The Prabal trouble persists

So it had to be a Sunday in winter for us to embark upon the mission to conquer Prabalgad & Kalavantin durg. Back in June this year, our mission to conquer these two peaks turned out to be a complete disaster. This time we were 6 of us - Tushar Rane, Tushar Jahagirdar, Zian, Sugandh, Chanchal and me. We did not have girl power last time, perhaps that was the reason for our failure ;) (Chanchal and Sugandh just giving you accolades for completing the trek so wonderfully)

We reached the base village when the sun started rising above our head and mercury matching its rise. Bright sky, very dry and sunny day it was. We started our trek, making sure we take the route on the left (since left was right). The trail was very clear, unlike in June when it had a lot of grass cover. Cameras jumped out of our pockets and started capturing our pics. We kept following the trail, took a halt for pics and at times to view the cone shaped ceilings of a temple we had passed by while reaching. We also noticed the house which had misguided us back then. 

Sunlight was getting a lot harsh and we all felt dehydrated. Very soon out water bottles were empty. We had soft drinks in three flavors - lemon, orange and mango, but we had decided to open it when we reach the plateau. Beyond a point we could not follow our protocol, and all of us had a sip of nimbooz. It was almost noon and we were yet to reach the plateau. Some how we managed to reach the plateau and were completely dehydrated. We approached a villager asking for water. He duly filled all our empty bottles with water which was sweet and cool. He was sweet enough not to charge any money for water but we still paid him some. 

On the way to the plateau we had discovered an interesting love story between Laxman and Manisha. We saw messages and paintings on rocks, tree barks, steps - all with messages saying, "I love you Manisha. I really miss you a lot and I cant live without you." or something similar. As we climbed up, the intensity of these messages increased, so did our curiosity. The last message we noticed was found on a rock was without Manisha. It had the names Laxman and Suresh, making us wonder our imagination. Dostana 2 was in the making, we felt :P

It was very late by the time we reached the plateau and we certainly could not have completed both the peaks in the same day. We decided to go for the relatively shorter and easier peak looking at our injured teammates. So Kalavantin durg it was, our lakshya! As we started the ascend we felt our bodies loosing all the water. It was a tough task reaching up and we all constantly reminded each other not to look below to avoid vertigo. For some reason I wanted to see how it felt looking down the peak. It felt awesome!

We climbed up to the top most point of Kalavantin durg and dejavu - we remembered all the peaks which we had conquered earlier (Lohagad, Ghangad, Gorakhgad and Raigad) and feeling to reach the top and experience the view. The panaromic view from this peak was beautiful and we could see Karnala fort, Haji Malang fort and Matheran as well. It was close to 4 and we were yet to have lunch so we all descended down quickly. We opened our lunch boxes but hunger had already vanished. We packed up and left for base.

Overall this trek had not been great for us. Weather played the biggest spoil sport, tested our endurance level. Somewhere our risk taking abilities were also challenged. Adrenalin rush was certainly missing. We were relatively slow to complete the trek and we did not even climb both peaks. May be in a better weather we would have enjoyed this trek. For now, trouble at Prabal still persists. Yet, I would certainly recommend this trek for all amateur trekkers :)

Quick Facts -

Prabalgad - 2320 feet

Kalavantin durg - 2130 feet

Nearest local railway station and distance - Panvel (17 km)

Base village - Thakurwadi near Shedung phata

Mode of travel - Six seater rickshaw (Tam Tam as we refer) from Panvel S.T. stand

Difficulty (Kalavantin durg ) - Medium

Ideal time from base to plateau (Prabalmachi) - 3 hours

Ideal time to reach Kalavantin durg from Prabalmachi - 45 minutes

Ideal time to visit - June beginning, September ending, January (Rappelling activity is carried out in January. You can rappel from Prabalgad to Kalavantin durg during this time, under the surveillance of the volunteers)

Happy trekking :)

Excited about my first Caaaaaaar

Yes I am :) I am so very happy that I could complete this particular resolution. Just came back after having a look at my car at the showroom. It was being washed, will be polished later and made ready to reach my place on 11.11.11. What makes this day special is my parents' 29th wedding anniversary and the exclusivity of this once in hundred years date! Destiny was certainly at work!

I remember the buying process began last year, when I was having dinner with family. Dad expressed his expectation, of me being the first among all my cousins to buy a car. It would be a great sense of pride for him. But I was not earning enough to afford a car back then so chucked out the idea. Research process did start though, Maruti Wagon R being my earliest preference. One of my best friend, Pushkar, already has this car and he recommended this one considering my financial condition and family requirements. I visited a showroom, had a look and quite liked it too. Few days later I saw the same vehicle as a cab. Ego crept in and I decided not to buy any car which is used a cab. This meant pushing my budget, which was not possible at that moment, so the whole idea had to hibernate.

Year 2011 brought in a good appraisal and soon began a passive research for my car. New Maruti Swift was set for launch by mid 2011 and it was one of the cars I always noticed. It was spacious from inside thus suitable for my family members (Wagon R was not spacious enough for my family). It was not one of those cars which were also used as a cab. It reminds me of Mini Cooper, needless to say the design is inspired by it, and nothing wrong with that. We relocated to New Panvel mid year and thus arose the need of a car for all of us to go together comfortably for social or any other such gatherings.

Then crept in the idea to go for a pre-owned car, so that we all can get used to it and it was less capital intensive as well. I visited a few dealers but was not really convinced by the whole idea. One fine day mom comes across a car loan advertisement from State Bank of India in The Times of India. It was a fantastic offer, felt like it was too good to be true. Car loan of upto 7 years, with upto 85% of on-road price being financed. No processing fee and no pre-payment penalty. EMI of Rs.1725/- per lakh @ 11.25% floating rate, valid till 31st December 2011. Mom suggested to try for this offer and go for a new car itself. I was skeptical at first but when everything seemed manageable we went ahead and booked our car. On Friday, 11th November 2011 a brand new Tata Manza would be mine! (Yes, and not Nissan Sunny)

When Tata came up with this car last year I could not resist noticing it. It looked beautiful from outside and it's features were good too. A good looking sedan which did impress me but was never really a serious contender for my first car until a friend gave me a ride in his Tata Manza roughly 2 months back. Aniket, my MBA batchmate, is a neighbor and we go out to play Badminton on weekends (planning to commence Tennis very soon). On one rainy day he brought his car to pick me up and thus my first encounter with this beauty. It seemed big, good looking from inside, powerful AC, stylish dashboard with integrated music player. The ride was smooth and I just loved it! 

So as soon as I met my loan eligibility criteria, I suggested my family to go for Tata Manza. I asked them to take a ride in Aniket's car and they did; simply loved the car. With a firm decision we approached the showroom and asked for petrol variant. Sales person suggested to go for a diesel variant instead, as it has Fiat engine which is more powerful, has better mileage and fuel costs would not burn our pockets much (Petrol currently @ 72, soon approaching three figures!) We went ahead with the suggestion and chose Tyrian Wine (rich purple shade). Unfortunately this color was only available in top variants and we could not further extend our budget :( After careful consideration we chose to go for Dew White as we did not want any of our vehicle to repeat colours (Bajaj Chetak - steel grey, Hero Honda Super Splendor - red and Honda Activa - black; all these colours eliminated!)

I always loved sedans and had a craving for a big and feature rich first car. We stretched our budget from 4.5 lakh to 7.2 lakh, a big deal for us actually. Really happy with the way this has turned out and eagerly awaiting my Tata Manza, with plans of my next car at the back of mind already (It would be an SUV). 

Do call me for a ride guys, I shall happily oblige :)

Should I envy a dog's life?

I wake up at 8 am and get ready to leave for office. Yesterday I had taken a leave so work has piled up. I have to reach earlier, cant catch my usual 10:20 am Thane local. I must catch 10:00 am Thane local anyhow, which needs me to leave home before 9:45 am. I hope I get a good parking spot for my bike soon, coz it may take longer at times to seek one. Fortunately I do, and now I rush for the station. Reached the platform at sharp 9:58 am, only to see that trains are running a bit late. Yes, 9:44 am CST local is due to arrive shortly so I can do nothing more than wait helplessly. Crowd is growing bigger by the minute, making sure that getting a seat in the coach is going to be an effort. So let me atleast accomodate myself on a bench and take some time to arrange my work for the day - what's pending, what can come today, which reports are to be sent, what can be kept pending. Seems like I would have to spend atleast an hour more over my regular working hours today. Now I am disgusted about trains running late, especially when I have so much work to do. There must be atleast 100 others on their way to their respective offices at the platform now. I can hardly imagine what must be going on in their minds. Frantic chaos, mental offcourse, on all sides. Amidst all this is a dog enjoying his nap on the platform.

Yes, such a peaceful nap for this stray dog makes me wonder about his daily activities. I mean what I can imagine is this canine would sleep when he wants, eat when he wants, bark and run and play and howl when he wants. He need not worry about paycheck, getting home early, report to his boss, pay taxes, give some time to family or make food. He can chase speeding cars, without knowing what to do when he is able to stop one. He can fuck around, at times literally, and is not answerable to anyone. What a wonderful life!

Just then my cellphone's vibrates. It's my boss, who called me to inform what work he got done yesterday and what is left for me. Local arrives 10 minutes late but I get a good seat. Cellphone blinks and I smile to see a few texts from friends. Reached office some time later and caught up with colleagues, some gossips, some important news and some fun. Work begins and as it unfolds I enjoy it. Let's take a lunch break now! Mom made omlette today, very tasty! Time for a small stroll after lunch. Work resumes, its going great. Mom calls, tells about car loan being approved by the bank and futher procedure. Work resumes again only uptil snacks break, followed by work till 8:15 pm. Leave for home, catch up with a few colleagues on the way. Reach home, have food, watch tv, check mails on laptop and finally go to sleep by 12:30 am.

Grass always looks greener on the other side, as they say!

I wish this is just a Niggle, although it is looking like Chronic Pain

Lot of commotion is going on in my mind these days. It started back in July this year and now a point has come that I am really bogged down. I am dragging myself from all this and I don't know how long I can manage that. I really hope destiny plays its part and help me out of it real soon!

Gone are those wonderful days when I could be worry free. Pocket money of Rs.1000/- used to be more than sufficient to cover all expenses. Visit to fastfood joints, movies, treats, extra talktime; all this could be covered without any real concern. No, I am not worried about inflation, or am I? 

Professionally I am unsure if I am at the right place or not. The career path is pretty clear in my mind, yet I don't know if I should continue at my current company or not. I am definitely earning well below the 'industry standards', but I remember my Boss' wisdom words, "Sometimes to go 4 steps ahead, you have to come 2 steps back!" True that my current profile is one of the best profiles I could get into at this age. Considering that I would be working at the client side in the next 5 years or so, my current profile gives me some advantage. But, should I go back to my roots in SEM and specialize in that? I never wanted that, always wanted a 360 degree online marketing profile and I currently have that. But its creating a lot of financial problems.

Financially if I look at myself I ought to do a lot better. Agreed that recession had hit my entire batch, but now most of my batch mates are earning better than me. Even my one time colleagues have switched over and are earning substantially better than me. I am really not able to save much, as almost all my earnings go in expenses, insurance premium, mutual fund investments and such other. Suddenly something comes up and a significant chunk of savings has to be divested. Sometimes I wonder if investing in a property at this point of time was a good decision or not. Interest emi's take up some part of my earnings, increasing steadily after every 2 - 3 months. Investing in Speak Asia was a bad decision, especially when I had already suffered earlier because of a similar thing. My friend did earn good money off Speak Asia but my timing of indulging into it could not have been more worse! Looking at it, its just a loss of Rs.11000/- but in my current scenario it looks very intimidating. I don't know how far would I need to postpone my car, wedding and other plans. 

Personally also life isn't going any gung-ho. I have my share of concerns, serious ones. It could not have been worse. To cut the long story short, I am in deep shit right now! Considering all these I am really not able to focus in present. I don't feel good these days. I cant turn a blind eye to all this. I have been through worse times earlier but this one is a real pain in the ass! Saala dimaag kharab ho gaya hai! I can only hope I can come out of this, only if destiny feels otherwise!

 

Ganpati Bappa Moraya

11 days of joy, enthusiasm and festive mood has suddenly vanished. Lord Ganesh has left us only to return back next year. A very common slogan used by all his devotees is 'Ganpati Bappa Moraya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya' which means please come sooner next year oh great Lord Ganesh. Plethora of memories, facts and incidents flash through my eyes every year during this festival and it is only now that I attempt to jot down all of it.

First and foremost I must appreciate this idea of the great man behind this festival. Bal Gangadhar Tilak a.k.a. Lokmanya Tilak was visionary and shrewd, quite certainly, to have made this a public festival. Back then, unity was missing among Indians (it still does at times) and it took a subtle push by this man to make people interact, share their thoughts, talk about their interests, feel togetherness. People interacted with more people, arrived at a common cause which was eventually harnessed by Gandhiji to bring an end to British Raj. In hindsight you cant avoid realizing the efforts of Lokmanya Tilak. As they say, It may take 100 hits to shatter a rock, but was the first hit not effective?

I have a good time every year during this festival. As a kid I enjoyed Ganesh festival at my grandparents place. We do not host it now, ceased way back in '92. But we certainly visit a lot of public and personal Ganesh idols. Unfortunately, this year I could not visit many but every year I visit close to 10 idols at my friends and relatives place and about 5 public Ganesh idols. My favourite being Lalbaug cha Raja, Lalbaug Ganesh galli, Mumbai Central cha Raja, Wadala GSB Mandal and Fort Market cha Raja. Good time to catch up with friends and relatives, otherwise social life is so very difficult these days.

A quick fact about this auspicious festival as told to me by my cousin Himanshu. Chaturthi, the 4th day of a month, is a bad day. Ganesh chaturthi thus happens to be the worst day of a year. As the superstition goes, if you happen to see moon on this day you are bound to be accused for some offense you have not done. Yet, we invite Lord Ganesh to our home on this evil day. This is because Lord Ganesh will help us to fight and keep away these evil spirits. That is why we worship him as 'Vighnaharta', the one who eliminates all our troubles. 

One thing I am disappointed about this festival now a days is the amount of time required to visit certain famous Ganesh idols, like Lalbaug cha raja. I vividly remember taking just an hour to visit the idol just 5 years back. This is all because of media hype and people are crazy to stand for 18-20 hours just to catch a glimpse of the idol. The recent mishap at lalbaug, when the roof of a store crashed killing 1 and injuring 5 is the outcome of this madness. I also happen to see a woman giving away her baby to people, asking them to pass it on to eventually reach the chariot carrying the idol during visarjan. Fortunately, the baby came back to her hale and hearty but it could have been dangerous because the crowd was humangous and accidents can happen anytime. The unfortunate incident of idol crashing is a combined result of poor roads and insane crowd. It is hightime people realize that it is much better to take darshan from the safety of their home through tv and internet. You now have websites showing all the events like arati (Lalbaugcha Raja Official Youtube channel) and its a comfortable experience from home.

One memorable year of Ganesh festival was 2006. I had graduated that year and was preparing for MBA entrance, so I had a lot of spare time. Some friends and I decided to attend the entire visarjan. Pratik, Viraj, Tanmay, Abhishek, Ameya and me wore kurtas and set out in the morning itself. We roamed in the vicinity of lamington road, girgaum chowpatty, chira bazaar and nearby places. I bumped into a lot of long lost friends, met some special people, had junk food and lot more. The best part was to dance in the procession of Lalbaug Ganesh galli idol. They have the best dj and banjo orchestra to set up dancing mood of everyone. It was the first time I was dancing on the street, with nothing to worry about. Lalbaug cha Raja idol would reach girgaum by 5 am, so we took some rest at Pratik's place and were up again by 4:30 am. That darshan was overwhelming, the sheer number of devotees crowding the narrow lanes was unrealistic. Garlands, coconuts, sweets, etc were thrown to devotees by volunteers of Lalbaug cha Raja from the Lord's chariot and people wanted to possess these. Fortunately, I could sneak in a garland, albeit a torn one. The next day was all for sleeping and resting, but the enjoyment we had could not leave our discussions for many weeks ahead.

I also cant help ignore this incident, which happened with my sis Sayali during Ganesh festival in early 90's. Navjeevan society, at mumbai central, is a perfect vantage point during visarjan, on the way to girgaum chowpatty. That year, me, Sayali and mom went there in the evening to see all the idols on their way. It's quite a popular spot so obviously attracted a lot of crowd. Suddenly Sayali was missing! She was just 4 years old then, I guess; too young to find her way back home. The wrinkles on my mom's forehead, with her eyes popping out was one of the most scary and concerned expression ever exulted by my mom. She was petrified, maybe she remembered something similar that had happened with me as well. I was old enough to know all the nearby area so she told me to look out in one area and she did the same elsewhere. By Lord's grace, mom found her in just 5 minutes; she had been attracted to the balloon and toy vendor some distance away. Mom grabbed both of us, thanked the idol passing by and headed back home. 

My feelings for this festival and Lord Ganesh span across so many incidents, years and I feel so thankful about it. I hope to experience more interesting events and if they do happen during this festival it would surely be up high in my nostalgic library.

Govinda ala re!!

Every year we get to see celebrations of Gokulashtami festival. More so in Mumbai and Thane, where so many groups of people participate. It is about breaking the curd filled mud pot, which is tied up at a certain height with a coconut. This pot is to be reached by a human ladder, wherein the top most person is able to get hold of it and eventually break it. It is a daredevil sport, which involves a lot of team work, coordination and courage to achieve the goal. Casualty levels have been always high for this sport, but it has not affected the response it gets year on year.

A lot has changed about this event in the last few years, quite obviously. Some noticeable changes are that these groups have started using buses for commuting unlike trucks and tempos in the past. A lot many women groups have started participating as well. Politicians have become more interested in sponsoring these events by announcing exorbitant prices for winner groups. Ofcourse, they difficulty levels have also increased at some famous locations to add to the excitement. Also, we have international groups coming in, like the recent Spanish Human Ladder group, to play this adventurous sport. Certain institutes and corporates, like Welingkar Institute of Management, also participate in this sport as they consider this sport to be a goal oriented sport with lots of management and teamwork teachings. However, the only unchanged thing about this day is that it always rains, no matter how good or bad the monsoons turn up that year.

The anecdote behind this sport goes back a lot many years in mythology. Krishna, a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, was born at 12 am midnight under intense conditions. Krishna's birth is celebrated in the form of Gokulashtami. Krishna had been a mischievous lad, known for stealing curd, butter and buttermilk kept in mud pots from other houses. People, after realizing this, hanging these pots by the ceiling, keeping it at a certain height above ground level. But they could not stop the naughty Krishna. He and his friends would create a human ladder and Krishna would get hold of it eventually. This activity is celebrated today as a sport by groups of people spending the entire day searching for dahi handi's and breaking them.

I do have a small anecdote of myself related to Gopalkala. This goes back to 1989 when I was a small kid staying at my granny's place in Lower Parel B. D. D. chawl. Our building had our own Dahi Handi group of young fellows who would practice every year for more than 2 weeks before setting off for the sport on the ultimate day. I used to always watch their practice in awe. On the day of Gopalkala I went down to watch them break the handi set up by our own building. They did complete it and everyone started shouting and dancing. I joined them when they set out to conquer other handi's. From Lower Parel to Byculla our group had been successful for about 4 times. I followed the troupe, dancing all the way!

Back at home, mom and grandparents started looking out for me without any success. Dad was away at work, and there were no cell phones back then to inform immediately. Besides, my mom was too scared to tell him about it as she would have to face his wrath. For a moment a thought clicked my mom's mind that I might have joined dahi handi group. She enquired about where would the handi troupe possibly be at this time. Thanks to the set trail followed every year, she was told to search somewhere in Byculla. She got there, looked for me for close to 15-20 minutes before she spotted me dancing. She approached, hugged me and we got back home in a cab.

I was fortunate enough to be found back then, otherwise my life would have been different I guess. Anyways, I never really got a chance to be a part of the human ladder. I prefer enjoying it by the sidelines! I am actually amazed at the level of interest this event still attracts. Is it the daredevilry, the adrenalin rush that pulls the masses? Or the realization that goals can be achieved by lot of people with teamwork and focus! Maybe, but it's surely fun to watch.

Life goes full circle

I think circle is one of the most popular geometrical shape. I always enjoyed studying its geometry, right from 'pi r square' to '2 pi r'. It always appealed to be as an intereting symbol right from my childhood. As I grew up, I started relating it to a lot of things around me. Like the sun, moon, football, omlette and cake when I was a kid. Then during school years when I, sometimes, used to get 0 for certain answers in mathematics I related it to failure, as the more 0's you scored the more your class rank dropped. Since college years I have related it with money, and I still do. Very recently I realized a few incidents that have illuminated a new dimension to this circle, that of completeness and continuity!

I happen to have a friend, one of my best friends whom I know since the last 11 years. We were in the same S.S.C. coaching classes. Then in H.S.C. coaching classes. Then classmates in B. Sc. I. T. Post graduation we sought out for MBA and did it from different institutions, so were not in touch for more than 2 years. I joined Logicserve Digital in August 2009 after completing MBA. This guy was working somewhere but he wanted to switch, wanted to get into Online Marketing, which is the business vertical of my company. I passed on his reference, he came down for interview. On that day, we went for lunch at a nearby restaurant Virangula. Very recently he got in Komli Media and today he had come down for his final settlement. Coincidentally, today we went for lunch at the same restaurant on his last day at Logicserve Digital.

This is the guy who has seen a lot of ups and downs in life. Most probably, he always received lesser pocket money than me. He did odd jobs to supplement his pocket money like selling tea powder to tea stall vendors in his locality, then assembling pc's and then selling domains and web hosting packages. He got through in a lower rep MBA institute which affected his first job compensation amount. He joined Logicserve Digital at a lower compensation than me. But among a small group of talented individuals at Logicserve, he has outperformed all. And today, he has surpassed me by a tremendous margin in compensation at Komli Media.

He fell in love with a girl in his college back in first year. He could never even strike up a conversation with her back then. He tried to be friends with her but to no avail. Post junior college, there was hardly any contact with that girl. Few years later, thanks to Orkut, he bumped into to her again and this time ended up becoming friends. When the time was right, he proposed her but his heartbreak was obvious back then. She was seeing someone already. He did not loose hope though, just kept up his friendship. Fate shined for him finally, and today he is very happy to be in a relationship with this girl. No problems from both parents as well and this couple is already planning their marriage soon.

Is this what is with the phrase 'Life goes full circle'? He never really left doing his part and life took care of the rest. Destiny had plans for him after all, and so it is going to be for you and me. Try and circle out all such circles in your life. I think it would be an amazing personal discovery!