What's on your mind? Is it really what you are posting?

Present day social media has empowered individuals sitting in remote drawing rooms with a medium to express themselves in public domains and be heard which they may not be able to do in first person. There is a huge mass that has reaped benefits out of it. However the boon has a flip side too. There is another set of people who have knowingly and unknowingly converted this boon to bane for themselves and for the rest of the society. Being on a social platform does not make everything uttered or shared as sane. There is a class of people with whom if you start holding a conversation on a contemporary issue, they cannot go beyond the first superficial layer of it, leave aside the reasoning, rationale and having a locus standi on it. However, the same class becomes active in the virtual space. They start posting some 300 words on a issue so entangled that even the country's most intellectual brains fail to analyze. Not only they put forth the issue, they put a judgement in the next line, emphatically claiming it to be the universal truth. However the language along with everything makes it evident that it is either copied from internet, or is mere rhetoric. Then starts a whole bunch of commenting that is completely antithetical to the post above. The comments start with exclaimatory remarks, goes on to become a conversation on something casual like a movie dialogue or some trip and finally ends with something identical to the persona of the author. Someone with a little common sense can easily makeout the reasoning behind the post. It is usually one of the following

- A showoff of pseudo intellect

- A complex - "Am I a lesser man/woman? I have a job, I have a good salary, I do all sorts of upmarket stuff, I can also make a statement, Let the people know that i have also grown brains now, Lets see how many people comment or like it."

- Others-are-doing-it-so-will-I thing

- I-dont-have-anything-to-post outcome

The person logs out from internet leaving behind a catalyst for a potentially dangerous phenomena. Such people dont even go by the reason or rationale behind the issue they vomit in their posts. Remember their reasons behind posting. Hence they are least bothered about the accuracy, authenticity of the statements they made. Same class of people now fall prey to the rhetoric uttered in the post and start building a superficial stand on particular issue, accepting it as a universal truth without verifying the authenticity. However since the stand is built on the edifice of non-verified statements it is as weak as the statement itself. But it results in another post by the new prey and further discussions without understanding the rationale behind the issue.

Now realise the outcome of this. Social media is so powerful a tool that it has orchestrated revolutions recently (where it was used responsibly). However if something similar gets built up on mere rhetoric and hooliganism, imagine where we will head to. A society is a gigantic machinery of which an individual or a group is just a small block which does not know what goes on in the entire machinery, however even if a small disturbance starts originating from couple of blocks the results can be catastrophic. Tampering with even a small screw may result in a situation uncalled for. Democracay is a boon and we should appreciate it. Remember some five,ten, fifty lakh or even one crore people do not represent the views of over a 120 crore people, forget about the miniscule population on social media.

In such times it becomes a duty of every individual firstly to stop taking things on their face value. Whatever comes in public domain may not always be right or may not always be wrong. One should check the authenticity, nullify the prejudices, subside the emotions and understand the rationale behind the issues. Once all these are established, a stand point would emerge which can be shared/discussed with others. If such an approach is taken we can be sure that whatever we are passing on to others is not a part of any propaganda, nor is it someone else's stand point, but it is what we are and what we stand for. And I am sure if we understand this responsibility we can freely exercise our power. And till the time we dont understand it, silence is the best statement.

Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve Trail on Bike

"Lets just ride without a destination and go as far as we can on a weekend." said Sunil on a Saturday evening after a cards game. That night we drove some 50 kms by car towards Mysore from Bangalore. It was time for testing the do-it spirit of my friends. I even threw the dice for driving upto Mysore that night but the answer was a unanimous no. We returned around 1 a.m. that night. Already down with few drinks, Sunil continued with the rant of going for 'Virgin Adventure' on bike for an unknown distance, not knowing that he was talking to a different set of creatures. The next day few mails got circulated. The rough plan was to ride or drive to the land's end, Kanyakumari, if we could reach it. Else return from a place where our energy meters start show red. But driving on a straight road without any challange, didnt seem interesting to me in particular. As the long awaited weekend of April 22-24 , 2011, drew close (thanks to the Easter which was falling on Friday), people and plan both fell apart. Kanyakumari was ruled out being 600 km and 4 of our friends opted out. Search for new destination was on and hopefully we still had 6 people. Rahul suggested Nagarhole National Park and Iruppu falls, sounded interesting but I had something else in my mind. Why just Nagarhole ? We have three days, let road be the destination, lets ride into the woods till the adrenaline stops flowing and the lungs get pumped out. So taking help from google map, I chalked out a bike trip through woods of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve which is comprised of . The plan was to cover as many National Parks and forest reserve as we can, but due to time limit we zeroed in on 4-5 National Parks/sanctuaries.

The plan was to take roads through National Parks on which two wheelers our allowed. Upon doing a little search the plan became something like this

Day 1 -

Hit the road at 4am drive through Bangalore-Mysore-Heggadadevanakote (HD Kote)-Kabini Reservoir-Nagarhole National Park & Bavali-KartiKulum-Kutta

Lunch at Kutta

Afternoon Safari at Nagarhole

Dinner & Stay at Kutta

Day 2 -

Start early morning

Drive through Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary-Sulthan Bathery-Bandipur National Park-Mudumalai National Park.

Evening Safari in Mudumalai

Stay at Mudumalai

Day 3

Hit the road early morning

Drive through Bandipur-Gundlupet-Mysore-Bangalore

As it had to be, it rained all evening and night on Thursday. Two of our friends who stayed around 30 kms from our place could not make it to our place on thursday evening. At one point the whole plan went for a toss. Discussions on risk involved in going out on such trip at all followed. Even a call was made to a travel company to enquire about a cab to Bandipur so as to make sure that the weekend doesnt go idling all three days. But somehow I was convinced that we can still make it, rain will stop, even if it doesnt we can still ride. Yes I was scolded, counter argued, pitted against the most foolish people in the world, rubbished for being stubborn, yet I was ready for the trip with full conviction. But couple were not convinced and rightly. I tried to knock some motivation into them, "May be the weather is good outside Bangalore.., It wont rain continuously for three days..., the roads are good..., we can start a little late". We went to sleep hoping to see clear sky in morning. I was already ready when our friends staying far off came around 5 in the morning but it was still raining and didnt even look remotely motivational. But somehow I pulled others out of their cosy beds and gradually the mood changed from down under to the one of lets-take-a-chance. I had circulated a mail last evening for things to carry and we had them ready in our back packs.

It was still drizzling at quarter to eight when we set out shielding ourselves in windcheaters and our stuffs in polybags. We took the Nice road towards Mysore from Electronic City. Before we touched State Highway 17 to Mysore, it had stopped raining and we clicked first photographs of the trip. The road to Mysore is straight and passes through landscape full of coconut trees, banana growth. since it had rained the landscape was lush green. We stopped for tea on the way and moved to Mysore. We took a diversion after Srirangapatna towards Heggadevankote popularly known as HD Kote and bypassed the city. We passed HD Kote and reached Kabini around 2:30, there was a diversion on the road carrying signboards of Kabini reservoir at 10 kms towards left and Bavali towards right at 40 Kms. We took the left one and reached Kabini reservoir. The entry through main gate of the Kabini reservoir is restricted and one has to take the side lane which reaches a second gate around 1 km from the main one. Sun was perched high and it was hot. We could see the barrage doors and water flowing through them. There was a small temple too. A flight of stairs led to the reservoir bund. We had to jump the railing at the top. The view of the reservoir was beautiful, though it has become a little hot. We still clicked few photographs and came down.

We enquired for the way towards Nagarhole from the locals. It turned out that we need to go back 10 kms towards the diversion. At the diversion we met a few local boys who were digging by the side of the road and tried to understand the way to Nagarhole. Surprisingly we got different directions from different people. There were people passing who told us to go back some 20 kms and then go towards Hunsur and from there we can reach Nagarhole. However since I have already checked the route on internet, I was sure which way to take. Two wheelers were not allowed inside Nagarhole on the road through Hunsur. After some discussions we took the road that read Bavali which was 40 kms and passed through Nagarhole National Park. Two guys came on a Yamaha from HD Kote and enquired about the rout to Kabini Reservoir, we pointed them to the left diversion. Another couple of kms and we were at a gate. It read 'Welcome to Rajiv Gandhi National Park'. Nagarhole is also known as Rajiv Gandhi National Park.

The road, State Highway 33 is single lane and passes through villages and is broken at many places after first few kilometers. It was around 5 pm when we reached a diversion which carried a sign board of Kabini River lodge with few shops. We were apprehensive of reaching inside the main entry for Nagarhole as it closes at 6 pm. There was some confusion on the exit time as well. However all speculation was set to rest by an employee of some resort indicating that there was not exit time from the National Park and the entry gate was just 2 kms from there. My odometer was showing 263.6 kms. At exact 265.6 kms we were standing in front of the Nagarhole National Park main entry gate.

The road through the Nagarhole National Park is smooth, clean, tarred the surroundings are scenic. The signboards indicating wildlife related symbols and quotes are plenty. All around, the vegetation is thick and the trees are tall. As the dusk was drawing to close, our engines roared past the quite forest. Truly we were invaders here. We passed a truck carrying an elephant with huge teeth. A group of tourists on safari passed us in a jeep. There was still some traffic flowing inside the forest. No soon did we started getting lost into this heavenly abode of wildlife, we felt the first drops of rain since morning. In no time it started pouring heavily. Our windcheaters could not shield us. The visibility through our helmets reduced drastically. Gradually the foe turned into friend and we started enjoying the rain. We started dancing on our bikes. But we had some more adventure in store for us.

Varun was first to notice the deflated tire on Rahul's bike. Guess what, we had a flat tire. Wow! Karan was riding pillion, he got off and got on to the bike on which Prashant and Sachin were riding, while Rahul rode on the deflated tyre with whatever air was left in it. Luckily we chanced upon a tea shop and guess what there was a tyre mending shop next to it. Boy! our lucky day. The joy was doubled. It turned out that the tube needs to be changed. The mechanic changed the tube while we sipped the local variant of black tea called kattan. Meanwhile we got some time to make changes to the original plan as the safari in Nagarhole was not possible today. We were to enter Kerala in next 5-6 kms through the bordering district of Wayanad. Rahul wished to see Waynad. Sachin has already seen a lot of Kerala but said that it may be far off from here and we may miss the Mudumalai/Bandipur National Parks. So the change of plans still stayed undecided. However one change was decided. We chucked the plan to stay at Kutta and instead it was decided to stay in Mananthvady which was some 25 odd kms from the place we were standing. The detour from the route has begun. It was still drizzling when we got on the road. The guys on Yamaha whom we directed at Kabini also joined us from here. It turned out that their clutch wire broke near Kabini but forunately they got it repaired. It was dark when we reached the exit gate of Nagarhole. We passed Bavali and Kattikulum and reached Mananthvady, a small town in Waynad, Kerala. The rains were unforgiving, windcheaters have given up long back, roads were flooded and we were drenched completely. There was another natural need which we all have forgotten to fulfill in our hurry to reach Nagarhole, Hunger. We had skipped the lunch! We were hungry and to our dismay all the hotels and lodges were occupied. Luckily one of the attendants at a lodge agreed to arrange for a home stay. A little apprehensive about the arrangement, we agreed to wait for the house owner to show us the house. But to our relief the house was cozy and the owner was providing food for us. We were now 8 people including the two guys on Yamaha, Anunay and Shwetank. We took them for IT guys, but it turned out they were in fashion designing. They carried D90s with them and came all the way from Bangalore on a similar trip.

Accomodation was on first floor with 3 bedrooms, a living room and 3 bathrooms with hot water. The owner was gracious enough to arrange for tea the moment we stepped into the house. The dinner was Vegetable Kurma and Chapati with cucumber salad and bananas. Delicious! Post dinner we enquired about the nearby spots to visit in Wayanad. Soochipura waterfall seemed the most probable. Tired, Washed and yet excited we fell into our beds at around 11:30pm. Next morning the we got up around 7, the Yamaha guys were ready and they departed paying their share of the money for the stay. We got ready around 8:30 and after tea, we started for Soochipara waterfalls. The route was Mananthvady-Kalpetta-Maippadi-Soochipara and then to go towards Bandipur we had to come back to Maippadi. The weather was still cloudy and the ride was through the country side. We passed children going to schools, mosques, churches, temples. Soochipara was 43 kms from Manantvady. We stopped at Maippadi to have our breakfast at Udupi restaurant and ensured that we gave good start for the day to Udupi's business by hogging few couple of dosas, another few couple of poori sabzis and some 20 odd vadas with some 10 idlis. Boy! what a breakfast. We cleared all their vadas.

As we got back on the road a beautiful scene of hills unfolded in front of us from no where. Just a little high above the hustle of the town, right in front of us, we could see three hill tops peeping through clouds in a distance. What a view. We could just imagine what is in store for us. A right turn towards Soochipara bears the signboard indicating the distance to be 14 kms. We turned our bikes on to that road. After initial rows of houses with burnt clay roof, the nature started unfolding itself as if a magician pulling out different things from his sleeves. We were riding through hills. We were riding through huge tea gardens. There were tea estates all over. We clicked photos like maniacs. The slopes, the valleys, the creeks, the ascents, the descents all bore tea, tea and tea. And the road was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. We were riding through heaven. We reached Soochipara waterfall around 10 am. After parking our bikes we walked another 1.5 km to reach the base of the fall. It was crowded. We quickly changed and went directly under the fall. It was fun all over. Yamaha guys have joined us on the way after Maippadi, and one of them, Shwetank, kept clicking our pictures from his D90. We came out around 12 and started towards Maippadi.

At Maippadi we enquired about the route, there was confusion again as there were people indicating two correct routes on exactly opposite direction. One of this route went through Sultan Bathery and reached Bandipur through Karnataka while the other went through Gudalur and reached Mudumalai National Park in Tamil Nadu and then further Bandipur National Park in Karnataka. Guess which route we took. Yes, damn right, the one through Gudalur. We started riding through hills again and passed a police check post and toll at Tamil Nadu border. The cop asked for our bike documents which we produced and then moved further after a small photo session. The road meandered through the tea plantations and ascended the hills. Gudalur is some 60 kms from Meppadi. The terrain is hilly but the road is smooth and clean. The spell cast on us by the hilly ride broke with the sudden downpour and we quickly got back into our windcheaters. But after couple of kilometers it became extremely difficult to ride in heavy rain. We stopped at a small shed and waited for the rain to subside. We got back on the road in another 15-20 minutes. It was still drizzling but we continued to ride and enjoy. We passed few villages, a small town on the way and reached Gudalur around 4 pm. Mudumalai National Park is around 15 kms from Gudalur.

We entered Mudumalai National Park and to our joy we saw couple of wild elephants in distance. We also passed couple of deers on the way. A chimp was hanging from a branch somewhere too. Near the diversion leading to Masinagudi we some tourists. It was a forest office and couple of jeeps were parked there. Our hopes rose in the anticipation of a safari in jeep however after enquiring about the safari and stay, we figured out that both safari and accomodation aren't available and we need to rush to Bandipur National Park which was another 15-20 Km in order to catch the last safari which starts at 6 pm. We rode towards Bandipur National Park. On the way we passed the thick forests with bamboo groves. It was still drizzling when we stopped at the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border for a brief halt and then continued towards Bandipur National Park. Upon reaching Bandipur National Park forest office we were informed that the last safari has been canceled due to less animal sightings and next safari would be next day morning at 6:30 am. As per the plan we had decided to stay in Bandipur/Mudumalai. We tried our luck in the resorts in Bandipur but all were efforts became futile as there was no accomodation available. A vendor told us that we can find accomodation at 5 kms from that place just outside the Bandipur National Park. We got back on our bikes and crossed the exit of Bandipur National Park. After trying our luck we settled for a small lodge. There was a restaurant in it where we had our lunch. It was sumptuous and satiating. We lied down around midnight.

At 5:30 all of us were up and ready to go back to Bandipur for the safari. We reached the forest office, got our tickets and boarded mini buses, yes mini buses ! Anyways our trip was more about our rides and not safaris. So we went inside the jungle with least hope of sighting some big thing as it has rained for last three days. We spotted few animals, liks Sambar, wild buffalos, cheetals. Yes yes not so rare but that's what we spotted. We came back to the Forest office in another 45 minutes and then rode back to our stay. After a breakfast of idlis and dosas we caught a quick nap and then got ready one by one to cover the next and final lap of our wonderful bike ride, the road back to Bangalore.

We started riding towards Gundlupet which was some 15-20 kms and then towards Mysore, 75 km from Bandipur. This time we didnt bypass the city we went right through the Mysore passing by the Mysore palace and the towards Srirangapatna. The sun was playing hide and seek and we had fun flowing all around, on the road, near the coconut water stall, near the banyan tree where we clicked pictures, at the 'Nandhan Panjabi Dhaba' (yes they spelt it panjabi) where we had our lunch. Bangalore was 28 km when it started raining again. We found a small shelter somewhere and then moved again but guess what we were not spared on the third consecutive evening of rain and we were wet again when we stopped on the Nice road to click few pictures before we entered the garden city.

There were two factors which made the trip unforgettable, the company and the bike. We did all, we did it together. We rode in the scorching sun, we rode in thick forests, we rode in rain amidst wild animals,we rode in deep woods, we rode in rain in towns, we rode in rain on hills, we rode through the tea estates. We rode on the road as if there is no looking back and that made it all the more fun. And yes the odometer read 726.6 Km when I parked the bike below my apartment.

The route that we eventually ended up taking was this

Day 1 -

Start riding in rain at quarter to 8 drive through Bangalore-Mysore Ring Road-HD Kote Road-Heggadadevanakote (HD Kote)-Kabini-Nagarhole National Park-Bavali-Out of Nagarohole-KartiKulum-Mananthvady

Dinner and Stay at Mananthavady

Day 2 -

Start early morning

Ride through Mananthvady-Kalpetta-Maippadi-Touching Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary-Soochipara Watarfalls-Meppadi-Gudalur-Mudumalai National Park-Bandipur National Park

Stay at Bandipur National Park

Day 3

Hit the road early morning

Safari at Bandipur

Drive through Bandipur-Gundlupet-Mysore-Bangalore

Bored Blogger beats the Keyboard (He actually types a blog post)

Off late the race of TRPs and the sensationalization of the most trivial movement in the socio-political arena of the country has resulted in invention of a new set of jargon. Everyday I wake up to a new phrase scrolling over my TV screen with faces highlighted in split screens sometimes along with background music (if its a local vernacular channel). In the year 2010 there has been an overwhelming increase in my vocabulary of such terms, phrases and adjectives. First there were 'gates' like iplgate, radiagate, barkhagate. Then some wonderful inventions like spectrum raja, kargil for profit, 'tainted' Thomas, remove 'guv' campaign, 'rapist' mla, canteen scam, no one killed arushi? and so on. And at the bottom there are tiny spiced , judgemental, decisive, churned and cooked details like 'BCCI not a national body any more?' , 'Man in blue not to represent India?'. You see the phrase for the first time and remain in awe for a moment by the its sheer loudness but then it is played over and over and over till you get nauseatic at the mere mention of it. Later in the day or sometimes over couple of days you get serverd with a new adjective or a phrase.

It makes me imagine that how great a business would be of constructing new terms and phrases associated with every incident that takes place in the country. And given the rate with which the scams happen in our country I bet that these will sell like hot cakes. The loyalty would reap millions. What amazes me are the ingredients of such inventions which mainly comprise of a blurred observation, an exagerated calculation and a hurried conclusion. The result is no more than storytelling with a creativity which if utilized elsewhere can win accolades. Thus my imagination goes to an extent of organizing an award function for the best story churned out with the best phrases. Imagine the host shouting, 'And the award for the best sensational adjective invented goes to so-and-so news channel'.

An analogy to such wide sensationalization of a non-news may be an incident as mundane as a student forgetting his admit card to a college exam. The real incident would be just that the student forgot the admit card and went back to get it. But the canvas for this incident would be somewhat different so that catchy phrases can be constructed out and served hot. The three factors would be brought into play, blurred observation, exaggerated calculation and hurried conclusion. The story would be churned with a catchy adjective, something like 'the prodigal ungrateful son' (pardon my lack of creativity in construction) and the ticker would read 'Parents dream thwarted as son's carelessness can cause him to skip exam'. All parents get glued to the tv and curse their own kids. Another channel will scroll, 'Parental land stays with the bank as the child squanders the loan as he allegedly skips the exam'. And the mother in a distant suburb shouts at the son hogging the last noodle, 'this is what you will do too'. The poor chap looks on. A third will go to extent saying student sent back for trying unfair means(entry without admit card). While the reality would be that the poor fellow runs down 3 kms to get his admit card and then writes the exam in the end. But the news has already been flashed. Day's target for 6 phrases have been met so that these can be rotated every 4 hours next 24 hours.

These phrases look catchy and help in grabbing the attention. But at times they lose the essence of the real incident to the extent of appearing really silly. But no wonder the media drags on with them till the last drop is churned out. The memory of media is shortlived so are these phrases but having said that they succeed to register them with the viewers and that is what the target is for the poor fellow sitting in the corner of a tv studio churning out more and more adjectives. Here is the latest one he is churning out, 'Bored Blogger Blues' for this entry.

Gokarna Encounter

"Sun bath on the sand, a dash to the sea, a swim to the rocks, being thrown in water by best of buddies just when a bikini clad tourist came close and then after finding no luck being picked up again, a breather and again a dash, a huddle for photo, a climb on buddies' shoulders, what else one can ask from a get together."

It was January 07, 2011. Prashant from our college gang was in Hyderabad for some official work and I was taking him around the city to show places. We were having coffee at the Eat Street on Husain Sagar lake on that lazy afternoon, when my phone beeped. It was a message from an unknown number. It turned out that Sushant was back from Poland for a short while and was updating his number while in India. I immediately called him. He told me that he has some work in Bangalore and would be reaching there on Jan 12th and will stay there for sometime. Almost instantenously it struck me that I have a long weekend coming up from Jan 14 to Jan 16. Within few minutes and couple of phone calls to across the country to the gang, it was decided that the College group was finally going to meet up in Bangalore.

It would have been real fun with old friends in a cozy flat in Bangalore and may be a dinner and booze for few in some good pub. But we are different creatures. Gokarna beach was finalised as the final hideout for the group. Gokarna beach is in the Goa-Karnataka bordering district of Uttar Kannada in Karnataka around 480 Kms from Bangalore. Prashant was not sure whether his assignment will permit him but final he made it and we boarded the Bus to Bangalore on Thursday , Jan 13. We reached Bangalore around 0700 HRS. Rahul and Karan picked us up from there neighborhood. 3 of them had office on Friday and Shukla was to drop in from Mysore by 2200 HRS by which the cab would arrive to take us to Gokarna. We whiled the time playing some Table Tennis and swimming in the apartment club pool. Lunch was at a dhaba with Mooli Paranthas.

It was around 2345 HRS, Friday Jan 14th, 2011 that after having tea on the side lanes of Bammanhally due to delay in the replacement for the cab that was sent by the Travel guy as it could not seat all 7 of us. Finally all 7(Rahul (Shukla and Jain), Prashant, Sushant, Karan, Varun and I) set out on one of the most awaited reunion trip in last couple of years. We were still short of 5 more guys from our gang but they couldnt make it due to work assignments . We decided to take the route via Shimoga and an on the way a short break at the Jog Falls. It was real fun all the way stopping on dhabas for tea. Rahul and I had a trigger set for hogging every 2 hrs. As the dawn drew close it got colder. I and Shukla were sitting on the window sides of the middle seat of the Toyota Qualis. When people at the back started dozing off, we opened both the panes and the biting cold air gushed in. Rahul, Sushant and Varun at the back after few initial grunts took it head on, covered themselves with their jackets till head and started shouting wah ji wah (Wow!). The infectious laughter broke out and spilled all over the cab now moving in beautiful moonlight amid thick woods of western ghats.

We reached Jog Falls around 0900 HRS. Breakfast at a joint just in front of Jog was mainly Idli/Dosa/Wada. The fall is mostly dry at this time of the year. Earlier last evening we have bought similar Tees for all 7 of us. All of us autographed each of the Tees and wore them. Sun was perched high by now and descending the entire fall would have meant no time at all at Gokarna. So we decided to return half way, clicked few photos. We hit the road again around 1100 HRS. Again the frolic overflowed from our chariot of fire accompanied with intermittent cries of Aaayyee, Wah ji Wah, Achhhaaa and Sachi-Muchi. Lunch was at Kamat Hotel restaurant.

Gokarna has two beaches Om beach and the main Gokarna beach. Gokarna beach is smaller has more of a local flavor while Om beach is larger and has more firangi flavor. We spend few minutes and at Gokarna and then headed to Om beach another 7 Kms. There was a queue for parking which made us to switch to our swimming gears in the cab itself. After parking our belongings in the cab and the cab in the parking space we walked some 300 metres we realized that we were atop a hilly landscape and have to descend to reach the beach. The view of blue waters, sky and the horizon were breath-taking. The beach is demarcated into three parts by rocky landlines.

We went directly to the third and the last crescent of the beach. Almost ran our way into the sea like hooligans and unleashed the spirit that was building up for last few days. The energy oozed out and the fun spilled. Booze was special gift from Poland. Karan and I being on the other side of drinking fence settled for few colas and some snacks. Sun bath on the sand, a dash to the sea, a swim to the rocks, being thrown in water by best of buddies just when a bikini clad tourist came close and then after finding no luck being picked up again, a breather for booze, a huddle for photo, a climb on buddies'shoulders, what else one can ask from a get together. After noon slowly sulked into the dusk as the blue of the sky merged into vermillion of sunset. It was time for some adrenaline rush. Jet skiing was real fun and kept up the mood till we settled down on the rocks to see the beautiful evening unfold and vermillion gel into the dark. A wonderful evening with waves beating against the rocks, sitting with old friends chit chatting about times now and then.

Om beach has many beautifully lit shacks along the coast line. Most of them cater to the foreign tourists that arrive in great numbers to this beautiful beach. We sat down in front of a  shack just next to a foreign group and ordered few snacks for starters. A smooth drink for 5 of the group and again a cola for two of us, watching high tides. Water under the moonlit skies was setting the right chord. Waves kept up the spirit and the group moved inside a shack for dinner. Dinner was great and so was the tea and the photo and video session that followed.

At around 2130 HRS we boarded the cab. Bodies were tired, but the spirit was not satiated. Again frequent stops at tea stalls on the way followed with Aaayyees and Wah ji Wahs. On the way the driver stopped the cab in the middle of the jungle when he was just about to doze off to take a small nap. Moonlight covered the entire woods and a distant signboard read, 'Wild elephants on move'. A rooster crooned in a nearby village while we continued with our mindless discussions.

We reached Bangalore at aroung 1200 HRS on Sunday Jan 16, 2011 , exhausted, satiated yet joyous and ecstatic. Elation upon meeting the old friends after long, that too on a trip like this was evident from the spirits that were still high,as people started packing to head to their towns only to meet again. They say places strengthen the memories and memories strengthen the bonding. We parted with strong desire to meet often and along with rest of the friends who could not make it to the trip.

Enchanting Sinhagad

The plan was to go together. All four members of the team on my short term assignment in Pune. As the assignment drew to close and I started winding up, I asked my team members for trekking to Sinhagad on my last weekend at Pune. Eventually there were only two of us left. We decided to go for trekking on Sunday, November 28, 2010.

At 0545 hrs  I called up Rahul Prabhune to wake him up. He picked me from the Swar Gate in his Santro around 0700 hrs. We  drove to Sinhagad base, halting on the way at Khadakwasla. We reached the base around 0745 hrs parked the car there. The climb began at around 0800 hrs. The trek starts with gradual stony path and is easier for initial part. It gets steeper and rocky as one moves up. We had to do some rock climbing in some creeks.

On the way there were a couple of small shops selling lime water, mineral water, cucumbers and Indian goose berries.  The trek is mostly rocky and green. We stopped at places to see the view about us and breathe some fresh air. 

At around 0930 hrs we were at the stairs of the fort. We climbed the top of the gate and gazed at the view around us. It was a feeling of a conquerer.

After taking few pictures we further dwelled on the mountain. The remnants of the fort are just few walls, gates and a chamber. Though much bigger than Purandar it is more like a table land. 

There are around 3-4 small desi style food joints (dont know what else to call them). I liked the arrangements for the customers. They had mats laid under the shade of low bushes where one can sit, lie down and relax and have the local marathi food. We had bhajji or onion pakodas (fried nuggets of onion and gram flour paste)  and then curd in small mud pots for the starters. 

After lying down for a while we had the 'Jhunka Bhakri' comprising of Pithla(local dish made from gram flour) and Bhakri(Jowar chapati). A cup of tea and then we got up to explore rest of the place.

A little further on the table land we saw that some people were doing rappling across the valley. I hurried myself to find out. It turned out that I was right. We quickly paid 100 bucks to the guys operating the sport. I quickly got into rappling gears, a harness and within minutes I was hanging from the rope through a harness and moving to the other end of the valley. It was an amazing experience. 

We started the descent around 12 and reached the base around 1. We drove off to the city chatting about the wonderful experience that I had. As for Rahul, he was a regular to Sinhagad during his childhood. For me, Sinhagad would remain one of the best experiences in the Maratha land. 

In the wilderness of Purandar

It was the afternoon of Sunday, November 21, 2010. I dragged myself out of slumber and lethargy somehow and convinced myself to visit Sinhagad fort before I leave Pune in another 10 days. I was having my lunch and browsing net on my phone to get directions to Sinhagad, when a link to a blog about a trip to Purandar caught my eye. By the time I finished my lunch I had decided to spend rest of the day trekking at Purandar fort. A quick look at the directions to the Purandar indicated that I need to take PMPML bus from Hadapsar bus station to Saswad, from there I need to go to Narayanpur and take a diversion towards left to Purandar fort and then trek/climb my way up to the Purandar fort.

Purandar is 40 km south east of pune at a height of 1398 metres above sea level and stands on a huge mountain. Oldest mention of Purandar fort dates back to somewhere around 13th century. In 14th century , Bahamani sultans built few structures comprising of bastions and walls. For over a hundred years, right till the late 16th century it remained under Nizamshahi rulers. The fort was given as Jagir to Maloji Bhosale, grandfather of Shivaji around 1596 AD. In 1665, Mughal forces under Jai Singh and Dilir Khan captured it and Shivaji surrendered it along with 23 other forts. Shivaji recaptured it in 1670 AD. Later in 1818 AD, British captured it. During the Second World War, the German war prisoners were kept here.

As I boarded the state transport bus from Hadapsar bus station, It started drizzling as predicted by the weather software on my phone. Technology these days does not walk, it leaps. But that's another story. The road to Saswad meanders through neatly cut roads through the western ghats. This stretch is called Dive ghat. A major part of the road has hills running parallel to it. It was sunny and rain has stopped now. I got down at Saswad around 3:00 pm.

During my solitary adventures through varied geographies in India, auto rickshaw has played the role of a life boat. I have scaled heights and traversed cities with this poor man's cow. So again, here I was planning to take an auto rickshaw to Purandar base and then start climbing. After failing to strike a deal with couple of auto rickshaw drivers, I decided that its better to take a shared transit to Narayanpur from rickshaw stand a little over 1 km from bus stop. I wallked to the place and got into a shared auto rickshaw. Suddenly it started raining heavily and I witnessed another indigenous invention, 'jugad'. There were two canvas flaps tied in front of our seat in the rickshaw. The driver pulled them out and attached them on both sides of the rickshaw virtually like doors to a cab. I was dumbstruck.

Through the blog that I read earlier in afternoon, I knew that the diversion to Purandar bears a signboard with Shivaji's image on it. When we passed it I asked the driver about the way to the fort and about the signboard but he insisted that the way was on the right. A few metres ahead we got stuck in a traffic jam. I got down and started walkin another 200 metres and I was standing at Narayanpur bus stand. After some enquiry it turned that I need to go back to the diversion again and go in the direction indicated by the signboard. I cursed the auto rickshaw driver as it was getting late it was almost 4:00 pm.

I came back to diversion and tried to get some transport to the foot of the mountain. I tried hitchhiking but no use as there were very few people going that way. As a last resort I stopped another auto rickshaw. The driver told me that its no use going to the foot of the hill and start climbing now as it will get dark and the gates to the fort / cantonment will be closed. There is a battalion stationed at the top that closes the gates after dusk. He can take me up and bring me back to Saswad, if I pay him a little extra. After debating his motives of earning a little extra from a non-local, in my head, I reluctantly agreed to the deal, but told him that I will take as much time as I wish.

The climb began via tar road till I reached the gates. Beyond the gates the road is just mud and stones. I passed two abandoned structures of churches which looked beautiful set in the lush green and hilly backdrop. I stopped to take few pictures and moved on. There is a gate to the left of the road a little lower from it. It is usually referred as Dilli darwaza. I kept treading the muddy path passed another abandoned structre which probably used to be an eating joint. There is house next to that structure, one with burnt clay tiles roofing, popularly known as 'khaprail'. I was overjoyed to find that there was a small tea shop in that house. I made a mental not of having tea there on my descent.

There were steps beside the house that led to a temple. Instead of taking the usual path to the top I went to the back of the courtyard of the temple and started climbing through the muddy creeks. It was slipper as it has rained but could not deter me from moving ahead. It is not that tough a trek. I passed the normal path and people on that a couple of time during my ascent. I had to bend down to find my way through the thick bushes at some places. In less than one hour I was at the steps of the fort.

I gazed around and felt the scenery about me for a while. The ruins of the fort just have one solid structure with wall, a round structure and two gates. Rest of it is just ruined walls. So, not much of a fort though but a good place to trek, sit back and relax. At the top there two ridges run to Vajragarh fort and a temple respectively. Since it was getting dark, I sat there for another half an hour and then started descending.

At some point I felt I have lost my way as I was taking the creeks again. By the time I reached temple courtyard it was dark. I had some tea at the tea shop. While returning, I met two armymen. They were going to close the gates. With some interesting conversation with them, I moved to my auto rickshaw which was waiting at the gates. It took me to Saswad from where I boarded the bus to Pune. On the way it rained heavily. And as I got down in Pune, I had a reason to come back again to Purandar. Visit the Vajragarh and do the entire trek. Well, haven't I thought same about places that I havent visited second time in my life.

One day trip to Nagarjuna Sagar

It was 4:15 am when Kiran knocked at the door. I was already awake in anticipation of a call from the cab which was expected at 4:30 am. I quickly took a shower and packed a pair of Tees and shorts in a small backpack. The cab was waiting just on the mouth of our street. Within no time we were in the Toyota Qualis booked from a local travel agency for a one day trip to Nagarjuna Sagar dam and Ethipottala waterfalls. The plan to visit Nagarjuna sagar was instantenous and and was brought to the table just a day in advance with a quick call to the travel agency. We set out at around 5:00 am. We had a quick breakfast of

fresh idlis and plain dosas along with a cup of tea at the outskirts of Hyderabad. It was already 6:30 am by that time

Nagarjuna sagar is located 150 km south east of Hyderabad, a 3-3.5 hour drive along the National

Highway 9 and State Highway. It is a reservoir considered to be one of the largest man-made lakes of the world.There are three important destinations to visit in its vicinity, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, Nagarjuna Konda, Ethipottala

waterfalls. As per wiki, "Nagarjuna Sagar dam is the world's largest masonry dam built across Krishna river in Nagarjuna Sagar, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, India."

We reached Nagarjuna sagar dam at around 10:00 am. The sun was already up in the sky capsizing all our hopes of nice weather literally. The sky was clear blue, parched with clouds here and there.We stopped on a bridge facing the gates of the dam and clicked few pictures. There is a launch station at the reservoir from where we boarded a diesel engine driven boat to the Nagarjuna Konda island. It is half an hour ride to the island.

Nagarjuna Konda is a historical buddhist town and was the capital of Ikshvaku dynasty (somewhere around 3 A.D.). The island was formed when a hill was submerged in the waters of the Nagarjuna sagar dam. The Buddhist archealogical sites were also submerged and later dug up and are now placed in an Archaealogical museum on the resulting island. Some sites of the stupas and viharas of the ancient town of Nagarjuna Konda are also reconstructed outside the museum. The museum showcases the excavates ranging from old Stone age to the Megalithic age and the works and inscriptions of Ikshvaku period. It was really a treat to the minds.

We got back to the launch station at around 3:00 pm where we had our lunch. The lunch here is mostly rice and curries. Another 15 mins drive and we were at the Ethipottala waterfalls. There is small park which is at the same height as the waterfall. One can have a clear view of the falls from there. We descended through the stairs which were supposed to lead us to the base of the waterfall but unfortunately we could not reach it as it is not open for public any more being a crocodile reserve now with over 300 crocodiles as per heresay. We came back to the park at the top and clicked few photographs. We started for Hyderabad at around 7:30 pm and reached at 11:00 pm. All in all a good one day trip. Since it is just 150 kms, one can choose biking to the destination as well. Consider October- February for the trip, we had tough time with August sun in the afternoon.