Amu - A Novel

Recently a stumbled upon a blog post regarding Delhi 1984 riots which were described as the most horrible, organised massacre of innocent people rather i would say Sikh community.The way TRUTH was portrayed with proofs is really horrific. In the next week, i went to my library and i again stumbled upon the book on the same topic called Amu : A Novel by Shonali bose.

It is a story of a young,vibrant Indo-americal girl, Kaajori Roy aka Kaju who returns to her native place : India to unfold the truth about her birth. She was adopted by another Bengali woman who then get settled in America due to fear of her own past.
The mystery unfolds around the Kaju who tries her best to dig up her past and finally founds it deep buried in 1984 Sikh riots. She get tormented but another young boy Siddharth helps her through out her journey.Their love story continues and finally comes to marriage.
All in all a cute love story and also have a masala of Delhi riots.I liked the book.

Lohagad Again with Old buddies

It is been 1 year since we left the college group, but still we all ZAAPies meet often whose members are Zarin(a.k.a. Zar),Amruta(that is me guys.. :) a.k.a Amz),Ashwini(a.k.a. Ash) and last member who had come to pune to visit us is Priyanka (a.k.a. Pree). In each and every visit of pree ,we guys meet and do some awesome plan to spend time together :). This time we planned for a Trek.Now, After short-listing many destinations, we settled ourselves on Lohagad, an easy one (but.... ).Planning was full of fun as usual.We made a good use of google mail threads to do planning.(I hope, my colleagues have not seen me spending time on gmail :D ).Once the planning was over, the Execution phase began which was pretty exciting.

We decided 2nd of October (Gandhi jayanti -Dry day :D ) as our voyage day and me n pree set ted out at early in the morning at around 6 to catch a local train at 6.35. Alas! that train was not meant for us.So, we messaged our fellows who were (on board :P in the train) to get down at our station. Not our fault though,as i said, that train was not meant for us :D. then, we boarded the next going express towards our destination which we found to be crowded.Determined we boarded the same and made outsells comfortable in luggage carriage :P . Wow, pure fun it was until we got our new fellow passengers - few bhajiwalas boarding the same express.It was crowded, but still we all made small space for ourselves.Now at talegaon,we found that there is no train back to Malavali from lonavala but only option we have is to board the next coming local from pune.Huh, Thanks to the "passing" which got out current train to stop at talegaon and that gave us full time to think, rethink about possibilities.finally, we made a decision to get down at talegaon and board the next coming local. After , this little train adventure, we reached malavali at 9.15 am. It was sunny and cloudy both.But, pleasant to start the trek. so, we immediately started our journey and with quick paces , songs in air ,we crossed the big bridge on mumbai-puna express way.

We took heck lot of time to reach to "gay-mukh" khind ..huh which showed me my stamina :( It have decreased so much :( So, with resolution to loose weight ,i started climbing fort.Lohagad is relatively easy as there are steps already created.Though it was end of rainy season still greenery was there. this time, with no interruption of FOG we decided to go down to "vinchu kata" ..a dangerous place to go on.The proper way to go over there is somewaht difficult for amateur trekkers like us.but, a boy came to our aid and he directed us to a relatively easy way to do down to vinchu kata :) and We did it... :)

Wow, sense of satisfaction was the best feeling then. At the far end of vinchu kata, we selected a place where we all could sit without uttering a word... silence... Oh, which was very difficult for girls like us. :D

but, once we started our big "silence" we extendede the perios from 5 mints to 15 mints... :) Yeah, that time everybody must have "talked" with their inner souls ( at least i did and i felt calm after that ).

Now was our return journey with renounced chatter-patter :)

We took little time in climbing down the steps and then took a lunch at the near-by hotel.Then started our journey back towards the malavali railway station.While going back, we all could not resist the temptation of all-getting-wet in a waterfall but didn't do that.We all were on railway station well in advance.The train journey was also good... :)

All in all our ZAAPes enjoyed the trek very much.. :)

221b Baker Street!

Guys,does this address rings a bell in your mind? :) :) :)
In childhood, i used to read each and every Sherlock Holmes story book as soon as i get my hands on it.I was just fascinated by the way he solves a particular case with his brilliant mind and with vivacious conclusiveness,deductions :)
Yesterday my brother went to library and i knew he would definitely borrow something interesting.When i entered home, he declared that I am gonna read the borrowed book first.Huh.That statement of his clearly indicated that something is fishy and very interesting to both of us.That was a story collection of Sherlock Holmes. Oh, then, somehow i managed to convinced him to let me read some time and that is how i got my hands on Sherlock Holmes again.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the man behind this great detective character.It is been over a century that not only this character but also his appearance is alive in hearts of people. Writer have portrayed him in very peculiar features like hawk-like and piercing eyes ,the dressing gown and pipe.Unforgettable,Brilliant,Ageless,Immortal .Can all these qualities be attributed to Sherlock Holmes? Undoubtedly.

Currently, i am in mid of reading the book and will update about my favourite stories soon. :)

If anybody reading this blog wanna read the stories , can visit the LINK.

Currently, my fav story is this : The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Njoy..

Movie in a language that i dont understand :)

:)

Yes. Yesterday i was too bored to see any usual KNOWN language movie.So, i tried my hands on a telugu movie called "Happy Days". :) Surprisingly i found it quite good and refreshing and most of all understandable to a person who even don't know the language in which the movie is. Though, i couldn't follow each and every dialogue in the movie ,but as the story line is very simple i could understand the scene by knowing the context and surroundings.

The movie is all about Engineering life of Eight friends.All the characters in the movie are distinct and full of different qualities. It is all about love,secrete crushes,transformation of crushes into love, hatred, sacrifices between two friends, fighting over a girl. It just felt like i am watching some college campus video.Music makes it more interesting.Yes, Micky J Mayer rocks in this movie. I especially liked " Arey re.." song sung by KK.

This movie made my boring afternoon to a refreshing evening :).I enjoyed watching it though, it was foreign language for me.This have added few telugu words in my vocab too :) ..

I am now looking forward to watching such foreign language movies :)

Season's 1st trek to Lohagad

This year as rain started late our trekking group was more and more eager to go for our 1st ever trek in the season.So, all were waiting for those teeny weeny droplets to become heavy downpour.I always think that heavy rains sets the right mood for trek.So, after my mood was set for trek, we all started planning and that ended with Trek to Lohgad and visapur on 11th and 12th of July.We wanted to do both the treks so planned to stay on 11th on Lonavala platform.
Hurdles could not stop us from planning and we did lots of RnD about Lohagad and visapur. As most of our RnD was over Internet which is definitely the not authenticated source of information , we were still worried about food availability,way to reach Lohagad and then from there to visapur.huh, but, we : the organizers made our way through it. The credit goes to Me and Swapnil lele. Thanks swapnil :)

Oh, now, little bit about the hurdles i faced from Girl's side.First of all, out of all girls in our group, i was the only one who was Excited rather jumpy about the trek ( obviously yaar , i was the organiser :) )So, the big challenge before me was to increase the number of girls. Thanks to Rajashree who quickly agreed to come down with me from Pune. I somehow managed to convince Bhakti and her friend to come from mumbai.So, all program was set and we all puneits started off on 11th night with a LATE passenger. :( .To add into our bad-luck were the passing points that delayed us by 2 hours. Mean-time, our mumbai group was on time and reached lonavala properly :) . That long journey by passenger was heavenly. A bit of excitement, eagerness to meet someone and a sweet pain of wait that is what i felt in that journey.Though, we all were syncing up on mobiles but still everyone was excited about our head start of trek :) .I enjoyed my late night journey by late passenger by sitting at the door with a cool breeze coming my way :D
We reached finally at 3 and the wait was over :) .We all were re-united for our great trek.I just felt right to be there with my group.Everything was perfect and with perfect moments captured in camera :)

Then we all opted for a cup of tea far from lonavala rail-way station so that we could explore the area little at such a wee hours :D.while coming back ,we were accompanied by heavy rain and there started our enjoyment and never ending fun.We all boarded the first train going to malawali from lonavala so reached there in few minutes after leaving lonavala.As soon as we came out of malawali station we found a Dhaba with plates of ready-to-serve bhajis and wadas.Huh, that was the most sought for thing and we didn't miss the opportunity.We made that dhabewala do a TEA for ever-thirsty us :D hmmmmm.All just loved that dhaba so much, that some of us took nap in there :( and there we got late.so, our trek started @ 6 and amateur photographers like us started capturing beauty of nature in their cameras.So, again LATE start that lead to cancelling of visapur later :(

Our walk towards the Lohgad fort was rainy but with full of fun.All were in cheery mood and so could not stop laughing and making fun of whichever FUNNY things we encounter :P .so, no one knew when we started somewhat steep patch.huh. now was the real start of trekking :) .those, who were leading started lagging behind.I was at behind since start ,so, when wanted to move forward ,couldnt leave those poor chaps behind,so, did a job of boosting them to make fast moves so that we can patch up the distance. but, alas, till we reach "gaymukh khind" , there were 2 parts in our group.1 was tooo enthusiastic and went ahead and 1 was still lagging behind... Now, i was in the back group and we stopped to eat bhutta . Ummm, yummy.

we reached over lohgad from it's payatha in 45 minutes. Lohgad is a small fort with very less construction left on fort.When, we reached on fort we were surrounded by thick fog.As no one was on fort before, i was planned for that :D .i had a printed map of fort which guided us to Lakshmi kothi , which was used as store room at the time of Shivaji maharaj. Then, we saw a Mandir and a darga on the fort. By the time, all were feeling tired and so, v decided to descend the fort. Descending time we took was just of 15 minutes :)

After descending down, all were so hungry that we settled our self in a hut shaped hotel and ordered whatever food available .After pet pooja we started a HOTT discussion on whether to go for Visapur or not. Majority public was out so with Most of the ayes we decided not to go for visapur :( .Instead of that all were settled for idea of getting-all-wet-at-waterfall :D .We opted for a big waterfall and not-so-crowded one :)

As soon as ,we all reached waterfall sight, oh my god, we all dashed into water together.It was fun.There was a natural slide created due to flow of water.Many of us njoyed it.Among the girl, i was the only one who dared to do go for that slid :) .surely, it was fun, but, there were chances of bruises too.Yepp, i got one there.but, chalta hain :D

Finally, we came out of waterfall and began our journey towards railway station.Now, that was our destination. while coming down, that lohgad area was so over-crowded that i felt like i m in heart of pune :( .All cheap public ,though, there were police around to control the drunken public.

Luckily, my family planned a outing nearby so, they came by car to pick puneits :) .so, our return journey was smooth in tata sumo :) ..

Map of Lohagad that i found on TreKshitiZ.com

Amazing Konkan, Amazing trip, Amazing group

Hi

Once again, here i am with another wonderful trip description for you all...

As blog post says...... Trip was destined to Konkan for span of 3 days.

Actually all advised us not to go to konkan in the summer season as it will be equally hot as in pune. But, Konkan is such a place which always attracts me and so, i decided to go for it. :)

One day before trip, i was not sure whether my part of work will get finished on time or not :). That uncertainty killed my patience.Huh. Finally, i was able to get free one hour before my bus leaves for mumbai. My god, what a chase it was.I came back from office in just 20 minutes which takes my 45 mints time. :D .So, there i was just on time.so, our journey took off and immediately we all got engaged into chit-chatting. My god, i don't know how i got so much energy to chit-chat for whole 3 hours journey till mumbai. Ya, i must say, Company and KonKan was driving force behind it. :) We reached mumbai at 12 and our beloved friend and tour co-coordinator Rupak lele was there to receive us.

Finally, we all started off at 12.45 and soon joined mumbai-goa highway which was amazing experience. At about 3 , rupak called for a halt and there we were getting introduced with one another. All got mixed up in couple of minutes. :) and so, our Amazing trip started. I always think that, company is what that matters in such a trips and i was lucky one who got a great company in that trip.

We all were 14 present in the bus.Soon in morning we were joined by 2 guys and so we became 16.

First day of trip was a real fun and we started our sight-seeing with a god's temple at Lote-parshuram.then, we came to the Dervan where "shiv-chitra-srushti" is located. Then we reached Guhagar which was a halting place for that day. Lunch was awesome.After lunch without resting ,we all went to Haidavi and velneshwar. The Beach at velneshwar was really clean and clear but, it seemed little dangerous. so, we decided to spend time on Guhagar beach and so hurried back to Guhagar beach to spend some leisure moments.Once, I saw that long awaiting sea ,i just felt like running all over the beach. None of us could resist their instincts and so, we all jumped off into the sea like there is no end. :D

After divine sunset, there came my favourite time and i certainly enjoyed it.I just sat there on beach looking at stars above me and trying to get into the sound of sea waves.My god, it was just superb time for me.finally, somebody pulled me out of my reverie and we came back home. The Dinner was also good and well served but still, some of us couldn't resist ourselves to get taste of Konkan fish and some found a non-veg restro.We served ourselves with a good fish cuisines and came back home at near 12.

Second day some of us planned to go for a morning walk and so woke up early at 6 and again went on beach for a stroll. We got late for the start of the day program of that day and so rupak (the sweet co-coordinator ) got angry on us.huh. But, some of us managed to make him calm. second day we saw some good places like Keshavraj temple and Kadyacha ganapati.On second day, there was more one on our plate than just those temples.First of all ,we got a very good accommodation at "Anjarle" with a homely environment and with a caring "aajji" :).

Then, we got a proper dinner on " keliche paan". Wow, that added a pinch of salt on for our day. then we all went for a walk on a certain point in anjarle at 11 pm. :) yes, guys 11 pm. that was a Divine spot.We were on hilltop and we could see a whole world in front of us soaked up in a moon-light. :) .That sight was awesome.we came back at 12.30 and i was not in a mood to sleep and so does some of our colleagues.so, we formed a night-out group whose members were varying except four of us: Me, Nipun Narvekar, Pallavi Mokashi and Rahul Thosar. We continued to chat till 6.30 :) :D. yes, we all were awake for whole night talking our hearts out. :) That felt nice.

On morning , night-out group was as fresh as all others :) and so, we started for a third and the last day of our journey. In morning we visited Suvarnadurga and also saw few Dolphins at Anjarle beach. Unfortunately, we got to see a dead star-fish and a dead dolphin too. :(

In after noon, we started our return journey and we all were touched at the point where again 2 of us got off the bus at bharane naka. :( .hmmmm. Their departure left us with the feeling of parting.For last few hours , we just tried to create some noise by playing a popular game of "fish-ponds" and there came the moment where we all have part :( .At my dropping point, all descended the bus and took a heavy hearted good bye.I felt soo left out. So, with that parting sorrow,i came back home and also with a sore throat :) :) :)....

Celebrations of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and a Common Man

Today was the great day of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar to remember him. I read an Article in newspaper and so came to knew about it. I have a great respect for late Dr. Ambedkar. He is the "writer" of our Indian Constituency and we all  must have a great respect for him. He was very famous for his work for Dalit class of out society ,which  was always a ignored  class. But, due to his work for upliftment  of Dalit  class, he become GOD for them as well as for us too. I remember certain reference in my history book about his battle against the "Fair" class of society .

Since morning i was under the same state of remembering him and so do Dalit class.But, they have a different views of remembering him.. While coming back from office ,it was 8.30 and so, i was expecting a thin traffic on roads. But, that was not a right judgement of mine for a day.As all the roads to my home have a prominent Dalit-living  area, they were blocked. Yes, literally every road was blocked due to "mandaps"  of these dalit groups and every mandap sported a Big walls of music systems and a loud music was played on them. 

To add in confusion were the usual Puneits on their vehicles in EXTRA hurry to reach home .so, every one was trying to get ahead of other ,creating a total mess. Oh  and i pitied those Police mam's who were trying their best to control the traffic situation and also were trying to pull together the crowd dancing madly before mandaps.

As,i was analyzing the whole mess, i saw a Lady sitting beside the mandap looking at every one ,and trying to earn her bread and butter by begging. I was shattered to see the total opposite pictures. 

Several questions popped up in my mind.. do these Dalit people are really remembering the great Dr. Ambedkar?? Do they really know him?? Do they even know his work for them?? and if they don't, why not they try to do that?

I don't think, any of my questions will be answered. So, with a frustrated mind ,i am finishing this post with a lot of re grate and helplessness.

  

Oye It's Friday

On one Tiring Thursday evening ,i pinged one of my best friends and just hoped that she would say YES for Friday evening plans. Yes, Friday plan gets started on tiring Thursday , it becomes the best thing happening on that dull day.Coz, after all Friday gonna be the last day of week & Lazy Saturday and happy Sunday will be waiting in a queue.

Friday morning rises as a best morning in the week at least for me.There appears a special touch of something (i may say magic :) )on the day to day rituals.One chooses a dress code for the day very particularly by considering a Special plans for evening. :)

There we go for office in cheerful mood and gets surprised to see all smiling faces reflecting the same mood as you are in.It feels nice at that very moment.

Even, the lunch goes on quite with same chatty mood little longer than necessary.Even, the walk after lunch or a chat in lobby extends longer than usual.

Everyone seems to be running from work or busy refining Friday eve program.In any IT company coffee machine happens to be a small conference place ,which grows more chatty especially at Friday afternoon coffee times.

Finally, there comes a time where that Friday event will begin soon and so, everyone seems in hurry to get out of office.

Oh, what a cool & catchy environment it feels after coming out of office.

There rises a altogether different person out of everyone , i am very sure of it.

So, People, common, Rise up, Be Free,Be rebellion,Coz, Oye It's Friday.....

Happy Outing.....

Earth Hour....

28Th March 2009,Saturday, Time . 8.30.I was standing in my balcony after switching off  ALL the lights at my home...and i was hoping that at least one of my neighbours would do that but none did.Yes, that was a Earth Hour and i was determined to follow it not  just because Aamir khan advertised it, but as i felt it as my duty.

When i heard about the Earth Hour, i immediately made my mind to support it and  advertise it too.Then next thing i did is of pulling my family members into it.At first, my dad argued with me that his NEWS  are very much important and he would switch off lights but not TV. But, finally, after lots of arguments,i won the battle and made him to switch off the TV too. 

Before 15 minutes, i sent a reminder to all my friends .Perfectly at 8.30, there i was in my balcony ,hoping for a Good clear sky view from my balcony if any of my neighbours cared to follow it.Then , there i saw one of my brother's friend passing by my house  and so, decided to tell him about Earth Hour  and oh my gosh, when i told him about it ,his first reaction was " It's  not for us".......

How could they be sooo ignorant. Oh,such a ignorant youth our country have got. What i would say more about it? Ya, not all of them are same, some of friends told me afterwords that they followed it..That was some relief to me. At least, some of friends are cautious about the effect of light pollution.Indeed , It felt good and i got satisfaction that I followed EARTH HOUR.

Next year, i guess, i should advertise more. :P

One day trip to Ghoravadeshwar

Hi puneits,If you are stressed up due to overload of work , if you are feeling stagnancy is filling you life and you need to roam around a little but, not in a mood to travel,Then here is the good place for hiking lovers.. Ghoravadeshwar..

It's a place near chinchwad ,hardly at a distance of 5 km and 20 km from katraj.

You can reach there by train too where you need to descend at "Dehu road" station..

There are merely 150 steps to follow and you will reach to the ancient caves and a temple of lord Shiva . Steps at the beginning are very good in state but as you proceed towards caves you can merely found any.The caves are well preserved and have some carvings from ancient times.

"Shivalay" is very big and "pind" of lord shiva is also huge.

Up till now, any one can visit the place , but, you will see more to go. A small rocky path you willhave to climb and there you will be on the TOP of ghoravadeshwar.On the topmost surface there is a FLAG ,which you suppose to touch after climbing whole path. The mere idea is that no body should miss the view from top of ghoravadeshwar..

So,I hope after seeing above photos, you all must be feeling challenged.. i have deliberately not put up the TOP view photos, they are left to be seen by individuals...:)

Have a Nice time on Ghoravadeshwar....

It's raining ......

It's been 5 months that I felt him ..saw him ...5 long bloody months...How could I live without him??I was so thirsty and so, feeling lonely too with out him..

:) ..hmm, stop speculations.It's mother earth talking abt HIM ...Rain yaar.

It was so hot out there and everybody was totally exhausted due to heat.But, finally it came today. We all were sitting in office within artificial cooled environment.Though we never felt a hotness in air through-out these 5 months, but we felt need for rain. :) And so, it started out at around 5 pm.

Once, it started out, everybody was out of office to feel it... ohh, what a pleasant surprise that was. :)

It came crushing down on earth and gave a complete pleasure . oh, cant explain how it felt while i was out ther talking rain drops on me :)

i njoyed a lot. I never missed to get dripping wet in every of the first rain that poured but, this year it was some different. As i was in office couldnt affort to get dripping wet :) .but, still enjoyed it...

"Kashmir"-nama : A book review

Kashmir - a true shangrila of our mother earth.Few days back ,I stumbled upon a Marathi book named "Kashmir-nama" by Sachchidanand shevade. What a book it is! this book has got everything that you want to know about Kashmir. It's origin,it's Past/history,it's present and yes not to forget this book gives the idea of it's future too.

"Arya" were the aboriginals of Kashmir and from thee Arya moved into various territories of Indian peninsula.So, we are direct descendants of arya from Kashmir. But,now, arya are rarely seen in Kashmir which is now a Muslim province and head of our India.Arya then there were said as "Pundits" by the ruler .But, truly, once upon a time Kashmir was the land of "intelligence".

But, once Kashmir was taken over by Yemeni, Muslim rulers, none of it's glory remained.Muslim rulers forced people in Kashmir to change their .Initially, emperors tricked poor people of Kashmir to turn Muslims and then once they gathered enough numbers, they forced other pundits by hook or crook.So,now also, many Muslim family trees goes back to Hindu names and surnames.

A biggest political party in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference was formed by Sheikh Abdullah whose descendants are still ruling the Jammu and Kashmir state.Basically, Sheikh Abdullah wanted Jammu and Kashmir as a separate province and not be included in Independent India.He then that time started a kind-of-war against Hindu Maharajah Hari Singh, who was one of the most famous emperor that time.He started Quit Kashmir Agitation again Maharaja.

According to author,Sheikh Abdullah played dirty politics in Kashmir and got lots of muslims to believe in his propositions.Now, his descendants are also doing the same.Omar Abdullah is the descendant of his who is CM of province right now.

Indo-Pak war and separation Effect :

In separation time, Sheikh Abdullah was the one leader who was considered as a future leader of Jammu and Kashmir by P. J. Nehru, which was the biggest mistake according to author. Author also proposes that Pandit Nehru gave priorities to Sheikh Abdullah because of friendship with Lady Edwina ,wife of L. Mountbatten.

Why we got only small portion of Kashmir and Punjab province ,is the question that author answers with proofs.That time,L.Mountbatten was the head of Defence ministry of independent India, who did not give proper orders to troops which were defending wagha borders which cost ed us so much.In effect,pakistan troops got whole Punjab province which was worth having.

Author narrates the whole story with lots of proofs ,so, no body at present can deny them which is a dire truth.

In over-all, book is worth reading.

Up and Above

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky!

OK, let me tell you why am in a mood to recite those one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. As a kid , we all have had spent enough of time reciting those four lines.They were mere lines for us at that time..but, now, as i see and understand and get the meaning of those lines , i saw a whole truth.

From my busy schedule , yesterday i started my old time hobby of star gazing.I went on terrace with my sky map and a small torch and when i stepped on the terrace and looked at sky above me, oh, what a site it was......

I was astonished, fascinated for next one and a half hour which i spent while gazing at stars. Star gazing wasn't a easy ride for me.As a armature star gazer , i could hardly find out the said star in my map. Addition to my disgrace were a street lights and house hold lights which were standing as a light barrier. It was not a easy task.But, it was full of fun. I just enjoyed myself and my leisure time, gazing up and above.

On Completing Graduation

"We hereby certify you that  you are a BE in Computer Science with Distinction.. "

This is the line on my graduation certificate...

Yes, Finally, after an enormous efforts and patience and courage , i got my final BE certificate....

Actually, i was hoping for an ceremony where i would get my degree from dignitaries on dice.

though , there was one as i hoped  but as it was only for toppers..... and i wasn't among them :P

So, i got my degree from a Clark in Pune university and i was left with only option to imagine that Clark as a Honorable guest. :)

anyways, getting a certificate was important for me..After getting that certificate, every things in my whole 3 years started coming to my mind... how i was terrified when i was giving my 1st degree exam, on my first result how much tensed i was... huh... And similarly, how cool i was while giving my last exam.. and  for my last result..Rather i was out station and never cared for my result until one of my friend told me that i got distinction.. hehehe.......

This is whole story of my small certificate.I don't know what i will do of it after going home..  but, certainly it will be most precious piece of paper for me until i get next .... :D :D

Above photo is the proof of me getting degree certificate.. :)

Horn

I know,  you must be feeling weird by reading the blog post name. But, i can't help it.

Yesterday i started for my office over my scooty pep.Went few meters and i understood my HORN is not working. :( .As, i was already late for office and i thought "breaking breaks" is at most emergency but without horn i can go for a day. So, i went on. Soon, i was proved wrong by a cycle-rider coming in my way and i couldn't blew a horn. :(  :( :( 

Within a few minutes i got irritated. In a whole journey till office, i saved one passer-by (who was trying to cross the road while glancing backwards )  , one poor dog and myself. Yes, not to forget a small crash with those "hath-gadiwalas" left me with more irritation about horn.

In evening, situation got worst when i left for a day at most crowded hours of day at 7 pm. (i know, i did a mistake over here , but, now i m at home ,sound and safe :D ) . At every signal, i couldn't wake up my fellow bike-riders who were standing in first row but wasn't paying attention to the "GREEN" signal. Finally after lots of hurdles ,i reached to my usual garage and just handed over my scooty pep to the mechanic. It was mere work of 10 minutes and when i heard my Horn's sound again, i can't tell you i was sooo glad... :) 

So, i came to the conclusion that "non-functioning horn " is also at most emergency as with breaking breaks. :D :D :D 

So, guys, check your horns today. 

Indisciplined bunch of puneits: i.e. US

I am about to touch the favourite topic of every puneit blogger : traffic in pune.... :) sorry all, can't help it...

Pune mirror Front page news "Buckle up" (dated 3 Feb 2009)..... tells u everything about Traffic laws and all,but, do puneits care about any law?? huh.i don think so.. Every puneit plays a blame game over Traffic subject.. ....

Bikers think that whole road is made for them and they don't like any one to come in between. all other no-gear vehicle owners envy those bikers but, blame on them for all accidents. Now is the turn for car-owners,they totally envy all  2 wheeler riders as they can just make their way ahead in any traffic jams ( and create more and more chaos ,resulting into further traffic jams ). Poor chaps those car-riders ,i must say.In current traffic situations, i think  journey by car in pune is most slow (except buses).then, last comes up ,views of all heavy-vehicle drivers, they envy all other small-vehicle owners ... :) . yes, this is the fact....

I don't want to blame just  vehicle riders in pune, even our traffic  system is really redicules. No strict actions are taken over rule-breakers by traffic police.No proper signaling system is maintained by analysing  traffic frequency.Traffic police don't have proper equipments to check whether anybody is violating rules or not.

anyways, these list is gonna increase like hell. so, better to stop here itself :P

My only opinion  and request to all riders is that, please follow rules and regulations , co-operate with traffic police ( here i don't mean that to give the bribe or something : P )  and have a nurture the feeling that ROAD is made up for all . : D :D :D 

Unknown Bond

Date : 25 Jan 2009 time : around 9 at Night
I set out of my home for an adventurous trekking with unknown group with only one person whom I know. I had many questions in my mind like how can I relate with unknown persons for 1 and a half day, what if that group is not soo friendly.hmmmmm.

With these questions in my mind, I boarded a train pandharpur-mumbai along with pallavi and nachiket (who was the 1st unknown person among the other ).
Boarding a train was also a nice experience for me. Coz, just 5 minutes before train arrives on platform no.5 , v all were on platform no. 1. huh.... Then, RUN ,RUN and RUN...with a heavy bag.. there started our trekking experience. :P
Finally, v all reached on platform just in time. :P. By our good luck, v got a good company in train and njoyed a round of "Antakshari" with them till 2 am. We ensured that no one in our compartment will sleep on that day at least till 2 am. :)
At 2 am v arrived at our destination called Karjat station where i met with all the other "unknown" persons in the group....
Huh, 1st was formal introduction....... and voila, within few minutes, v all were soo engrossed in chatting about this and that ...
Thanks to trek organizer Rupak lele. Now, we all were 10 ........ namely Rupak lele, Ajinkya bedekar, Abhijeet mulye,Mangesh damale, Gaurav barve,Parag joshi,Nachiket bapat,Madhavi gokhale,Pallavi mokashi and myself amruta ghaisas. Oh, in that few hours v all got mixed up like anything. To help keep all awake in those wee hours of night , v all had a cup of tea. Along with hot tea our chit-chatting reached new heights. We all didn't sleep at all except ajinkya and nachiket , who went to sleep on platform...On platform, there were other trekkers too, who were fully loaded with sleeping bags and we were envy of them. But, after some time, we all realized that no one is in mood to sleep. :)

In those 4 hours, we all chatted on different subjects from politics ( thanks to parag aka raje who is head of MNS,kalyan) to PJs. We left karjat platform at 5.30 morning without testing famous vada-pav of karjat. Finally, bus came at 6 and we set out for next journey till Pali village. After 2 hours of journey, we reached Pali and got a hotel ready for customers with all sorts of breakfast snacks. ummmm. We all had good and feeling breakfast. Behind pali, we could see our destination standing like backbone of pali. Now, before starting , we all met with new member salil gore who was the guide for us over sarasgad..thanks salil for guiding us soo well and finding paths where we all could climb. :P

we started out adventurous trek at 9.15.What a serene track was that leading to sarasgad payatha... though, sun was up above us, no one cared and we kept going. Sarasgad is quite simple except last patch where there are 90 % inclined steps. But, with each other’s help we all climbed those and reached on "buruj". wow, what a good view we could see from buruj. It was just awesome. On buruj, there is small pond where we got our now empty water bottles filled with that good water. Now, most of the members were tired but, salil boosted us to climb ballekilla of sarasgad.With wishes from all others staying on buruj, we set out for ballekilla. Me,Pallavi, salil,abhijit and gaurav finally were in that winning team.By boosting each other i finally, conquered my fears and reached over ballekilla. View was just seren.We could see pinnacles of sarasgad behind us and whole pali village at the payatha of sarasgad. On ballekilla to , there was a pond with cool water where we refreshed us well. Had a photograph of winning team. :) obviously, for that photo we took great risk and so much of efforts.

After descending ballekilla, we joined our other member who were sleeping :) yes, half members were sleeping. After some food, we all started to descend. And oh my god, descending was very dangerous. I was totally confident that i can’t do it. But, finally, gained some courage and started out to descend. Difficult part was that , when we were descending rocky patch, those rocks which was only support for us were sooo hott due to sun above us. And there it happened. My bag slipped through my hands while passing it to salil. Oh, my god, it started rolling over steep descend. We all were dumb stuck and my heart was leaping with every bounces of my bag. :)

Finally, it got stuck at some point on rock. Then, i got my bag back due to salil.Thanks salil.

While reaching at paytha, we didn’t have single drop of water. Actually, the idea of descending long patch for actual paytha to come without water was killing us. Over that patch, all were just saving their energy and didnt say a word with each other. :)

Once we reach paytha and got our self refreshed with water , all started chit-chatting again.

Now as trek was coming to end , and no one wanting to leave, all started to kill more and more time at "gola" center and we got his business done very well. :)

then we took bus from pali bus stand to borvali. Getting on that bus was also a fun as there was rush of local people and all were looking at us as if we have come from other planet. Those 2 hours were a great relief for us. In those, 2 hours , we got whole plan for next trip too. As, we all wanted to be in a group , we got our self a brand new name BHATko 96...

When we got down at panvel bus stand, all were emotional ( irks , not "rona-dhona" ) as, we all got so close in soo less time. Some unknown bond had been developed between us. In our journey back to pune, all were thinking of whole day and last night. With those sweet memories all puneits reached at 11. At home, a hot bucket of water was ready for me. Aai was ready with hot dinner for me and with some "pain-relieving" tablets :) Being my first trek out there on my own, she was quit worried.

Sleep was over my eyes but, couldn’t resist myself from re-living a day. Finally, sleep took over me god knows when.

but, definitely, Unknown bond was tightening over us all 11 "Unknown" members of BHATko 96.

Hope, this unknown bond binds us soo well in future.

( i missed all per names of BHATko 96 group , here it goes

Me => jambo

Pallavi => punjabi ( to be refined :D )

Madhavi => Maddy

Rupak => Gajju

Gaurav => Mahindra

Parag => Raje ...

Mangesh => Dadasaheb

Salil =>Tatya

Abhijit => Axis

Ajinkya => Modak

Nachiket => Lambu 6.5 )