Another week of self discovery

 Another week to find new grounds

... meet new people

... make new connections

... experience different tribes

Another week of mindless wandering

... to find peace knowing that it is with me

... running away from responsibilities

... fighting with right and left brain

Another week of loneliness

... to discover where do i belong

... a week of the all-hyped solitude

... to find the purpose of my life

Another week to find..

... how do i keep up to expectations of relationships

... how do i keep people happy

... how do i seek what is seeking me.

Another week of self discovery

My experience with B1

Its been a long i have scribbled something. Blame the personal and professional responsibililies as we grow old. I have been thinking of documenting this right since it happened.
Clearing a B1 visa is not that difficult as per the ones who already possess it whereas the ones who have got rejections do not believe the same. Before i appeared for the interview i met most of them who had cleared it.
As per them, it won't be a big deal. However things didn't go the way i thought. It's a morning 8.45 appointment on a bright Feb mid month day. 
There is a long queue outside the consulate and the entire area is filled with nervousness. After your basic appointment check is done outside the gate they make you sit inside the consulate premise in a waiting area for around 30/45 mins. Later when the interview hall is cleared for the previous batch, you will be asked to enter the hall and first your biometrics verification would be done and then you will be asked to wait for your turn. There will be representatives and ground staff at every level who would guide you with the next step. Once the buffer position on a window is vacant you would be asked to wait behind the yellow line for your turn in front of the window you will be interviewed. The windows are typically railway counter style booths which will be separated with a transparent glass and a speaker and microfone on both sides.
My first ever B1 VISA interview was not that grilling but i made it so because of my nervousness may be. There were many windows which were approving VISAs whereas there were a few from which the candidates left out with a disappointed face. I was unfortunately on one such window. When you wait behind the yellow line you get a chance to hear what the person ahead of you is answering and you could read the expressions of the officer on the other side. Finally my turn:
Officer: Passport please
Me: Slipped it through the small gap below the glass
Officer: What is the purpose of your visit?
Me: Explained
Officer: What kind of meetings?
Me: Explained
Officer: How much is your salary?
Me: Told
Officer: Have you been to any other country before?
Me; Yes, told the country name
Officer: Was it for similar reason
Me: No, ... told the reason
Officer: What is the duration of your visit?
Me: 2 weeks
Officer: Why can't the meetings be done on a phone call
Me: Gave relevant reason
Officer: (Not convinced), Why are "you" going and why can't they come over here?
Me: Gave relevant reason, (Officer, not convinced)
Officer: Why do you need 2 weeks?
Me: Explained her about the software product and company.
Officer: What is this product about?
Me: Explained
Officer: Are you going to do any productive work over there? (With hand gestures..) Coding, development
Me: No coding involved
Officer: Sorry, i don't see a reason as of now for you to visit. (Handed over the 214(b) form to me


With this disappointment i went back to work, however i was asked to re-apply and i did so. The appointment was a month later so i had enough time to work on the things which went wrong in my previous interview.
This time it was another window.
Officer: Hello
Me: Good morning, Slipped my passport through the small gap below the glass
Officer: What is the purpose of your visit?
Me: Explained
Officer: Why can't the meetings be done on a phone call
Me: Gave relevant reason and explained the importance of this visit
Officer: (Looked convinced), Why are "you" going and why can't they come over here?
Me: Gave relevant reason, (Officer, looked convinced)
Officer: Are you applying for the same reason you had applied before?
Me: Yes, but i was unsure about the duration last time, i have a proper plan this time and fixed days
Officer: Demanded the documents which i handed over
Officer: (Some notes on screen), your Visa is approved!
Me: Thankyou

The main difference between my two interviews was, the second time i was more confident and was able to explain the reason of my visit clearly. However during my first interview i was very nervous

Although you would find many references on the immihelp website, but wanted to document this as a personal hence noted!
Happy flying :)

Come along

I was unsure what to do for you today
All i knew was i wanted to make it a great day.
I had greatest of the ideas, but wanted to keep it simple,
It should make you smile, so that i can enjoy the sight of your dimple.
I know i can't meet you today, in-fact! this day; i don't follow,
All i believe is every day is special, if we see so.
My love for you is not tied to a specific day,
In-fact its so intense, that my mind simply can't keep your thoughts away.
You are the flower which blossoms every day newly in the garden of my heart,
Time since you have met me, my heart is continuously singing a mozart.
I wont be able to give you the biggest of things in the world,
but i assure you, i'l make the simple things so special that it will complete your world.
My mind thinks about you so much that sometimes i address my female colleagues with your name,
You and your thoughts; that's my mind's only aim.
If i am not thinking about you am not breathing,
and if am not reminiscing about you, my heart stops beating.
All i can say, on this special day (yeah for the world!),
I have been looking for you all this long.
Lets embrace this beautiful life together, come along. :)

Worth a wait!

Their last meet had happened almost a fortnight before. i.e. before the year end holidays. Varee was on a week long leave and returning to work on the first monday morning of the new year. He had made up in his mind that he would meet his new bus-stop friend today, No matter what! He had reached the stop much before her regular time of arrival, waiting at the bus stop there were many regular faces which passed around like any other day, some faces who knew him, peeking from the bus (may be wondering, aaj ye bus mein kyun nahi chadd raha). Varee's eye's were glued to the huge gate of Vikas Park, just across the road. There was a moment when a completely vacant bus stopped at the bus stop and Varee ran till the bus, but stepped back in time making his mind, not to board until he sees her today, its been a long time! A herd of college kumaris, came and stood at the bus stop, those too regular ones. Varee's eyes still stuck at the main gate. Suddenly there was a mid-40's female carrying a big smile on her face, with a cute lil girl wearing red frill frock standing right on the divider to cross the road hit Varee's eyes. Varee immediately smiled and moved a few steps ahead of bus-stop so that he can talk to her. Just when they both came closer, Varee bent on his knees, shook his hand with the lil princess and wished her a new year. His intuitions are so strong that he immediately asked her mom/aunt (the female in 40's), is it her birthday today? She replied yes, its her birthday! He again caressed her cheek and gave her wishes. Promptly she replied, thankyou uncle! Her mom/aunt told Varee, she asked the other day, "Woh uncle aaj kul dikhte kyun nahi?" The herd of girls, the TT, the pan shop owner, the taxi drivers, everyone were spectators of this pleasant meet and started smiling at Varee after the princess departed. Sometimes a few statements just make your day, no matter whom they come from, how long you know them! Infact, Varee doesn't know this girl's name neither she know's Varee's. This series of hi/hello/bye had started with a simple hi from Varee to the cute angel few months back. Infact he doesn't even know if, the other female is her mother or anyone else. Its a coincidence that Varee takes his bus from that stop and that kiddo stays right across the road and goes to her play-school at the same time. But whenever, they meet, it makes his day. And today was a special day as Varee didn't know it was her birthday but just because his mind made him to wait, he waited and it was worth a wait! Some days are just perfect!!!!!!!!

Would you be my Companion?

I have a dream to build a castle,
would you mind helping me build it for us?
I have a dream to plant a garden of happiness in that castle,
would you mind helping me sow the seeds?
I have a dream to knit a roof of faith over that castle,
would you mind helping me with the threads?
I have a dream of painting the walls with trust,
would you mind helping me choose the colors?
I have a dream of laying the foundation of the castle with honesty,
would you mind helping me build the pillars?
Though the journey with me would be in a roller-coaster bus;
there would be ups and downs, but it would ultimately bring the best of us!
All i need for this is you and your support,
so the ship of our life would land safely at the love-port!

Best bus ETA

It always good to see when your city progresses and make things convenient for you. Today, india's best intra-city bus organization made me feel proud. Yes, BEST- Bombay Electric Suburban Transport, the pioneer bus service of India has gone hightech. Right from the smart card service, electronic tickets
to A/C service(although it annoys at times). Like every other day, i was waiting at the mithchowki bus stop to board my bus to office. It started drizzling so i quickly took shelter under the bus stop. To my sight came a one small sticker saying, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). To know the ETA of a bus on this stop send an SMS to 46060 as BEST  BUS_STOP_CODE. BUS_STOP_CODE is a 5 digit code written in red color on the bus stop. Out of curiosity i tried it, was wondering how would it know that which bus i am interested in. To my surprise with in a minute or two i received an sms stating AC707 ETA 10.27. I was moved for a minute by the surprise. Surprise that it works. I believe it currenly provides update for only AC buses. But something is better than nothing. Years back i had written a similar post on my marathi blog about this and how best could use the GPS system to improve their quality and customer wait period. They have achieved it in slightly different way but its really a good news to see this improvement. I don't think many people are aware of this. So sharing this post. Please forward this valuable information to everyone.
Lets make the optimum use of this. For me, i would now check my bus status right when i step out from my home and i believe that would really help and make a difference.
Thanks BEST you are the BEST!

हैदर की शादी

Well the ball was set rolling right before 3 months when we all received an ultimatum over mail from Avi(the super Haider-abadi). Initial plan had 8 young minds, but later on due to family responsibilities and work commitments 2 uncle's dropped out from the plan (with their better-half's). The tiny little white light of my cellphone key was continuously flickering, yeah because of the whatsapp notifications. 

13th Dec-9pm: My trained parked itself at the VT station. Yeah VT! i still love to call it with the original name. Aai followed then from a 90's local, sometimes i wonder are all the new trains been allotted only to western and central? Why this partiality with harbour? Why this Kolaveri?? Chetuk, the always late-latif had boarded the train from Malad at 8.30 so was expected to reach late! Quickly parked Aai and my bag with her and went to VT-Camera gally to grab my lenses. By the time i came back it was 9.20pm. Aai and i decided to move to the outstation train platform. Hussainsagar express was aligning itself on the track, and people rushing to catch their RESERVED seats!!!! Still dont understand, why do people hurry so much? as if their reserved seats are going to be stolen or is it that they still dont trust the entire reservation system? :O Chetana also had reached by 9.30pm and we were all set to sail.. oops rail! We were accompanied by a mid-aged gujju couple which was fairly decent and were enjoying our conversations. Another mid-aged couple came to the aunty sitting next to me and asked to take care of their daughter who had her berth in the next aisle. I immediately grabbed the opportunity and assured her mother that we will swap the berths at night. :D Blessings for me!!!! :P

Gaurav Maharashtra soon boarded the train at Kalyan and added some more life to our discussions. Next hour was full-of old memories and bout how Avadhut has proved himself as Haider and all types of inferences on whether Avadhut's is a love or arrange marriage! Well there was no conclusion though! We decided to rest our butts and backs after the never-ending conversations. 

14th Dec-8am: Was surprised to see Chetana coming to wake me up, the girl who misses her 9am alarm when she is at home. Hussainsagar should be called as passenger train as opposed to express for its pathetically slow speed. We had theplas from Aai for breakfast and vada-upma and idli, courtesy irctc. Intermittent tea from every other chaiwala need not be mentioned when Gaurya is around. I preferred to open my laptop and work whereas this trio enjoyed Ramee. We were at Hyderabad-Decaan (Nampally) around 12.15pm, on time even when the train was running so slow. The girl sitting next to me enjoyed being a spectator of the game with frequent smilies.

14th Dec-12.30pm: A mid-2000's Indica was ready for us outside the station which took us to Haridwar Residency which was going to be our basecamp for next few days. Special thanks to Pawaneee(Pawan), Chetuk's friend. Chetuk is no less than a female Don, who has her contacts in almost all cities in India, currently she is working on expanding her network overseas. 

14th Dec-2pm: Eating veg on a Friday noon is like ordering an Indian dish in a Chinese restaurant. Our Chauffer took us to Bawarchi, the so called famous restaurant and one of the famous for Biryani. None of us enjoyed the Biryani. Aai preferred to eat Veg. After a quick lunch we started our 'Tour De Hyderabad'. The numero uno place to visit was Birla Temple, one of the topmost point in the city which will show you a crow/sparrow/pigeon/and a few eagle's eye view of Hyderabad. Its located at the center and a typical Birla temple with excellent marble carvings and art work. Wonderful place to visit. Ideally one should visit this place in the evening to enjoy the fully lit-up Hyderabad city. We spent some time at that beautiful temple with few moments captured in our toys.

14th Dec-5pm: NTR gardens, another beautiful place in Hyderabad. Its a small amusement park with a toy train which takes you on a small round-up of the entire garden and couple of rides. We enjoyed one of the ride and preferred to move around the garden and laze around on the green-grass listening to Aai's humming songs.

14th Dec-6.30pm: Moved on to much hyped, Laser-show from Lumbini park, place more popular for the bomb-blast than the Laser-show. Wonderful amphitheatre with some peppy background music had raised the expectations bar, but was a total disappointment. Except for the few parts of the show everything was monotonous. Exclusive Hyderabadi song which every Hyderabadi will love to sing. A story of how Hyderabad evolved.

14th Dec-8.30pm: Eat Street, one of the hepp places in Hyderabad right next to the Hussainsagar lake which will give you a 270 degree view of the lake and the lighting over the sky-scrapers across the lake along with the reflections in the water. Simply makes a best fit to hangout with friends and family. We wondered Avadhut might have met Shruti at this same place.

14th Dec-10pm: Tired legs back to hotel and sneaked into the blankets on the cozy bed.

15th Dec-10.30pm: All set for the Day2 ride and more excited to see Charminar and buy some pearls from the famous pearl market of Hyderabad. Charminaar looks beautiful from outside, the artwork speaks about the history however the irony is as you enter you will see paan-spits and names of some fools who have spoiled the walls by writing over them and destroyed the beauty. Each and every window frame gives you a different view of the Old-city. One of the window also gives you the view of the renowned Mecca Masjid from Old-city which is presently under renovation. After a round of photography we moved on to the Lad-Bazaar or say the Chudee bazaar. The shop-keepers wont even hesitate to hold your hand and pull you inside their shop. Variety of bangles shimmering which would be a treat to every female. Each bangle was inviting for any female, wonderful handwork on each of them. 

15th Dec-12.30pm: We begin our hunt for pearls from a shop which claimed to be Govt. Authorized where we met Mr. Jadhav who is of Maharashtrian origin but settled here in Hyderabad. He said 25/30% of the people here in Telangana are Maharashtrians. He was the third Maharashtrian we had met in 2 days. One of them was the chai-taprivala Biradaar uncle just next to our basecamp. After spending almost an hour in that shop we finalized a few items. For no reason i felt like buying pearls, surprised myself since am a no-no shopper, especially no for ornaments. Anyways i enjoyed every bit of it.

15th Dec-2pm: We moved on to Mangatrai- the giant pearl palace on the Charminaar lane. Gaurya was looking for a pearlset which he can gift Bhakti on their first wedding anniversary on 18th Dec. Hardluck though, we couldn't find one which could fit Gaurya's choice ;) :P It was 3 noon by the time we realized we have not done breakfast and we are hungry :O. Chauffer took us to Indu Lunch Home where we gulped atleast 4-5kg (to exaggerate) of rice since there were no chapatis in the menu. Awesome food with Chicken curry, fish curry and a variety of vegetables which my eyes didn't even notice even though it was in the same plate. I don't remember when was the last time i have had such an awesome lunch. Left from the restaurant complimenting the cashier which he quietly ignored.

15th Dec-4.30pm: Off to Golconda fort, one of the most visited places in Hyderabad. The road to Golconda takes you through the military cantonment zone with sharp turns and rock-built entrance gate. There was flurry of tourists at the entrance of the fort. Golconda is treat for any photographer's eye, so was the case with Chetna, rest three of us preferred to enjoy the place and watch people around taking pictures with the most funniest poses ever. We didn't complete the entire fort as it was very huge. As the huge round halogen in the sky was ready to set for the day we decided to move back.

15th Dec-7.30pm: After a quick snacks break at Surya Restaurant which included south indian filter coffee (if you miss to have one when in South India then you are a criminal!) and gajar halwa which was yummie as per Aai. We decided to move to Kashish pearls the one which was suggested by our hotel owner where after endless tries and combinations Gaurya finalized one custom-made pearlset for his wife. Chetana as in every shop, managed to buy couple of things even over here. We were stunned by the bargaining skills of Gaurya. Somehow, we all enjoyed shopping more than the tourist place, and am sure everyone will be unanimous on this ;)

15th Dec-9.00pm: Back to Eat Street, day 2. Today we decided to visit the terrace view restaurant, its more an elite view of the Hussainsagar lake and the necklace road. Returned back to hotel and called it a day watching Crime-Patrol.

16th Dec-10.30am: One of the last two days of the reason for which we were in Hyderabad. Yeah Avi's engagement day, however it was planned in the evening and we had ample time to add one more tourist spot to add to our list. Decided to visit Chilkuru Balaji aka VISA Balaji. People visit this temple to bribe the god-Govinda for their VISA approval. We only learned it after we were back from the temple. On the way to Balaji we were very hungry since we had skipped breakfast. Landed over to a Iyengar Bakery, tried as much fancy bakery items as we could. It was not very difficult to communicate with the south indian aunty who could understand Hindi but couldn't speak it. Aai was a savior since couple of helper boys from the bakery(who understood hindi) were too busy with other customers. It was a different type of breakfast we enjoyed. "Govinda... Govinda.." and intermittent "Morya..." from Gaurya, which invited stern looks from people around. Yes, we spent sometime with these prayers in the 30 mins queue in the temple. Decided to have the most hyped Biryani in Hyderabad, yes the Paradise Biryani. Located at a very prime location Paradise Biryani Restaurant has 3 levels and each level has around 100-150 seats. They claim it to be one of the most huge restaurants in India. Also understood the making of Biryani and its history how it came to India from the Mughals. Priya fancied some poses with a picture of Rana Duggabatti putup on a wall of fame in the ground floor of the restaurant. It had pictures of almost all the celebrities who had visited this place.

16th Dec-3.30pm: Back at hotel-room and ready within an hour to visit the gala-event. We were at the wedding hall by 5.30 pm. Everyone at the hall were busy getting ready. Barged into Avi's dressing room and surprised him with our all sort of questions like, whether its really an arranged marriage? did you all meet at the Eat Street? is the girl Gujju?.. each of which Avi smartly bounced (as always).

16th Dec-6pm: Ready for the Baraat, we were surprised with the kind of events happening around us. We had never imagined Avi's baraat would be on a horse and a brass band with people carrying those retro gas lanterns. Surprises add punch to life. :) Spent some awesome moments dancing with the friends and family. Our eyes were waiting to see the bride. Soon she entered the hall and there was a wave of smiles all around the hall to see the about-to-marry couple together. Avadhut and Shruti exchanged rings and cut the cake. Mischievous Avi did manage to put some cake on Shruti's cheek only to annoy her. Cake had two Swan's on it, one of which ideally should have been slightly more white :P. Avi i know, you would kill me for this one. :P Followed by a dinner which had a variety of Gujju dishes. Shruti's father made sure that we taste each one of it. There was a quick introduction of all of us with Shruti, i tried my questionnaire on Shruti, Haider warned her to not to answer. Shruti too acknowledged him like a pativrata naari and gave diplomatic answers.

16th Dec-10.00pm: Back at hotel-room. Gaurya and me logged the daily accounts and went asleep.

17th Dec-06.20am: Gaurav Maharashtra's phone ringing. Onya Calling..... He had reached the hotel reception and soon entered the room with Shweta, i was lazy to get up but had too since we were expected at the marriage venue before 9am, since the rituals were about the start and more importantly we didn't want to skip the breakfast :D. Too shameless to say it :P We made it late though not too late to miss the moment. Yes, we reached the venue just when Avi was wearing the license in Shruti's neck, yeah the mangalsutra. Captured some awesome moments of Avi's life in both the camera's Chetuk's as well as mine. Feels great to hold two SLR's in your hand, this was the first time i was doing it :D 

17th Dec-11.30am: Chetana enjoyed catching hold of every girl, boy, uncle, aunty, kids who wished and also not-wished to click themselves.
Ultimately everyone enjoyed it too after watching the preview of their pictures taken by Chetuk :)

17th Dec-1.30pm: After another gala-lunch we went up the stage to congratulate and wish the newly wedded couple and took a signature photograph of the entire group. We left the venue and decided to do more shopping :D. Asked the girls to go ahead at the hotel since the indica could accommodate only 4 and we were six. By the time, the car returned to pick us, Gaurya and i had made up our mind to have a long tight afternoon nap and skip the shopping plan. Onya had no option since Shweta was willing to shop :D. Sometimes, i feel this is the biggest advantage of being single, you can change your plans anytime, though sound mean attimes :P. We teased Onya alot over this :D. Onya had a plan to continue his week long Hyderabad tour from that day onwards. After a 2 hours tight nap it was 6pm and these guys had returned from shopping and we were all set to catch the Mumbai express which was scheduled at 8.30pm from Nampally.  Avi and his family also were boarding the same train, we met them at the platform. Soon we boarded the train, but the berths were not in the same aisle this time, rather 2 Side Upper and 2 Side Lower so couldn't really enjoy the return journey. The trip would have been more fun with Pashya, Priyanka, Bhakti, Deepak, Shweta and cutiepie Sanvi. Never mind... missed them alot... :(

I somehow hate return journeys, as you are left with only option to reminisce the entire trip and feel sad that the vacation has ended. Only reason to be happy was that we were returning to our Amchi Mumbai. 

So guys... who's next? :)

and i met god...

Well it all started with an inquiry call i received from Sarika 2 weeks back. I was excited to explain her about my most adventurous trek till 4th Jan 2011, Harishchandra Gad via Nalichi vaat back in June 2009 with Urja.

Day 1 | 23:15 hrs: Kalyan ST Depot. Stale Wadapav in one hand, phone in right hand trying to connect with Sarika, backsack of around 10 kgs. Checked with the officials at ST depot, which is the last bus for Savarne. My baby-elephant's memory was telling me that there is one last bus at 00.30hrs, however the ST officials were claiming that the last bus is at 23:45hrs. Another group of young enthusiast trekkers came in at the enquiry window and asked about the 00.30hrs Nagar bus. The person at the enquiry counter was so irritated he answered him, "tya bus cha kahi nakki nahi aho, aali tar yeil nahitar sakal paryant ithech basa bomblat!!".

Day 1 | 23:45 hrs: UlhasNagar-Pathardi bus entered the ST depot. The driver logged his entry, had a quick round of bidi and pee time and returned near the bus. Just when he finished checking the tyres and entered the cockpit, i knocked on his window and asked him, "Kaka, 5 minute thambu shakta ka?". He replied with a meek voice, "nahi bhau, time jhala ata, nighato...".

Day 1 | 23:55 hrs: A herd entered ST depot, each one of them having carrymats tugged to their sacks. I understood, this must be none other than Sarika's group. Although Sarika and Ashlesh had not yet come, and were on the way. 5 minutes later my phone started blinking "TTS Sarkya calling...". After a quick round of intro with few of their friends, around 00.15 Nagar-Kalyan-Nagar bus entered the ST depot. There was quite a good competition to catch the seats as there were couple of other groups as well who were willing to catch that bus. Few of our folks managed to get in through the window.

Day 2 | 03:30 hrs: We got down at Savarne bus stop, its just when the actual Malsej ghat starts and alight point for harishchandra gad via nalichi vaat. We decided to rest our back and butt till 5am in the morning near a haunted house just outside the Savarne village. It was a beautiful night with moon showering its lime-light over us from the west and the chilling cold malshej ghat in the east where we could see only moving headlights of the vehicles traversing the malshej. Few opted to have a powernap, whereas few were busy clicking night mode shots and few decided to have night chat.

Day 2 | 05:15 hrs: We left that place and started moving towards Savarne village. Trying to find the way through the gully's of savarne village we reached one house where there was an old person sleeping in the varanda. I tapped on his legs and asked about the way to belpada(base village for nalichi vaat). He immediately woke and guided us through the way. We kept walking on the dusty way which took us till the base of the short hill between Savarne and Belpada. After crossing the hill, we reached halfway to Belpada. The way from Savarne to Belpada is very confusing and especially if you are walking in the moonlight. Just when we crossed the first hill, the dawn broke up and the almighty started its painting on the canvas behind the malshej in the east. Orange, pink, purple, magenta it had all the colors in the world which are not even yet discovered by this TV manufacturing companies. It was a truely mesmerizing experience.

Day 2 | 07:00 hrs: All we knew was we had to climb one more hill which is on our right hand side and we will be able to touch base kokankada. However, the way to reach the top was not so easy and nothing more than a maze where we lost our way couple of times. Few of us even climbed the hill and got more confused as the village on the other side looked like savarne (from where we had actually started our moonwalk). Ashlesh, Sameer and Vaibhav decided to move ahead and find out the way whereas other rested their butts in the brown dry fields of Savarne, enjoying the sun bath.

Day 2 | 07:30 hrs: Vaibhav returned back with a good news that they have found the way with the help of a villager and we were back on our track. The descend from the hill took us till the tar road which ended up at belpada. Although we took an hour and half extra, but the walk on the tar road with kokan kada exactly in front was amazing. It was as if KK was calling us with its arms wide open for a tight jhappi(hug).

Day 2 | 09:15 hrs: We freshened up ourself on a well where females from Belpada were busy washing utensils and filling up their cisterns. Immediately after the quick cleanup we had a real quick breakfast which comprised of bread, butter, thecha, lasun chatni, jam and parathas. Everyone was so hungry that the entire breakfast was over in less than 15 mins. We hired a person from the village (Tulshiram) who agreed to take us till the base of Nali, from there onwards the route was pretty straight and no chance of loosing over way in the middle.

Day 2 | 11:00 hrs: Road till base of Nalli was through fields of paddy. We were inching closer to KK every minute. During my first visit from Nalli i had thought that we will reach exactly below KK and can spend sometime over there, but thats not possible. Although it looks closer, it takes 1 - 2 hours if you need to go exactly below KK and as per Tulshiram, that place isnt safe, its haunted, not sure though. He had been there only once with some campers who had climbed KK cliff. The straight road from the paddy field was now transformed into rocky-way. Its actually, the route created by waterfalls during monsoon. There were water cisterns and natural ponds which had formed in the rocks, water in those pond was nothing less than holy water.

Day 2 | 12:30 hrs: Tulshiram was laughing at us since most of us had drowned when we had not even yet till the start of Nalli. He tried to convince me that the route ahead is tough and you should take me till the top. The route changes after every monsoon, it has become more difficult than last year. By this time, i had become slightly aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the group. My mind had started thinking about the action plan by now. I understood that none of these guys are aware of the challenges are kept for us on top. Many of them were moving at a faster pace but they were either new or going to apply breaks to their speed when the actual patch starts. Until now everything was fine, there were just rocks to climb but the 1st patch of 20 feet and 3rd traverse patch are actual USP's of Nali. Any avid trekker would love those patches more than his girlfriend. I tried to inject my concern raised by Tulshiram in Ashlesh's mind and Ashlesh then tried to spread it among the group.

Day 2 | 13:00 hrs: The guy in white shirt, khaki half pant and slippers rested his butt on a tree, yeah Tulshiram! I understood, he is now going to go back. My confidence had almost dropped down to 50% at that point. I tried to convince Sameer that we should take Tulshiram with us, atleast since he is leading, we will feel like following him and we will keep moving, however, Sameer had a different thought over this, he said, let him go, we will lead and people will follow us. This statement from Sameer charged me up and the trekker in me doubled/tripled the confidence in me.

Day 2 | 13:30 hrs: By now i had made up my mind. I took the charge and started moving ahead. Initially i was with the last group, i slowly slowly overtook each mini-group and joined the marchers(Mansi, Deepak, Durvesh, Sameer and 2 hindi-bhashik folks, Rahul and Hardy). We took a pledge that we will not touch water unless and until we cross the third patch. Many of us took the oath as well. I remember, at one point i even yelled at Swati/ Mansi for passing water to Durvesh. We were one group, but actually speaking there were two groups, one was me and rest, the 19. I am saying so because, in me there was a fear and in others there was enthusiasm, zeal of Nali. This group didnt know whats kept for them before the third patch. Yes the slipping scree and the boulders which were moving from their position at the pace of a moon in a lunar eclipse.

Day 2 | 14:00 hrs: Mansi being a naive trekker was marching through the rocks just like monkeys from one tree to another. I instructed her to wait at the point when there are no more trees in your path and you would see only rocks around you. Vaibhav, Ashlesh and Kaivalya was doing really well with the trailers and kicking laal chaddi's ass so that we can make it on time. By now, Kalyani's bag on my shoulders and my huge sack had started giving problem to me. I somehow said Kalyani that if she can carry her sack now, as its becoming very difficult for me. Kalyani agreed to carry it, was happy that everyone has now understood the responsibility. However, the next time i saw Kalyani's bag, it was with Kaivalya :P ;).

Day 2 | 14:30 hrs: First patch was pretty easy, was impressed to see Swati took the charge and climbed it with ease, then Kalyani and then everyone followed. Vaibhav as well took a different route and he was on top of the rock patch in no time. In his previous life, he must be a lizard if m not wrong.

Day 2 | 15:00 hrs: Just when everyone were happy that we have now crossed the first patch, here came the second one. Actually i had forgotten about this patch and all i was thinking, the patch which Swati climbed up was the first one. Infact it was the most easiest one. Actually patches had started now. We spent around 45 minutes here because it was approx around 20 feet high and 85 degree inclined. One could easily start-off well on this patch, but once you reach half way there were no gaps to sneak in your fingers and place your foot and to make things worst the small gaps were becoming big with the scree in the gaps was coming out and making the holders weak after every member passes from that area. If you wait for more than 5 seconds at a place then your legs will start trembling and hand grips will start slipping. The best way to get rid of it was to move as fast as possible. I was 3rd last to climb that patch, also took a powernap in those 30 minutes and made up my mind during that break because the most difficult section was coming up next and i had to be there to tie the rope or atleast help Vaibhav in doing so. I had almost drowned by now, blood in my veins were yelling to dilute themselves. I poured almost half packet of glucon-D into my mouth and broke my pledge. Had i not done that i would have crashed over there. Kept those feelings to me.

Day 2 | 14:30 hrs: Just when i completed the second patch. I started moving towards the 3rd one with my sack on my back. I asked Nikhil and Durvesh to join with. Route from patch 2 to patch 3 is the most deadliest. Full of scree and boulders. You step your feet on one boulder and the person following you has to make sure that the boulder is not going to come rolling down over him. Slowly slowly Nikhil reached till the end of the Nalli. For a novice or first-timer at Nallichi vaat, the road seems to end at that point. At one moment you would even think that you have lost the way and you must have entered a wrong Nali, but thats not true, just when the Nali ends there is a traverse patch which one needs to climb to enter the right Nali. Although Nikhil had reached till the end of Nalli, i was yet to reach there and explain him whats the action plan. I was stuck at one point standing on continuously slipping scree and willing to get onto a rock which was baseless. Had it slipped, would have gone back atleast 20-30 feet back on my track and would have taken couple of more guys along with me. Actually i had taken the wrong way, i should have opted to take the boulder path than the scree filled path. Took a deep breath and carefully got on top of the rock. Just when i climbed up and was having a sigh of relief, i saw Durvesh coming behind me. Oh Shit! was my first reaction, i could tell him to go back and come from other way, but it was not possible. Slowly placed my sack at a safe place. Dragged myself till Durvesh and lifted him. I could see the fear of death in Durvesh's eyes. Had never seen anyone so much afraid in any of my treks till date, although have heard of, but this time was witnessing it. Pulled Durvesh up and asked him to take deep breath. He was so afraid that i asked him to move one step above and he was hesistant, i could imagine his heart beating faster than tampered autorickshaw meter's of mumbai.

Day 2 | 16:30 hrs: Making sure that Durvesh is stable now, i started moving towards Nikhil. Nikhil's condition was not anything different than Durvesh's. I reached till Nikhil who was sitting exactly at the tip of Nalli, there was a overhang above us which was around 100-120 feet. Mr. Sun was getting ready for a dip in the Arabian Sea. Although we were not able to see the Sun but from the point where we were sitting, we could see the mountain range on the left side of KK. I asked Durvesh to callup Vaibhav with rope. Vaibhav in no time, reached till me and Nikhil. Now we three were in an awkward position and i was explaining Nikhil and Vibhav what we need to do next. I explained Vaibhav, he needs to climb the rock patch above us and keep moving right till a small plant of sacred fig(peepal) in its premature stage which had come out of the rocks. The plan was Vaibhav had to tie the rope to that plant and drop it down, a person will sit exactly below that plant (approx 12 feet) on the scree tie the rope one by one to each of our's waist and Vaibhav will give his hand from top and pull the person on top. But hangon hangon, this is possible only when Vaibhav will reach there without a rope first, i mean without any support. Vaibhav made a statement here, "Praful, can you go ahead, you have already done this once, can you please take the lead?". A BIG PAUSE!  ............. I was stumped with that statement, reason being last time when i had been through Nalli, Amit and Siddhesh Paradkar had taken the responsibility of free climbing. And now, this was my moment of the trek. I was DOWN with confidence at one moment with Vaibhav's statement and was UP with another statement. "The only way to avoid it, is to face it. -[Movie 300]". That statement was inspirational, god knows where did that statement came into my mind, but it pumped me up. I immmediately removed my floaters and took a look at the traverse which covered around 15 feet horizontal. Thankfully the place where Nikhil was sitting, there was one more peepal tree which was in its much early stage hardly 2-3 months old may be it must have cropped out during this monsoon. I tied a rope-end to that plant and another to my waist. Well it was just for mental satisfaction that i am tied to something even if i fall, even though it was of no use, coz i dont think that the plant could handle 60 kgs. I started moving, two hands on the gaps on top and legs making places between cracks. I was trying to concentrate hard, by this time, Hardy and Durvesh had reached till the rock cut steps and were managing their places. There was lot of chaos around, which was making me difficult to concentrate. I lost my patience and finally yelled, "guys please stop murmurring, let me concentrate. give me 5 minutes. please be quite." and there was silence. Thanks for listening to me and sorry guys for being so rude at that time. Finally i could see myself moving closer to the premature peepal tree. Only thing i could see at that time was the peepal tree. Slowy slowly making my way through the cracks and holders i managed to steal my way till the peepal tree. A sigh of relief, for me, for Vaibhav, Nikhil and for all the spectators. Many of them might not be even knowing this until they read this.

Day 2 | 17:45 hrs: Sameer took the responsibility of sitting on the scree and tying the rope to every member. Vaibhav showed a demo to everyone and then others followed. Everyone was happy that we have completed the 3rd patch and we are now going to reach the plateau. Although we had missed the sunset from KK, my mind had some new plans, before the sparkling stars break out we should reach the plateau. I was finding it difficult since 5/6 members were yet to complete the final patch. I asked Vaibhav to take the rest of the crew ahead and start moving towards to plateau. I explained him the route till top as much i could remember.

Day 2 | 19:10 hrs: By the time everyone crossed the last patch it was completely dark. There was traverse and we had now moved to the right nalli (the one which is exactly beside KK). It is said that there are two Nali route, the right one being toughest of the two. At the 3rd patch the left nali ends and you will be directed to right nali. The start of the right nali was again a patch of around 8 feet, which we all climbed in dark. Thanks to the darkness that the fear about the height was now dead. Well, it was a complete fulltoss in the right nali, had anyone slipped, life would have been rude to us. We were able to hear people having chat on top. I was tensed when i understood that the members which had moved ahead to reach till plateau were still few steps ahead of us as they didnt find the way. We were making our way through the bolders and scree and in pitch dark with barely 2/3 torchs. I had an annoying torch which was in its own mood and was continuously flickering making things more worse for me.

Day 2 | 19:35 hrs: I heard someone shouting, "aye waat sapadli, waat sapadli!" I was happy and sad at the same time, because the voice was none-other than Rupal's. All i was wondering was, has Nallichi vaat become so easy that these guys found the way to plateau so easily? There was definitely some false hope. When i reached at a comparatively better position than that of scree, what i saw was, the moment of my life. I thank him for the wonderful mornings and for each new day in my life, i thank him for every happy moment in my life. I ask him to give me strength during crunch situations. I believe in him. All i used to believe till date was he exists in different forms. Human has given him different shapes and made his idols in different forms to make him look different so that people would believe that there is something which exists and which is par above human power, but frankly speaking he doesnt exists anywhere else but in me, in you, in everyone. He is GOD. Yes! i met GOD for the first time in my life. There were two villagers who came to rescue us.

Day 2 | 20:00 hrs: The way from there till the plateau was through a jungle and was a climb again through scree. My mind was resting now, since there were two new leaders who were paving the way for us. All i was a body which was comfortably numb which wanted to reach till KK as early as possible. I purposely kept quite and yelled at everyone to stay cool and keep following the GOD. God was so kind, that just when we reached the plateau they went to fetch some water for us. I heard them saying, "thamb paani gheun yeuya, pora tahanleli aahet". However, there was now water around, so we decided to move on. I followed one of them, the other one went ahead with an assurance to come back with water until we finish our 4th and the last patch. Just when we reached the last patch through another jungle, a rope was thrown from top, i quitely climbed the rope without any nautanki and sat up on the top with me sack as a cushion to my back. Till that time, the other GOD had brought a can full of liquid with "paani" written over it for us with a steel glass. I drank it, it was chilling cold. Not sure whether anyone has tasted AMRUT till date but i have! I sold it at 5 rs. per glass to each and everyone in the team. I could see everyone had handed themselves over to the two GODs who had come for our rescue.

Day 2 | 21:30 hrs: Another half hour of climb we were at the KK but this time on top. We were assured that we will be given Onion pakoda just when we reach KK. It was chilling cold at KK with breeze which was flowing at almost low of 8-10degree celcius. I would never forget that night when we had GOD made Onion pakoda, steaming hot pithala-bhakri and rice at 1 am. That was nothing else than heavenly experience.

Day 3 | 01:30 hrs: Immediately after the pithala bhakri, we decided to take the nap of content with some ghost stories and some old adventurous trek experiences. Finally at 02:00 each one of us was dead and remiscing in their dreams about our journey to heaven.

Day 3 | 05:30 hrs: 3-4 abstract images covered with blankets passed above my head, those were the villagers who had given us 2 of the 3 basic necessities last night, yes food and shelter. The cold weather was commanding me to stay under my bedsheet. Chappi, Sarika, Ashlesh, Rupal had arranged a bornfire to get rid of the cold. After completing the early morning nature's call I too joined the group sitting beside bornfire. Taking a quick warmup i pulled out canon from my handbag and moved towards KK. The dawn had just broke up and the clouds had covered a sheet over belpada village from where we had started yesterday. On the right side of the canvas of kokan kada clouds has arranged themselves like cotton balls over the pinkish-blue canvas. Everyone slowly started joining the camp at Kokan kada, where we spent some time enjoying the beauty of the heaven on earth as said by Arvind Barve. Actually when you see the scenic beauty, all your egoes are crushed down, you feel meek infront of the nature, the power which nature has is divine. In our day to day life we face many challenges, and we boast when we overcome them and praise ourself, but when we see such naturally created structures we tend to get bowled, its the nature who is so strong, so robust, so beautiful yet so quite and never boasts about its greatness. At the same time, it gives you power, encourages you, improves your willpower, teaches you lessons, you feel strong when you spend time with nature, when you see such huge mountains aiming to grow more big and touch the sky. One can spend hours at kokan kada and still feel that he/she havent yet completely explored it. Huge, Vast, monumental, stupendous all these adjectives are void in front of KK. KK is simply immeasurable. If one decides to pendown about KK, he will never be able to end it up.

Day 3 | 09:00 hrs: Well, it was tea-time and chef Kiran and Prabodh had made wonderful tea. We gulped it with parle-G and banana chips. Immediately after the tea-round everyone rushed for the nature's call. Exhausting kilos of human waste with the company of nature is really fun. You get the maximum privacy and that too open privacy unlike our apartment's washroom where you are doing it privately and that too in a closed room, so whats the fun? Enjoy doing it in nature, its fun! Now since our fuel tanks were empty we decided to cook some khichdi and everyone offered a bit of help. Few decided to enjoy their time discussing yesterday's experience, everyone had a different script.

Day 3 | 13:00 hrs: We were all set to march back home but this time through pachnai. We gathered all the necessary information from Bhaskar (one of the GOD) and thanked him for his help when were in utmost need. We took darshan of Kedareshwar and the hemadpanthi style of temple constructed on Harishchandragad and started our descend through pachnai.

Day 3 | 14.30 hrs: One while descending through pachnai will get a feel that why the hell do we take another route when its so simple to visit harischandra gad via the safest and shortest route. Yes if you dont take any halts then you can reach the base in an hour. However, it was not so easy for us even on this route. Since Swati and Nilkanth had not seen kedareshwar cave, they went back with a promise to come back quickly, Ashlesh, Kaivalya and i decided to wait till they come back and rest all were ordered to start moving. We met Kalyani and Vaibhav halfway since Kalyani had a casuality and was moving slow with her injured leg. We were halfway down near the naturally formed water cistern and saw everyone sitting there, however Sarika, Sameer, Mansi, Deepak were missing. Prabodh told they seem to have taken the wrong route and were untraceble. Ashlesh started worrying up. Few of us ran through the way which was heading in wrong direction and started calling Sarika, Sameer loudly. But there was no response. Finally we decided that everyone will start moving ahead and Ashlesh and i decided to wait for sometime at that place. Plan was someone will rush down and locate Sarika and team and send us the news back. We spent almost 45 minutes there and with a gut feeling Ashlesh and i made a move. Sarika is known to be unstoppable during descends, so she might have already reached the base hence we started moving. We met Vaibhav and team halfway and finally got the news that Sameer, Sarika and team have reached the base.

Day 3 | 16:30 hrs: Another twist, Sakharam who owns the jeep which was supposed to take us till Rajur was not in the village. We had left a message on Sakharam's cell that we will touch base by 14:30 and wish to hire his jeep. Ironically, Sakharam had left his phone somewhere and was hired by someone from another village. Chappi and i along with a villager tried to findout Sakharam's house, however his old mother had no idea where her son is, Sakharam's 4 year son came following us till the pachnai chowk. Just when we reached Pachnai chowk, a vehicle honking its horn came towards pachnai chowk. My face was shining bright when i heard from the fellow villager that its Sakharam's jeep. We immediately fixedup the rent and divided the team of twenty into two. Sakharam had to drop someone which was about to take atleast half an hour.

Day 3 | 18:30 hrs: Sakharam's kid tugged his father trouser, may be he was expecting a chocolate from his father who had left house for work when he was in deep sleep in the morning. We started from Pachnai, the curves on the road were increasing every km with the temperature droppping every minute. Sakharam could have driven with closed eyes on that road. He was just awesome.

Day 3 | 19:30 hrs: The greedy cab drivers hovered Kaivalya and me when they came to know that we want to catch the 21.15 Kasara local. We had made up our mind we wont give anything more than 1000 rs for Rajur to Kasara as 90 rs. is per-seat rate for cabs during day-time. However, since we had reached at an odd time, we finally had to spill 200 bucks extra. That asshole was driving so slow that Kaivalya and i was sure that we gonna miss the 21.15 local. We decided about the tickets to be bought in the cab itself.

Day 3 | 21:10 hrs: Just when the cab reached kasara station. Kaivalya ran to the ticket counter and before we entered the train, Kaivalya was IN with the tickets. Thats an advantage of being in NCC, you are taught to be fast. :). Still there was one ticket missing. Kaivalya ran again to get it. The indicator was showing 21:14 hrs. By that time Deepak did a good deed of buying bhel for each one of us. I finished it off when we reached Kalyan. Wish i had a straw to suck it, was bored of pouring it on hand and then in my mouth. My body was tired. Phone continuous busy to know where our other 10 members have reached. When i got the last news they had left from Rajur and were on the way to Kasara. The last local was on chart for them. If they miss it, then u-turn to Igatpuri for some express train to come to mumbai. Here, everyone started getting down one-by-one starting from Kalyan.

Day 4 | 00:00 hrs: Reached Dadar along with Chappi and other hindi bhashik guys ;). It was the climax of a memorable trek.

Day 4 | 01:15 hrs: Called up Ashlesh, came to know that they had missed their last Kasara local all because of another slow asso driver. They had just taken some Pawan express from Igatpuri and heading to Mumbai.

All in all one of the most adventurous trek i have ever had till date. Earlier, the best one was with Urja, but this one has beaten up all records and the most deadliest, thrilling, breath-taking, opportunistic and more importantly filled with responsibility.

This trek has taught me a lot of things like burning my ego, leadership, importance of time, water, Ignorance is bliss and most important one..

There is nothing called as GOD in those sculptures, idols. Idols and temples are just nothing but places and sculptures made by human race so that we believe that some power exists which is above all. Had the idols been like human, no-one had believed in god, why Ganesha has a trunk?, why Shiva has third eye?, why Dataprabhu has 3 heads? Its nothing but human imagination trying to give a shape to GOD that's why we have 33crores of variety of such idols. This trek taught me GOD can't fit into any shape, GOD doesnt live in temples. He exists in you, me and in everyone. He can come in the form of those Villagers, he can come in the form of Sakharam when we had lost hope of jeep. He can meet you anytime, anywhere. You just need to keep your eyes open and have "FAITH" and "BELIEF"

happy to help

Last week i came across an interesting sequence on a bus-stop while waiting for my bus to work. It was a morning with drizzles and the buses were late and hence flooded with commuters as any normal rainy day. In a similarly flooded bus a girl tried to squeeze-in however was hanging around at the door. Just when she climbed the bus, she dropped her umbrella and the bus started..., the driver had no clue wat-so-ever about this incidence as BEST bus drivers are less cared about looking into the rear mirror and many-a-times almost drag ppl who cant manage to get-in. Another person who was standing at the bus-stop, picked her umbrella and was confused what to do, the girl was looking behind and was in a confused state of mind. Immediately a boy on a cycle came and stopped near the man holding the umbrella and followed the bus and signaled the girl. Everyone at the bus-stop were mesmerized by this sequence and followed it till the climax. :)

Jhoota hi sahi

Radhika was returning from a picnic with her friends. Just when the boat reached Gateway, everyone was in a hurry to reach home as early as possible. Even in that hurry, a crave popped out of one of her friends' mind; a crave to have ice-cream. They bought butterscotch in cone with a topping of cherry over it for each one of them. Just when they were exchanging byezz and cyaass.. A kid came close to her. His clothes were awful. With pleading eyes, he came in front of her and muttered, "Didi.. Ice-cream dedo na.." She had already licked it couple of times. She was confused... what to do? At one moment she just ignored that kid and started moving out... She then turned back and offered it to that kid. That lil boy smiled and immediately grasped it, Radhika had not yet completely left it from her hand and took it back in her hand. There was a dilemma in her mind, i have already grazed half of it, should it be wise enuf to give it to him. Many thoughts were running in her mind, whether to buy a new one and give it to him, she finally left her hand of it and the boy vanished in the crowd. Many thoughts were hovering in her mind. She was confused whatever she did, was it right? Or she should have waited and got him a new one. What do you think??? Thoughts???

Eu de Mémoire

Emotions, desires, faith, trust, critics, team-spirit, struggle, destiny, patience, feelings, tears, inspiration, love, anger, passion, hope, life, memories, nostalgia, religion, god and many more.... There are many many many more words attached to the matching winning shot of Dhoni in the Cricket WC2011 final at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium. This moment has been carved without an expiry date on every Indian's heart. Dhoni's expression after he hit that six will remain forever and ever and ever in my mind and so does in every Indians'. The roar which came out of entire India after that shot was played, i think it might have travelled all the way across the globe and to the neighbouring planets as well. The decibels of that roar cant even be measured if anyone bothered to do so... This moment will be an inspirational moment for many Indian's all around the globe. It will be told as a success-story to the generations to come, the way our parents and grand parents tell us about the 1983 win. Thankyou Dhoni, Thankyou Sach! Thankyou Team-India.

You met me last night

You met me in my dream last night,
you were holding me tight.

You touch the strings of my heart,
and my veins started singing a mozart

When in my arms,
you felt you were at the safest place in the world,
I assured you, l always be wd you as our life unfold.

You said, you had been waiting for this quite long,
i said, i was looking for you since i wrote my first song

you hugged me tighter as tears rolled down your cheek,
and said i love you alot and with time it will eke.

You then planted a kiss on my lips and left my dream,
with a promise to come again tonite, with a new gleam

...Dreams...

...dreams...
dreams which are fulfilled...
dreams which are yet to be fulfilled..
dreams which are too close to you..
dreams which keeps ur spirit alive..
dreams coza which u r unique..
with those dreams in ur tiny eyes u wake up every mrng.....
may all ur dreams come true..
which u have seen in this heaven of urs..
dreams are achievable... :)

------------------------------
Long back, wrote these lines for one of my friend.
Dont quite remember the occassion....
found while browsing my pc...
so sharing.....

i met me today....

actually i feel me is me today..
with the lil bita attitude which i had lost long back..
i feel me is me today...
after spilling the anger outa me..
i feel me is me today..
after expressing my thoughts which i had suppressed since quite a long..
i feel me is me today...
after pointing out wat is ryt and wats wrong, without any regrets..
i feel me is me today...
who has kept his hump aside for sometime and trying to rejuvenate...
i feel free today...
i have again met....
ME today...

Hi-tech autowala

Met a high-tech autorickshaw guy today. My auto-rickshaw meter was reading 7.40. He replied its 94 sahab. I said how come? He said, aapke mobile mein bhi hoga, then he transferred an application to my mobile which has the following features... Autorickshaw fares, taxi fares, local-railway timetable, Mega block information, BEST timetable, PNR status. I was surprised after seeing his ease of use of the new mobile which he bought 2 days back as he said. Not only this, but also he taught me how to calculate the exact fare from meter reading. multiple the meter reading with 1.3 and subtract 2 rs. from the amount, this will be the approximate fare, which i neva knew since the autorickshaw fares had changed. So if the rickshaw wala is minting more fare outa you, you can easily teach him a lesson. This application is developed by mobond group. You can find more details over here... mobond.org

Bhandardurg: One more to the list...

It was almost 6 months since we had gone for a trek. The last one was Ratangad which we did way back in september. Last winter was a total waste as everyone was busy with their life and no one was taking initiative. When Dipali pinged me a link from Maharashtra times about Bhandardurg i was thrilled after reading the article and was thinking of ripping this in the early monsoon this year. But Dips and gang planned it in this boiling heat, and that too @ Nasik. Initially i was a bit reluctant but i could hardly find any pages about Bhandardurg on the web. Eventually i decided that, no matter what, i am going to do this, even though the heat is pouring.

We started very late @ around 1 am from Mumbai. It was a group of 9 with 4 girls and 5 boys. Thanks to Amar for the Sumo, otherwise travelling by public transport in this summer vacations would have hell. By 5.30am we were at Trimbakeshwar. One of the 12 jyotirlings in India. Shri Trimbakeshwar Kshetra is covered by hills on three sides in a semicircle pattern and a long road which comes in from Mumbai - Nashik - Agra(NH2) highway. This placement of hills and considering the road which connects the kshetra to the highway makes it resemble a Lord shiva's Shivling if seen from a bird eye view. The hills covering the Trimbak are Anjaneri, which is also the birth place of Hanuman. Behind the Trimbakeshwar temple is the Huge mountain called Brahmagiri. They say its origin of the river Godavari. There is one more Lord shiva temple and also a Krishna mandir on the hill. All these three temples are at south end of the brahmagiri hill whereas at north end is the Shiva's Jata mandir.

We started from the base village at around 7 am and reached till the Jata Mandir by 11 am. We were in no hurry since we had ample time as the the route till Brahmagiri is very straight forward and one can find many small stalls of lime-water, cucumber and resting spots. There were also stalls which had flowers, rudraksha malas, empty bottles of bisleri costing from 2rs - 5rs, which poeple bought to carry godavari water back home. The decendants of Hanumanji or say human ancestors trouble a-lot in a small patch of steep steps. They steal anything which is in your hand and give stern looks if one tries to retaliate. One of them sat on my bag for quite some time until Runal who was behind me screamed when another one tried to pull her bag too. May he was thinking now since i am sitting on this sack, it belongs to me :D ... Somehow we were able to get out of that patch with less struggle since few of us had sticks in our hand. But there were other devotees who suffered because of these monkeys. Some of them also snatched purses of women. The really fun had now started. Till the Jata Mandir, things were normal as there were troops of people who accompanied us, but the place where we wanted to go was Bhandardurg, they call it Durga Bhandar. Its at a half kilometer distance from Jata Mandir. A a very narrow route behind the Jata mandir. On the way till Bhramagiri we asked many people about Bhandardurg, everyone said its very risky to go there. Not many people go there besides trekkers. (And why would one go? As there is no temple over there, if there had been one, people would have gone there as well). I saw people throwing 10 rupee notes in the godavari kund and even on the Shivling. God neva ask for money, and if you still want to give it then dont atleast throw it on him. It was disppointing to see people gathering around the pandit who was distributing the godavari tirth and creating chaos and hurting eachother and even fighting. For every spoonful of tirth every person used to drop a 10 rupee note in front of the pundit. There were a few foreigners as well who dropped 100 rupee notes each.

We started walking on the narrow route behind the Jata mandir. The route is very slippery because of the granular mud which has come down because of the land-slide. On our left was a valley and a small village of around 5-10 houses with farm fields around and goats and other pet animals running around and a few of those quietly trying to beat the heat by sitting under the shade of a huge tree next to a small well where a few females from the village were busy washing clothes and kids palying around. What a lyf! I mean this statement for each one of the living being i specified in the last couple of statements. There were places where we had to make our foot firm before placing the other foot. One slip and zuppppp.. in the valley.. We were approaching a pinnacle which looked dismantled at various places still standing tall. The pinnacle was linked to the brhamagiri hill with a very sleek and narrow wall like sructure-bridge. Until now, there was no clue how we are going to reach the dismantled pinnacle(Bhandardurg). With baby steps techinique at critical patches we reached a place where there was a 4 feet wide tunnel going down which had steps of uneven height ranging from 1/2 a feet to almost 2 feet. From top it looked like going no man's land. We started climbing down the slope. Eternal bliss it was. The sun was getting harsh minute by minute but the temperatue in this tunnel was as cool as cucumber's. The Rembrandt light entering the tunnel and hitting the rocks created beautiful reflections and amazing lighting conditions for photography. We spent nearly half an hour in that tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was a small window/ door of 2 feet height which lands you on the bridge i mentioned earlier. One will have to lie down and crawl and come out from the window. We enjoyed every moment of that experience. Finally we crossed that bridge and moved at the other end; the pinnacle(Bhandardurg). There was similar tunnel at the other end which we climbed and finally reached BhandarDurg. Yes its one more to my trekking list. Everyone of us was very happy. We were hoping if there is another route down to trimbakeshwar from Bhandardurg, but there wasnt one. It was a dead-end fulltoss at the other end of the durg. We wrapped our lunch right there at the second tunnel where a nice breeze was flowing-in and experienced a great bird-eye view of Trimbakeshwar village. Few of us also took a power-nap of 10 minutes with silent songs on mobile at the background. The blue sky pleasing the eyes and to complete the picture add a few snow white clouds. The clouds acted as an umbrella over the Trimbak village whereas some part was still bare with sun-strokes falling on it. It was an amazing view to distinguish the shadow part and the non-shadowed part of the village.

We started moving back at 2.15pm from Bhandardurg. The confidence level was slightly higher this time while walking on the edge. The story was not different even at this other side of the hill, the clouds had quite nicely covered the village from the suns harsh strokes and to add to it a gentle breeze was flowing as well. With couple of halts we reached the base again by 4.45pm. The sumo had come till the base of Brahmagiri. While returning we were caught by nice cooling shower in the Kasara ghat. And at the very moment the song playing on the FM was "Give me some sun-shine, gimme some rain" from 3 idiots. At the west, the sun was signing-off who was accompanied by heavy breeze with showers and thunder lightning. The fragrance after the first rain mesmerized each one of us.

Bhandardurg is a one of the undiscovered, unexplored fort from Maharashtra. Although there is nuthing much on the fort but the route to bhandardurg and the two tunnels makes it interesting and fantasizes any avid trekker. Except at a few place where there was slippery sand, the trek is a normal trek with no experience needed. The view around Bhandardurg from top pleases your eyes. The only threat here is the monkeys but if taken proper care it can also be countered. Do visit this amazing place once for sure.