot (Mumbai). If you observe properly the flex hoarding is put up in a wrong way. I tell u, these placeholders are charged @ a very high rate on a per day basis. Hope Bill Gates see this. ;)

Thankyou.. Aai ani Pappa...

I have been writing about my life.. my experiences till date and my views.. Today i felt like writing about someone other than me.. and that someone else is not actually "someone else".. They are my parents.. well, i cant express my present state of mind.. My Master's results are out.. and i have scored first class in it. Although its not a gr8 thing for me since today every Chunnu munnu has a masters degree. But when i told my parents about this they were so excited and when i saw the happiness on their face, i was surprised. coz even if this degree does not mean that much to me, but it means a lot to them.. When i asked my mom about their over-excitement she replied "dear, you are the first person in our entire family to achieve this degree.. Apart from this, you dont know the pain which we have gone through when you were away from home for those 3 years. You used to come home in festivals and vacations but do you want me to remind my tears when you used to go back after evey vacation? These are just a few things, but there are many other things as well.." After hearing this emotional words of my mom, i broke into tears.. I just want to say "Thankyou Aai ani pappa.."

SagarGad : 13-07-2008

Hands and legs are aching. I am literally dosing. But dont have any other option to stay awake than writing this post about my yesterdays' trek. Right on the first day of my new job i m sitting idle on my desk with no work since my TL is onleave today.

After a long break of 7 months, we managed to go on a trek. The monsoon drops have already hit the floor last month and have gone for a vacation now. Even though the Mr. Bright was pouring heat and rays over the entire week we were hoping for heavy rains
atleast on this Sunday. Unfortunately, it dint turn up. Started early morning 630 am we gathered with old memories of last Harishchandra gad trek but as fresh as a rose. Every one was excited to meet eachother and more than that about the trek. Every
one turned up on time. We took a Dadar- Panvel ST from Dadar. Few of them were first-timers out of the total bunch of 13 with only 2 girls :((... Neways, neva mind.. We got down @ Panvel stand @ around 8 am. Just to fuel up the engine we did lil bita
nashta-pashta @ the Visawa hotel opp. Panvel ST stand. The best item was KANDE-POHE. it was too good. But i cud jus eat couple of spoons from my frnz plate since i dint want ti have the weekly sunde special breakfast on this trekky sunde. But i regretted
after i tasted it. The canteen guys took out as much info from us as he can about where we are going and when weel be returning back so that he can have a pretty handsome bill in the evening as well but unfortunately it dint happen for him, u l come to
know the reason later. From there we took a local Panvel-Alibaug bus to continue our journey After loads of maara-mari and smartness of reserving our seats by pusing our bags inside from the bus windows we managed to reserve around 10 seats. BTW, this style of reservation is call as Desi booking that too on current ticket. lolz... You just kwwp any of your belongings on the bus seat thro the window and that seat is wours before you get into the bus. THere is another way as well, u can also get into the bus using the emergency backdoor. Cool isnt it?? One of our teammate who was the last person to get into the bus told everyone that "Khandale" our destination is just 20 mins far. So few of our smarties gave their seats to other ppl who were standing.. But that was a sheer misunderstanding since he mispelled "Khandale" as "Karnale". "Khandale" is 2 hrs from Panvel. So all those smarties had to travel standing. At around 1030 we reached "Khandale". The road from "Khandale" to base point of Sagargad was a typical village road which is half concrete and half mud. You notice this when start heading deeper into the village. With my Sabbon ki tikiya (digicam) in my hand and along wd two photographer frnz of mine we started clicking snaps of the local kids, the farmers in the field along wd Sarja-Raja (Cow-pair) and their wife assisting them. It is a delight to see this view. Apart from this, there was a lot in that village to click... beautiful butterflies hoping around from one flar to another collecting nectar. Some of them were ready to pose for the photo shoot, some shy and some of them very proud of their beauty who made us run behind them to get thir best pose. There were crabs (tiny one) trying to get outa the mud. All we were hoping see a big one so that we can have a big round of photo shoot over him and luckily Atish found one big yellow crab. All of three of us (so called pohtographers) clicked as many stils of that crab as we can and his killer looks were cursing us as if why the hell did u catch me and how dare u to do that?? Enjoying the nature and trying to percolate it in our eyes we kept on moving. After walking almost 5kms we reached at the base point of Sagargad, where the steps start. This point actually is the base of Siddeshwar temple which is around 1000feet high from sea-level and there is a big waterfall @ a height of around 700 feet from sea-level. We started marching but Sun was shining so bright that he had decided to pull out as much glucose as he can from us with the support of these monsoon clouds who have taken bribe from Sun and have gone for a vacation. Since it was almost 7 months back we had went for a trek all out stamina had gone for a toss! Initially i thought its happening only wd me. But everyone started feeling it slowly. Somehow taking small halts we reached Siddeshwar temple. That temple was looking like a dharmashala or a pre-primary school of secondary students. Yep around 100 ppl of all age groups had made it as their base-camp. They had come for a picnic . We did a lil bita photosession even over there of the almighty God who was quitely sitting inside his cabin with no electricity. Load Shedding had affected God as well.. Huh!! I didnt know this.. ;) Shekhar took three bananas from there and came out. He said its "Prasad", but guess what our ancestors (monkey family) saw this and snatched those bananas from his hand immediately and started teasing him. That moment was hillarious. After a small break, we started our rest of the journey. Marching through the tiny tops and small(Adivasi) villages we started getting closer to our destination. In those villages, we saw a different life. Those kids did not have teddies, remote control toys to play wd but still there was 100 times moew happiness and contentment on their face. Their toys are grass, trees, goats, dogs, hens. I ma sure these kids must not be knowing there is a world outside their village. Their faces had a charm which we cant have even after applying the costliest of the cosmetics or having everyday the best of the tonics. These people dont need anything they are happy with what God has given them.
Finally we managed to reach at the topmost position of Sagargad we did our lunch over there. By that time it was 3.30pm. We were already late by an hour and half. At Sagargad, there is a point from where you can stand at the tip of the mountain and you can see another spike which is actually part of the same hill but its slightly isolated. Its a delight to see that spot. We did lotta photography at that point. No one of us was willing to leave that spot. But there were ppl waiting for us @ our home and more importantly our boss in office after the weekend.
While returning, right from that point we got split into two groups unfortunately. I was in the first one. Singing along, pulling eachother legs we reached at a point where we noticed that we are moving in a wrong way. Just to get everyone together we called the other group. Yhanks to the mobile networks. The groups told us that they are near Siddheshwar temple and will wait for us. We didnt wanted to inform them that we have lost our way since they ight go in a panic mode. With the help of village people, we somehow came back on track. Everyone met @ Siddeshwar temple. After a halt of 20 mins we started marching towards the waterfall. Few of us also tuk a bath under it. We were late by 2 hours by then. It was already night time. Sun onccle had signed off for the day. Thanks to moon uncle who was showering his limelight over us and guiding us. At 2020hrs we reached at the Panvel- Alibaug road. Everyone was worried since none of the vehicles were ready to drop us @ Panvel. ST buses were crowded and none of them stopped. We went to Alibaug so that we can catch the bus from starting point itself. Few of them decided to stay back at Panvel at their relatives place. Some went through other buses. I took a Bombay Asiad bus. Lucky enuf to get a seat in the crowded bus.
Reached home safely @ 01:15hrs. Ouch! my legs are aching like hell. But now finallly i have got some work to do right from fresh installation of XP. Guys wish me luck on this first day of new job.