Beach'ed

Planning was in process since long (Courtesy : Patankar's).
The tour strated on an exasperating note from me : "You know what guys !!! We have missed our train."
It took ten more minutes to convince evryone that we actually had. Cutting the long story short, we managed to get on the next one and surrounded by cute little eight leggers, we somehow reached GOAAAAAHHHHH !!!

What would be the destiny of a tour that started in such a way ??? Doomed ???
Nah...the next five days turned the bad start upside down and we all had a time of our life.

I must say Goa lived up to expectations :)

Siddhgarh : This Monsoons Sole Trek

Fab Feb - II

... Fabulous February continued

After coming back from Hometown, we headed to Mt. Abu the next very weekend. A well suited train (Aravali express) making the trip possible with just one days leave combined with the weekend. though i felt that a month earlier would have been the best time to visit the place, nevertheless the trip was good and we (Me, Prrety, sourabh and Rashmi) enjoyed a lot. The Jain temples of Delwara being the highlight of the tour. (I regret not bein able to post any pictures of inside the Delwara temples as photography was strictly prohibited). Other highlights being Nakki Lake, Trevors Tank (Wildlife sanctuary), Guru Shikhar and Achalgarh.

And not to forget the self-styled Rabri-Gulabjamun combination that we had in heaps :-)

Some glimpses of the trip below.....

Fab Feb - I

The fabulous february continues after the Kashid trip. Headed home northwards for two weekends. A new car and about 800 KM's drive during the week covering most part of Punjab. A friends wedding, a few leisure trips, lots of Oranges and of course the most missed cold weather.





Time was good !!!

A Trip Long Awaited, and will be Long Cherished

So finally the closely knit PnL team was successful in their long endeavour to organize an outing. the destination was kashid and the below picture (Thanks to KU )explains the rest.





And we Missed Aman Bhaaji :-)

To Heaven, And Back .

The last four days spent at Tarkarli/Amboli were nothing less than a trip to the heaven, with just a difference, that we had the options of coming Back. it would be difficult to comprehend in words and hence I am leaving it for the pictures to speak for themselves.











Have to be there again sometime in the future. Its worth paying one more visit.

A Walk On The Clouds

Yet another touring weekend, though the destination was not too distant.
Considering the time of the year, Lohgarh was one of the best choices for a One-Day-Breakaway. Lohgarh - Wikipedia .

Very unlike the usual Software engineers behaviour, all the seven members to the party were well on time. This set the pace for a beautiful day and a well organized and executed outing. Enjoying "White White Face" and "Falak Tak chal" we were at the Bhaje village (Base village) at about half past nine in the morning. The climate was near perfect for a Monsoon hiking. Within the next 15 minutes we were well on our way to the Fort enjoying the scenic beauty of the mountains, distant view of the Mumbai-Pune expressway and a couple of Waterfalls.



The ascent was good and in a couple of hours we were walking in the foggy clouds at the parapet of the fort.



Had our fill of Cookies & choclates while sitting on the fortifications and enjoying the whizzing winds and then started our retreat.



Had enough time to wash off our fatigue in the monsoon waterfalls.The overwhelming feeling of "Sab Moh Maaya hai" ruled.



The day was Good.

Heads & Shoulder

The heading may not make much sense to you. But for some it will :)
Its been a fast-forward video sort of weekend.

A cozy flight-a not so cozy Delhi airport- The chaos and confusion of Laal Kila and Azad Hind Market - The BEAUTIFUL ramlila ground ( Ram ji would have never agreed to do any sort of Leela there) - The short lived SemiSleeper - Apni Delhi traffic police - battered Taxi with 8 ppl jammed in - Bumpy but memorable taxi ride - A better bus - HEADS & SHOULDER - The Famous Flat - Apna ghar - Desi ghee and Parathas - Two families - A Good sleep - The divine Moments (Borrowed words -Pic(1) below) - Food and More food - Another Good Nights sleep - When the clock stuck 5 at 6:15 pm - Some more divine moments (Pic(2) below) - A Good dinner - The rush Hour - Haryana Gaurav - HEADS & SHOULDER (Once Again) - The famous Flat Returns - HEADS & SHOULDER (Yet Again) - THE journey ends - The sleepy room of deputy - The wait for the evening flight.

The whirlwind visit to home is almost near end. Returning Sweetless this time , first time ever. Lots to Cherish though.

Hakone Hikers

For my last weekend in Tokyo, I had tentative plans in place for wandering off to either Nikko (One of the Shinto Garhs) or Hakone ( A rather recent tourist attraction).
Finally I chose Hakone, owing to more distant it was from Tokyo city and the spectrum of things it had on offer.



In a single day trip I used 5 different modes of transportation ( i.e. Train, Cable Car, Ropeway, cruise and Bus) to complete
the Hakone area circle covering all major attractions.



In the process made a Dutch friend too.Had Guido not been there, I would not have enjoyed the trip as much. He was a good company to talk to (on Astronomy which was his subject as well as the trip).
So the Pentathlon finished with a 'not so exhausted me'.
I will not be getting further time to visit places outside the city as I will be flying back to Mumbai next weekend.
Have plans to visit a few places within the city circle after work hours on coming weekdays. how far it comes good is still to be seen.

Project-Sundae with Tokyo Toppings

I am writing this when I am half way through my 4 weeks official visit to Tokyo. At office the work is as usual though the change in environment has brightened me up a little. Got ample time and opportunity to roam around Tokyo- Heart of the City and a few places around the Metropolis.




Last weekend was dedicated to Katase-Enoshima and Kamakura (Daibutsu Buddha). The city itself is very friendly and so are the people. Courtesy seems to be fitted genetically in DNA's of japanese people. And the language too is very fascinating. (The syllables are so enthusiastic that you would love to hear it for hours even without understanding a word).

Static Me, Dynamic Thee

Everything except me in this world is passing by in a flurry off late. Dynamics of the Life around have liitle effect on my Static Self. Everything reaching my ears is News these days. Be it wedding of a few friends, preparation of wedding for a few others, Stepping in Parenthood of one of the closest friend, Professional development of people close to me or Anything and Everything as a matter of fact. Right now when I write this I am talking to 'Mahamantri' , who is quite close to the centrestage on his elder Bro's wedding in Ahmedabad.
In all this I feel like a Donkey (I feel like writing ASS but I never liked it as a word) stuck amidst heavy traffic on a busy mumbai road. I dont know why but when all of the world is running mad , I am slowing everything down. As If I have a few more years to spend then everyone else.
Last weekend was a bit happening ( by my standards ) as I was in Pune with 'Birbal' without any reasons to be there. This is the beauty: When you have no plans, everything that happens is a takeaway. So the time was good. We took a special pic. (Though whats special will never be mentioned)

Rendezvous with Nature

Exactly this time last year, we a bunch of people woke up (if you can call that a sleep) on the rocks half way down on the face of a 1200 Ft waterfall in the Sahyadri ranges (Maharashtra,India). It was after long that I felt the closeness to the elements of Nature that we so easily keep ignoring. The two days were a welcome break from the chaos of the Metro city life of Mumbai, that too in a Weekend break between switching Jobs. No pollution (Air or Noise), No traffic and No ringing mobile phones. It felt so far from civilization yet so close to Humanity. The dip in the bottle green water of the reservoir creted by the impact of falling waterfall was my lifes best Bath. One takeaway from living two days with bare essentials is that you start valuing things that you easily keep ignoring. Now when we are planning for a repeat Rappling of the same waterfall next month, theres a lot that we are looking forward to.
May the Mother Nature Bless us with the best on offer.

Glimpses : As Life Moves On

Easy Times

The Day was Saturday 25th August.
I am in love with this train, and I dont know why. I yet again prefered it over the faster mode. Even though I end up spending 12 hours more every time I chose it over Air travel, I never regretted it.
Living upto its expectations it reached New Delhi Station at 7:15 PM and as always a few Businessmen boarded it for Jalandhar/Amritsar. Among them was this gentleman who I should say had crossed the line separating Middle age and Old age. The gentleman made his space in the compartments think tank in a short span and was soon in conversation with others in our Bay.
Incidentally the topic that arose was the mushrooming of Foreign MNC's in india and there effect on the youth.The wise talk continued as our gentleman served others with his take on the issue. Pointing at me and another young guy in succession he noted "The young ppl like them are getting a starting salary of 15-20K whereas in our time it did not even touch a ton. This easy money is spoiling the youth"
While the talk was on I was thinking about the life I was spending away from home,the late night working just to make sure I could visit home without any issues, the time I will have to burn once I return e.t.c.
I am not aware when the Bay went silent. It was broken by the cold drinks vendor as he approched.
Me and the other youngster asked for a Bottle of Milk each and the Gentleman ordered a 'Mountain Dew'.