I Had a Dream Last Night...

I had a dream last night, in which I fell in a muddy stream, almost like a gutter. I was holding on to rocks in an awkward position. I find a small size cowboy hat, a book that I wanted to read. Somehow I am happy that I have found those. Nobody comes to help me even though there are quite a few people at the banks of this disgusting stream. I am covered with thick layer of clothing and yelling "help". I then assume that the cloth almost covering my mouth is the reason why people can not hear me. I then balance myself to get out, and my socks, shoes are soaked. After I am out of the water, I see people leading their normal lives and even though some saw me there, nobody bothered. There was an equal mix of Indians and foreigners around. I walk into a Mall and want to buy something and then I realize that my bag is missing. (This is my company bag, a big black laptop backpack, with Directi written on it, no laptop though) I see one of my friends, who is now in Bangalore and ask for his assistance. He starts inquiring and looking around.
The clothes made me feel like I was in McleodGanj, the Stream felt like a mix of Mumbai gutters and the beautiful Bhagsu waterfall stream; and the malls+my Bangalore friend made it seem like I was in Bangalore.
All in all I was upset and lonely at times. I had to come out of the gutter situation myself and I still do not know if I ever found my bag again that had my wallet, with my IDs, CCs, License etc. I was searching and searching and then my eyes were open. It seemed like 7:30 AM, but to my horror, it was 10:47AM and I had a 11:00AM drumming class, that is half and hour away from my place. wwhhhaacccckkk.....I jumped out of the bed and rest is as usual, chaotic.

In McLeodGanj, Dharamshala!!

It is absolutely brilliant here and I have been maintaining a diary of sorts :) Lots of pictures to be taken. I have seen the biggest monkey and I hang out with a German-Argentinian girl, who calls herself the Monkey God :P
So far have seen the Dalai Lama Residence and gone up and down the streets. I can see triund from my guesthouse window and I eat meals at different places.
Yesterday I was a bit bored, but today I am getting a hang of things.
It took me 28hours by train and another 5 hours, with 3 changes of bus to get here. But you know what...It is soooo worth it!!
It is a bit commercial though. like a proper tourist place, but the people, weather and the neighbouring places make up for it.
That's it from me now.

Riding Solo to the Top of the World

I can't fathom how he's done this all by himself. But I too will give it a shot, someday. May be not in the same way, but daaaaiimmnnn...this is inspiring!!
*Bowing down before Gaurav Jani*

Hi, hi, hi, beautiful Sunday. This is my, my, my, beautiful day!

A truly awesome Sunday spent in 8 parts.

a) Had a good lunch with my parents at home, after ages.
b) Was online and chatted with people.
c) Went for a friendship day special dance class.
d) Met some positively interesting people and had coffee+conversation with them.
e) Walked alone for an hour and explored thakur village. Nothing much there, but time spent alone is always time spent well!
f) Met really old friends, after a really long time, back in my area. Spoke about so many different things. Right from how latest hip-hop music is all screwed up to how school mates are getting married.
g) Went club hopping in Malad with a friend (disgusting cheap Hindi music made us do that)
h) Went for a long drive to Bandra and back home with music from my phone playing all the way.

All in all a fun package with a plethora of experiences and a sense of fulfillment after having updated my blog. Yay!!

My Impromptu Road Trip

I had been waiting to make a road trip since forever. Most of my recent weekends were used up for some or the other official work. Last weekend, after a really long time was a free one and I was hell bent on making a trip. Out of many roles that Ivan plays in my life, traveling buddy is one of them.

The Planning: Friday
At 11pm Friday night Ivan and I started brainstorming. Various options popped up. There was Kelva beach in Virar, Ganpatipule near Ratnagiri and all places in between. Our contemplation ended at 2:30 AM, when we finalised on Ganpatipule, a 370 km odd distance, which means 8 crazy hours of non-stop riding. Since Ivan would do all the riding (I am not too good with geared bikes, but I shall be soon) I was pretty excited to just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. Not that I was oblivious to the butt aches and the knee pain or the cramps; but when it comes to traveling, it is always worth it!

The Execution: Saturday
(Departure)
I started to pack and was ready at 4AM to hit the beach :D Ivan picked me up on his economy bike, the Hero Honda Passion Plus, which btw gives excellent mileage. And thus began our modest adventure... Little did we know where the road was taking us.

(direction seeking)

After filling fuel worth Rs.400 we rode on the empty Mumbai western express highway. When we reached Bandra we were slightly confused as to which route to take. During our direction seeking phase we met taxi drivers who were baffled by our choice of destination+vehicle combo; and those who told us which of the routes NOT to take. Fed up with the discouragement shown by these regular road trippers we asked for directions to Lonavala and then zoomed off on the Eastern express highway.

(Break - Panvel)

Around 6AM, it started getting brighter and there was tad bit of unrest within us. In all the enthusiasm we forgot that our bodies were craving for fuel too. The timing of our hunger and Panvel stop coincided. A good 30 min break with omlette pav and 2 cups of Chai sorted me out. With a bit of leg shaking and stretching I hopped on to the bike again.

(NH4 baby!!)
The weather seemed to have been created for a biker’s delight. Cloudy skies with extremely light showers kept us from getting dehydrated. The temperature and apt the humidity added to a pleasant experience. We were now zooming our way off on the NH4. I would claim it as a must do/see for every person who likes to ride/drive amidst lush green natural beauty. Kudos to the governing bodies for having maintained such a stunning road. I constantly kept taking pictures on my camera phone and was awe stuck all along the way until the realization of how far Gantipule actually is, to make a one straight journey, dawned upon us.

(Decision making part1: Lonavala)
I just had the weekend and Ivan and I, in the middle of nowhere, unanimously deduced that Ganpatipule should be a trip planned when one has some more days in hand, so that, one can ride, take breaks, rest in some place and recommence the ride. The best way to describe us then would be: two road trippers with a bike, the open road and no destination. We rode on aimlessly for sometime until Ivan randomly asked me, “Have you ever been to Lonavala?” and since I hadn’t, we chose to spend the weekend there. It is mind bogglingly surprising how one feels weirdly sorted once the destination is defined.

(Decision making part2: Khandala)
The moment I reached Lonavala all my hopes, dreams and expectations that were built up by weekend-family-holiday-public were shattered. The place was nothing but a replica of a little town placed on a high altitude with hotels and chikki shops. No places to see, no interesting people, and the greenery just vanished. The weather was the only positive but not convincing enough. Now that we were already at Lonavala we decided to give Khandala a shot too. Since Ivan had already been there during his college days, he knew of a nice place called Mary Guest House (or something like that). I didn’t want to be cynical and started ushering pleasant thoughts in my mind.

Now Mary Guest house was a beautiful place, away from the crowds, facing the valley coupled with an overdose of greenery and a quiet waterfall. The Zen in me was summoned back to life; but was sent into darkness soon when the caretaker informed us that the place needs to be booked in advance from Mumbai itself and that he has no authority to give us a room.

With heavy hearts we walked away from what could have been the perfect weekend.

We left the Bike at the entrance and went on a mini trek cum sight seeing. Post which we then took upon the mission of finding a good place to stay. For an hour we roamed about Khandala that looked like an extended version of Lonavala. We ventured into the interiors, crossed a fatak (railway crossing) in order to find a serene abode. We did find some pretty good homes, but not for rent even though they were uninhabited by sadistic owners. The only place to lease was in one corner of Khandala and insanely overpriced.

(Decision making part3: Pune)
Disgusted by how commercial this place was we reached a fork that read: left Mumbai – Right Pune. It didn’t seem that we had much choice now, did it? And this time again I felt weirdly sorted :P The ride regained its awesomeness. We passed by Karjat and were counting kilometres after another break of chai, bhajiyas and cigarettes.

(Dozing)
We were reaching city limits and the fatigue started catching up with me. I began to doze on Ivan’s shoulder. Any rider would know how annoying that is. Ivan’s yellings were going in vain as I was giving out spurts of gibberish. I tried and tried to keep my eyes open and then I began singing the most wannabe of bollywood songs. To my surprise, it worked!! Although we did get some disgusted stares, my life was dearer to me and I had to continue.

(Arrival)
We reached Pune at 12PM. Our first stop was German Bakery. After some refreshments we moved into a room in Koregaon Park for Rs300 per day. We drank our first bottle of Pune beer and then sank into glorious sleep.

(Exploring Pune)
Our exploration revolved around German Bakery, Malaka Spice (a recommended place for foodies, I have had the most delicious food there), meeting Pune based friends, some more of German Bakery, Footwear shopping, Burger King and lastly on Sunday night party hunting. The party scene was disappointing, all the places were shutting at 11pm, some places were closed and others wanted Ivan to wear full pants and closed footwear (haha). We asked people for party destinations, but nothing worked out. So before everything was shut we went to the closest shop and stocked up water and cigs for the night. It was good that we crashed early, since we had to leave early in the morning.

(The Departure)
We left at 5AM Monday, with marginal fuel and all the petrol pumps were shut. My turn to yell at Ivan for not having listened to my advise at night. We passed by about 5 closed pumps till we found one that was just opening at 5:55am.

The ride back was spectacular. We paused for some pictures of well-posed monkeys and picturesque view. It was irritating to find s*** loads of garbage and plastic waste there. Looked like someone had a biryani feast there and forgot to clean it up. Feel like cursing such people.

(slight tragedy)
We got on to the bike and Ivan got a weird feeling while riding. I got off and confirmed that the tyre was punctured. Luckily the repair guy was 5 mins away. But we had to drag the bike on the wrong side of the super fast expressway. After having spent an hour and half, removing the nasty lil’ nail and braving the rain, the bike was good to go.

(Victory Cigarette)
It was almost 11am when we could sense the difference in the weather. From pleasant and fuzzy, it turned into hot, sunny and humid. That was the sign. We were approaching Mumbai. The traffic got denser. We came across a cop in a jeep who was extremely fascinated by us and wanted to know about our trip and whether we were college students etc. We met at several signals and jams till we took a turn towards powai. At Hiranandani we got off the bike and out came the victory cigarette. This is a ritual Ivan and I follow after we complete a trip.

The Travellers/The Happiness/The Tiredness/The Office Bunking/The Pride/The Road
As we chilled at mochas, a sense of pride and accomplishment covered me. There was muck on my pants and dirt on my face. My nails were black and my hair - rough. My body asked for nothing but a bed. I looked like a hardened traveller and I felt even better. It was too good a day to go to office and I was drained out.The tiredness felt like a reward and experience scarred me for life. After all it was my first ever road trip and it was a hit.

Back on the Mumbai highway I was thinking about how the trip began and how I was excited to go to a beach. It was not too late when I realized that a road trip is not as much about the destination as it is about the Road itslef.

A Game of Paint Ball

As ignorant as I am, I had not heard, read, seen or known absolutely anything about Paint ball. But I was fortunate enough to get to play it with a group of extremely enthusiastic men and our CEO was generous enough to sponsor it (although I don't really know who paid the fee finally...hmm...not a very nice thing to say)

This was soon after a tech workshop that I was a involved in organizing. So it was a long tiresome day that we summed up by an even more tiring game of paint ball. In the beginning I didn't know how things really worked and I ended up finishing all my paint bullets. It is not very easy when everything looks blurry through the not-so-well-kept visor. And yeah, the helmets only served the purpose of protecting my eyes and forehead. My head was the target since I was not well versed with the game, considering my 1st time :) The head shot did not consider anything though, it hurt and it hurt bad. The yellow coloured hair gave me a funky look nonetheless.

I'd like to believe that I am quick learner and soon started aiming and shooting :P My glorious moment was when I shot a colleague whom I can't even aim at, while playing counter strike on the computer.

Mid-way itself, I was drenched in sweat, head to toe; the jackets were really thick. Formal clothes and sticky feeling , do not go hand in hand.

By the end of it, my team lost by a close margin and I emerged as a proud player. Not too bad for a first timer eh! Ithoroughly enjoyed myself but I must admit, it is an expensive indulgence. Don't know when I'll get to play it next.



The pics are taken from my camera phone. I don't really have the money to invest in a camera now, but I am saving some up. For now, we just have to make peace with these pics. No pics of me :( just my colleagues. I was the only girl there. The background is the where we played.

Exploring Bhangra Dancing

I was quite upset by the amount of fat collecting on all the wrong places of my body due to my sedentary job. The lack of physical activity and excitement in my life made me join dance classes (obviously close to my office, so that I can go for my 5-6pm class n then head back to office. Plus there is no excuse for missing class. I forgot to go for one session though :P Now getting back to the topic... Why I joined dance classes? >> well I like music and I like dancing and I also like to keep fit.
Ahh, the dance class has quite a few kids and teenagers (unfortunately I do not fall into either of the segments now, but 20's isn't that bad, right?), who like the hindi/bollywood genre. So now we have finalised the song. No, I dnt know the name of the track or the artist, which is something that I find absolutely no pride in admitting. But I am assuming you know what the music is (psst...if not, it's in the title)

Not like I don't like Indian Music. I mean I am Indian n I have great respect for Indian music and anything Indian for that matter, but commercial music is something that I am not too fond of. Although I don't mind it.

Now the thing is that when I dance to a certain track, it is either the lyrics or the unique beats that make my body groove. Now the challenge with this Bhangra Dance thing is that I can't understand the lyrics too well and the beats sound the same. So I don't really know when, what begins, by the feel of the music. As ardent lover of music, dance and almost any form of art, I really wish that I can soon feel the music. Rather than just memorising the steps, I want it to come to me by instinct. As much as I hate to admit it, bollywood music is not really my type :P
I will nevertheless try my best to relate to the music, I don't intend to give up but I may just try some work around and hope that the next set of classes will have the music that I can relate to.

I am taking this as a new experience and will certainly complete this challenge. The trainers are pretty good. Especially the girl who has a good sense of humour (saves the day) and makes it easier. Oh..how could I forget, the warm up sessions have the kinda music that appeal to my ears and I am thankful for that!!

And by the way, I love Indian Instrumental Music.

Farewell

In an over populated country like where you have to fight for survival, chasing your passion is a dream many have, but few follow.

And I am saying this in context to what one of my friends is planning to do. He has quit his job and will soon be venturing into the interiors of India. Something that he has been wanting to do since a long time and he calls it, His Great Indian Adventure.

Today is his last day at Work and this post is dedicated to him, my friend, my co-worker, my alter ego... my lover.

To Experience

Everyday as I grow,
There’s something more about me that I know.
Everyday that I live,
There is something I take, something I give.

Independence fortifies me in every way,
And I learn to do all things my way.
Coupled with experiences of pains and joys,
Being loved or hurt by my girls and boys.

Consequent changes both good and bad,
Changes in the reasons that make me happy and sad.
Confusion takes over my thoughts and deeds,
I am trapped between my wants and my needs.

At times I am afraid to accept what I get,
With the fear that someday, I may regret.
Yet, grows the desire to explore on my own
Things of this world that to me are still unknown.

There will be things that fall at my feet
And there shall be those that are out of reach
Dreams that I will struggle for, to turn into reality
Some I’ll learn were never really meant to be.

And then someday in life I hope to know,
Of what I had, and what I let go.
I will rise and I don’t mind the fall,
As long as I can say, I experienced it all.