The day...

How significant are a birthdays? A lot. They bring so many things back to you. They bring the friends with greeting faces, they bring the pleasant time when the entire time u are in your senses, you feel fresh. They bring the sense of being in demand. They bring in the much needed attention which more or less gets lost in routine lives that we live. This is something which more or less every soul would reply when asked about the first question, but not me.

Yes, not me. Certainly different but yeah, I hold few feelings with myself. Now let me answer the same question. Its just another day. Near and dear ones do come with compliments for me, adding another level of high feeling to the normal one, but trust me they do it every time they find something new in me, they do it every time they get a surprise from me. The entire day is full of attention, but for some reason, I am not of the kind who really gets turned on by this, feels great though. Certainly looks like birthday is just another day in life and most of the birthdays have been like that, but not the last one.

Precious, as I termed it, was the the day when I turned 26. They say, Being loved is a bigger feeling that loving someone. I say being known by someone is a bigger feeling that knowing someone. I got the feeling of being known. My buddies made it sure that I get what I die for, the memorable time. They provided me with only those things which I wanted on that just another day. Never wanted it to be eventful, but sure enough wanted to spend quality time with all the ones I love and thats exactly what I got. People of my genre would understand that it has become a big thing these days to spend quality time with ur loved ones.

Starting Saturday evening, the birthday eve, I was involved in some small time activity. Was going to have a normal dinner with a few friends and then would have headed to the 12'o clock birthday celebrations. It looked pretty simple from that end. Trust me, I was sure enough to see something different than what I had imagined but it was nothing different. Well, after being involved in so many surprise b'day parties I was sure enough to get some surprise or other. But we all simply headed home after having dinner. Well, probably the home is decorated by the time we reach home was another thing in my mind. After reaching home I opened the doors with lot of anxiety. It still is the same old room. Well, no decorations for me. Tried getting to bedroom, although it has never been an exciting place in my life but still hope is hope. Well, the bedroom too seems like the same. Just few more clothes lying here and there. OK. May be the other folks have something in store for me, as they took a little while before coming home. But more or less they too were just like the ones they were at the dinner table. WOW!!! its just another social get together here, said me. Only surprise was the presence of Abhishek and Tripti, Moush's friends, who had come to visit her and were not left with any other option but to be a part of "just another social gathering".

There still are few minutes left for the birthday celebrations to begin so lets get prepared for some calls which I really wait for on this day. And the phone rings right away. I get to hear my sweet little sisters' voice wishing me birthday. In the mean time I get to see the birthday cake nicely decorated with Strawberries which do happen to be my favorite these days. My buddies know this. Its not the regular chocolate or black forest, I can feel the difference and trust me that cake gave me good enough a hint about the other surprises which I was going to have in some time. By the time I had cut the cake, I could smell strawberries all over my face. They really were nice. The cake session did last for sometime and I was made to prepare myself for some more surprise. Now before I go to this one, let me tell you I savor good drinks big time. And while I was guessing that the room is getting decorated by some nice drinks, I was trying to keep my mind on the phone calls which I was attending. In a short time, I was called and what I see is the room is decorated with some nice looking bottles of MILK. Well, as I'd mentioned earlier, I was turning 26th and was greeted by 20 bottles of flavored milk. That was the second one. I love to drink milk and more than that I love ironies. My buddies know this. As I try to relax a bit, I am told that my birthday gift is waiting for me. WOW!!! Its not just another social gathering here. But I've to fight a bit to get it. I have to question my buddies which they answer only in "YES/NO" and guess it in 10 questions. After 1st five questions, for every question I have to do something which I am asked to till the time I get it all right. Well, this seems little too much to get my birthday gift. And the game starts. I get to reach to the gift pretty too soon. And I falter. These lovely buddies make me remember my college days of ragging after that. Since they are the loved ones, they feel pity on me and finally hand me a plastic bat which the kids use in their kindergarten days. Cricket is life and I love batting as much as I love my life. Might be a little overstatement but idea was to convey the feelings. My buddies know this. I had just finished thanking everyone for the precious gift, when I was taken aback by something which I could not believe. It was a true english willow bat. The sleek, sexy, curvy, mean, virgin was waiting for me. Prepared enough to give me an orgasm, it was my ultimate b'day gift. My buddies know this. I was advised not to take it to bed and I tried for it. This is how the eve was. Almost speechless as I was, I did thank my buddies with the minimal words which came out of me. The night then involved some good time with my bro, who had come a long way just to make it to the day.

The second day, which was my birthday started off pretty late, 1:00 PM. As usual, we headed for lunch directly from our beds. There is this small Gujrati thali place where I enjoy hogging quite a few times. We entered the room and were greeted by some great food. While the food was being served, I noticed a celebrity sitting right on the next table. It was Leslie Lewis as I confirmed with my buddies. Having done that, I sure was going to ask for an autograph and thats what I did. He modestly gave me my B'day gift. Now thats surprise as well as a luck. Out of nowhere I got an autograph of someone whom I've seen only in TV sets and appreciated. The just another day is surely turning out to be a lot special day by now.

After lunch we headed to Ani's place. As soon as he opened the door, I saw some good drinks already served. Sunday afternoon, great lunch, good drinks and cricket match. What else do u need. Enjoyed the time till evening there and then headed home for a b'day treat. This is where the other buddies who could not make it at night were to meet me, Pooja, Nikhil, Pranita and Amit.

RAJWADA was the place. It was almost 8:00 PM when we started the party there. Everyone seemed pretty keen to get on with each other. And the show began. As usual, with some drinks on table, everyone immediately wore their singing hats and presented themselves with their best. The songs varied from Jagjit to Aatif. And yes not to forget it included the famous FUSION. Am still finding words to describe it. The show went on till the time it could have been. I really enjoyed to see everyone having their best, on the day. Its a different feeling altogether.

I know its been a long prose for the small event but trust me I am capable of pouring in more words. This is something which I would have only imagined in my dreams. Don't want to raise my expectations and long for another such day. Sure enough, my buddies have carved it in my life with golden pen. Thanks or any such word would be understatement to express my feelings. All I can say now is,

BIRTHDAY IS NOT JUST ANOTHER DAY!!!!

Ideal Date!!

Must be different for different people. This is what I describe as an ideal date.

Going to the place where you started creating memories,
creating the same mood once again,
chirping everything that comes to your mind,
watch her ignore your nonsense with selective listening,
ping her with the touchy feelings of heart once,
see the smile on her face,
see her enjoying the time,
try to be quiet to get the tranquility rule over you,
break the silence with another nonsense,
see the false disgust on her face,
pass on a teaser,
get a hug,
get her in those golden pages,
listen to her inner voice,
show the ignorance for it,
let her know the reality,
forget the world there,

and ultimately, show your emotions with something she loves more than you.

Undeserving Death!!!

Hi all,
This is what made my night yesterday.

It was around 11:30 PM when I started for home yesterday from office. I
was slowly heading towards JM road when a bike passed me at little more
than average speed. I was slow yesterday for some unknown reason. I was
just approaching Garware bridge, the bridge in front of PCH when I heard
a sound of bike skidding. As I crossed the bridge i found the same guy
lying on road. He looked as if having a small injury, coz he wasnt
bleeding a lot. I was awstuck to see that. Me and 3 others immediately
put him in rickshaw and approached Pune Hospital which is at 3 mins
distance from the place of accident.

Poona hospital is where we all got the shock, by the time we reached
hospital he had already passed away. With no major visible injury, he
had to give away his life. Trust me, its not easy to see this. One of
the major reason for this all was, he wasnt wearing helmet. He had
severe internal head injury which took his life on the spot.

Many of us confortably ignore this fact that its not distance but time
which is important. You dont have to be on highway to experience such
casualties. This can happen right in front of ones house too. The
question is do we really want to take this chance?

May god save you all from having the experience that I had yesterday,
but please dont wait for anything to start using helmets. Its not only
the riders but pillion riders too need to understand this. Think in
terms of comparison, for what reasons are you not wearing it and what
can the end result be, you will get the answer.

Please dont ignore this, coz theres nothing more valuable than life itself.

Working Late...

This is something which I have followed ever since I have joined IT industry, really? Not really, I have been working like this since long, probably since my graduation days. Am I workoholic, kind of. The reason being, I enjoy my work, no matter what it is. Actualy more than work, I love the way I work.

I love leisure. I love being lazy and for this love, all i spend is my futile time of night. I know there are many others who do this in the name of work. I dont deny the fact that work loads in IT industry are very demanding, and sometimes there are obvious reasons to stay late and put in that extra mile, but as far as I see, its not always.

I have another query regarding this issue, how can someone expect that everyone must be in their best performing mode at the same time? I mean, there can be many lazies like me who enjoy work in their own style. And believe me, you can not get the best of any worker unless he enjoys his work. May be managing such entities is a difficult task for senior folks but trust me, such working nerds can do the magics, least expected by any of the wise heads. How to manage such entities is their headache.

As far as I am concerned, I understand only two things, work and deadline. Beyond these two words, everything else is my world. And thats the way I like it.

Cricket and My Life

Every one in Indian sub continent understands the word CRICKET.
To share my views, cricket is my first love and it still happens to be special. The dating started long back when I was a toddler. Mom says, bat was the first toy which I dint bundle up in bin. I dont really recall the origin, but as a kid I was far away from childish games. Being one of the energetic ones, I always preffered outdoor sports to indoor ones. The love grew manyfold as I gew towards my youth.

Always enthralled by the whites of the game, I enjoyed reading newspaper for news of cricket, trying to grasp expert comments. Cricket is a Gentlemen's game is what I would digest in. Never missing an opportunity, I could get along with anyone and everyone if it was for cricket. The desire and passion would overcome every barrier, even studies, which are highly regarded back home. Looking at my passion for cricket, I was always black mailed in its name by my elders. Ready for any sacrifice, I learnt to get things done well in time. Guess, thats what is called true love.

Days progressed and months turned into years. The boyish me, was loaded with expectations and responsibilities only to see the rays of hope for cricket rising. When I was in school, I was almost sure about my carrier. Needless to mention, I was already a substantial part of local club.

When you say love, its more than mundane formalities. Its your day and its your night. The craze for cricket not only helped me in my day to day life but also taught one of the first lessons of life. The lessons which I can never forget. It gave me courage to face the odds. It gave me a never give up kinda attitude. It gave me the patience to plan things out. It gave me courage to think. And on top of everything, it gave me my confidence, my identity.

There are very few things in life which one treasures and I believe such things must be few in numbers. People close to me, love to call me cricket freak, lest to understand its my life. The devine treasure, thats what I love to call my game, my cricket.

Vasota Trek

This is one trek which I can categorize into marvel. To update you all about trekking, I am die hard fan of nature and love to explore the unexplored. I enjoy the thrills and stunts involved in trekking equally.

The love found its origin in college days, when trekking meant climbing mountain up and down. The spark got converted to fire when I joined Selectica. This is where I started trekking regularly. Starting from few easy treks to some thrilling ones, it all got nurtured at Selectica.

Recently, when since I switched my Company, luckily enough, I found a trekkers group in and around people of my company. We are the ones who love the extremeties. Sahynadris provide us with lot of opportunities to test ourselves.

Last year it was Prachitgadh, an over night trek amidst reserved forest. Trust me for one thing, life has a different dictionary in forest, especially at nights. Will update a blog on Prachitgadh soon. Vasota was another such trek. After Prachitgadh Vasota was all, on everyones mind. And finally, after exactly 1 year we could make it.


Planning for such an expedition is always a fun. Scanning everything available on net to generate the required energy is pretty common. And to our likings, the information we collected suggested us that we are going to have time of our life. The mention of rich wild life present in the forest nearby added spice to the expedition. We all started dividing things to be accumulated for it. The plan was to reach the base of Vasota by morning, climb Vasota fort by afternoon and leave for Nageshwar which is a cave cum temple. We should reach Nageshwar before the sun sets, spend night at Nageshwar and decend down the next day on the other side of mountain ranges. The plan looks flawless on paper. But one should never under estimate the fact that no one had ever been to Vasota before. All we knew was experince of people who have been there. Mind you, different people have different experiences of same places, so never really bank on such unsaid links.

Weekend was chosen for the trek. We were to leave Pune on friday night, and reach Satara by around mid night, spend the night at some lodge and catch a bus to Bamnoli at 6:00 AM. Bamnoli is the place where we had to take permission of Forest Officer to trek at the serene land of nature. Vasota happens to be surrounded by reserved forest on all four side. So permission is required to conquere it. Much was heard about this reserved forest. We all were absolutely sure about the great time ahead.

Everything happened according to plan and we finally reached Bamnoli. Only to find me fully asleep. Staying awake in morning is something which I could never achieve in recent past. Bamnoli is a small village located at Backwaters of Koyna Dam. From there to base of Vasota is an hours journey in boat.

We could get the permission to go to Vasota and at the same time were warned about the visit of Forest Rangers tonight. The idea which was communicated to us was dont stay at Nageshwar Caves in night. And we thought we would follow the order. Finally, the journey started. We were in the boat in middle of cool morning breeze waking every cell on our body. One can not experience such freshness in city life. The boated cruised steadily to reach the base in an hour. The forest officers there checked our passes and warned us about the same thing.

We could finally start the trek at around 10:40 after completing the formalities.
To much of our disappointment, the forest did not seem virgin at all. There was a clear path which led us to the fort. It was much obvious, animals wont come near to the places used by human beings. We could not see a single animal on the entire journey. But being on the positive side, the ambience of jungle was ineffable. The sanctity of peace glorified the walk even in when we were disappointed. At around 1:45PM we could scale the massive fort. The fort is nothing but asylum of remains of glory. Being located in the middle of Sahyandris the fort gives us feeling of being in control. The wind on fort flows as if bringing messages from the entire kingdom to a central authority. We did enjoy every bit of it. Prepared some food to munch and depart for more exciting part of the trek.

Nageshwar was well in our site along with the path. Although, its been a good 15 odd treks in Sahyandris experience backing me, but the path looked little scarry. Nevertheless, it just added to our enthusiasm.


We departed for Nageshwar at around 3:30 PM. The walk to nageshwar was partly through jungle and partly along the edge of Sahynadris. The edge here means a strip of around half foot with a step of 400 feet on one side and dense jungle on the other. The walk made us remember our near ones on quite a few occasions. I hope i'm clear on this point. Destined to win, we made our way to the cave well in time. And to our surprise we found a bunch of dry wood which we were to use to make fire in night. All that was missing was water.

Before the sun made its last dip in the mountain ranges we had armed ourselves with everything we would have needed for night. Warm clothes were on immediately. Preparations for the royal meal too had begun. The experience of lighting up a small fire to cook the food on, is again, Marvelous and I did not miss it. Started preparing for the tomato soup which was a big hit in the meal. We were soon engulfed into unending darkness of forest. It was only the fire which we could see in the world around us. The wild forest wind making tuning its raga added music to the ambience. The rules of life started changing. I dont think many of you have experienced the fear of being stolen away, we did. After the soup, it was turn of actual meal, Veg Pulav. With the espertise,we did manage to make the best pulav i have ever had in my life. And finally, it was the time for which every sole on earth would die. Sitting under a clear bright night sky. This time it was fall ceiling of stars on our roof. Air condtion was provided by forest wind and the Bose speakers were tuned to the jungle raga. I know I cant put it in words.

After satisfying ourselves, we all went to bed. We had to start climbing down the next morning. Dawn brought with it, the freshness of life. Rejuvenated, we all were with much needed energy, coz the climb down has challenged the masters of trekking. It was like walking along an 89.9 degrees rock, measuring 800 fts in height. Life looked simplified by the iron rope anchored with the rock, only till the time we actually got there. One hour on rocks, really ROCKS. I havent had a more dreadful dream than the walk in my life.

After crossing that rock pacth, things were smooth enough. It was just a matter of walking along hill side to reach the destination, Choravane. We scaled down in pretty good time also, just to find the villagers enjoying game of cricket amidst the beauty of nature. We were quick to join them in the game.

Playing cricket in fields again speaks a new language for itself. We enjoyed the game till we were served for lunch by the villagers. The food there has no comparison on the urban front.

Finally, the time came when we had to catch a bus back to Chiplun, from where we were to catch a bus to Pune.

There are many moments in life which one remembers for long. Even I have few such moments. Vasota trek brought many such moments together. Such was the trip.

Sharing our moments with you.
http://community.webshots.com/album/518772421ihQvIe/0

Charlatan.