Coasting along the Konkan Coast

Finally it was the time for the dream to come true. I had always wanted to do a Konkan coast ride. Instead, we ended up doing a Karwar-Gokarna trip last year starting on 23rd Dec 07. This time round, I had a holiday during the X’mas break and it was only on Friday before the break that myself, Bandya and Vindy agreed upon the Konkan Coast ride. The trip was to start exactly a year later on 23rd Dec again. :-) Lots of online and offline research, a tip or two from some other bloggers who had done the similar trip earlier and a couple of meetings later our tentative plan and routes were finalized.

Da Romans:

That’s what we call ourselves after the Karwar trip. It was a smaller group this time round though. Me on my Red Enfield Thunderbird, Bandya (Suryakant) on his Black Thunderbird and Vindy (Vinod) on his good ol’ CBZ made up the pack.

The Route:

Day 1 saw us cover nearly 410KM from Pune to Vengurla via Nipani, Shippur on NH4, Ajra, and Amboli Ghat.

Day 2 was to be from Vengurla to Hedavi as per the original plans. But we could only reach Ratnagiri by the sun down passing through Malwan, Kunkeshwar, Devgad, Girye, Vijaydurg, Padel Titha, Amberli Bridge, and Jaitapur. At Jaitapur we loaded the bikes in a boat and crossed over the creek to Nate. Moving ahead, crossed Bhatye finally reaching Ratnagiri.

An early start on Day 3 and we were moving up north leaving Ganpatipule behind reaching Jaigad. Time to load the bikes in a boat and cross the creek to Tavsal. From Tavsal we took the coastal roads again through Hedavi, Velneshwar, Guhagar and Dhopave. Here we took a ferry to cross over to Dabhol. Back on the coastal route we touched Kolthar, Burondi, Ladghar, Dapoli, Harne, Anjarla, Kelashi, reaching Veshwi Jetty near Bankot. Took a ferry to cross-over to Bagmandala and halted at Harihareshwar.

We started off Day 4 by crossing Shrivardhan, Diveagar, and Dighi where we had planned to take a ferry to Agardanda, but instead moved along the creek to save on time, passing through Mhasala, Pabhare, Mandad, Agardanda, Rajpuri, Murud, Kashid, Revdanda, Chaul and ending at Nagaon.

On Day 5 we decided to go all the way up to Revas via Alibaug, Mandava to complete the coast . From Revas we started our journey back home through Pen, Khopoli and Lonavala.

The Journey:

The five days threw so much at us that if I want to recite it all, it will be a 50 page blog. But it will be unfair not to mention some experiences, good or otherwise, and call this post complete.

Day 1:

The NH4 till Nipani was pretty much usual monotonous stuff. It was in a jungle just before Amboli village that Vindy beeped his horn and gave us the good news that his bike’s rear tyre had a puncture. We were prepared for this, or so we thought. Off came the wheel. Then with two long screw drivers and lots of effort we managed to get the tyre off the rim. Vindy was carrying a spare tube. In she went and again after lots of effort we managed to put the tyre back over the rim. All three of us standing on that tyre trying to push it back on the rim was a sight to watch. It was now time for inflating the thing and, curse the devils, we couldn’t inflate it after more than 20 mins. of pumping. Finally, I and Bandya took the tyre to a puncture shop in Amboli village nearly 10 KMs away. Guess what? In our efforts to get the tyre on the rim, we had managed to puncture the new tube as well. :-) Some 20 mins later, with puncture fixed, back we went in the jungle where Vindy was amusing himself with some creative photography. After another effort to get the wheel back on, we started moving towards Vengurla. It was on day 1 where we rode past one of the high points of the trip as far as the roads and scenery goes. Yes, the famous Amboli Ghat!! It was so refreshing to drive down that road after the monotonous NH4 and the puncture episode.

Day 2:

It was at Vijaydurg, that we were directed to a newly constructed bridge at Amberli that would take us to Jaitapur. This road from Padel Titha to just before Jaitapur was an experience in itself. Basically the journey gave us all types of roads it could, right from nice smooth tar roads, to dirt tracks to tar roads without… err…. tar. This was the slowest part of our journey. Slower than any other throughout five days where we could cover only 40KM in 2.5 Hrs. But all was not bad. Reaching Jaitapur we were to cross the creek and this is where we got the first hand experience of loading the bikes in a boat on a jetty which had steps, not a ramp. The worst fear was, “what if the bikes fall in the river?”. But the boat-man seemed very confident and spoke as if it was an everyday affair for him which was not at all misplaced, I must say. If loading the bikes was a challenge then unloading them was an even bigger challenge. At the end of all of us were exhausted and dehydrated. But in a hindsight I must say it was one of the high points of our journey.

Day 3:

One of the memorable roads has to be the internal road from Ratnagiri to Ganpatipule via Nevare. A real picturesque journey along the winding roads, with sea on one side and the mountains on the other. On this day we crossed the creeks thrice. First at Jaigad, in a normal boat where the loading and unloading experience of the previous day came in handy. Then at Dhopave, to get to Dabhol and finally at Vishve Jetty (near Bankot) to get to Bagmandala. The last two were easy. All one needed to do was to start the bike and ride-in on the ferry which could carry three, four and six wheelers as well. The other memorable road, but for the reasons I would like to forget was between Harne and Bankot. It invoked memories of the road between Joida and Kadra during our journey to Karwar the previous year. But as was a norm with this entire trip, all was not bad. The untouched (some call it virgin) beaches at Anjarle, Ladghar were worth the ass-beating that the roads gave us. I also managed to get the darshan of my kul-daivat, Vyaadeshwar at Guhagar.

Day 4:

We were now moving up north and getting nearer to Mumbai. What it meant was that the places were now getting crowded and a hindrance to three of us who had gotten into the habit of being the only three souls on the road. Bandya bought a Halwa fish somewhere between Shrivardhan and Diveagar, promptly dropping it on the road near Dighi. Vindya trailing him, picked it up and put it in my bag. We ensured that Bandya knew that he has lost his big catch only to let him know that it was safe when we reached Nagaon. One of the soar points was the road from Dighi to Murud. My bums were really hurting now and I was basically not able to enjoy much of the ride. I changed into shorts at Murud and with a towel on the seat the journey till Nagaon was more than bearable. It was in fact fun. I took a detour at Chaul for darshan of my gram-daivat Shitaladevi. Another high point has to be the Nagaon beach and the place we stayed at. It was basically an old house with nice rooms and a great waadi. We had an outdoor candle-light dinner that night with the Halwa making it on the menu.

Day 5:

A Konkan trip without a dip in the sea? Yes! That was something missing till now. And that was what we planned to fix at Nagaon. So first up in the morning we went to the beach and spent a good hour and half in the waters. The only other mentionable point of the day was getting to Revas and hence completing the Konkan coast trip.

The People:

That’s another fascinating aspect of a long journey on a bike. We met and spoke to some people; we saw many others and did not speak to them but still were left with all sorts of thoughts about them.

The Lodge owner at Vengurla and his mentally challenged son took care of us at the end of day 1. The guy had a typical Konkani tone to his language and the ‘jibheche tirke walan’ for which that particular Konkan region is supposedly famous for. He did all the tea and breakfast preparations and his son, I think his name was Babu, helped him in which ever way he could. Babu got particularly fond of Bandya and shook hands with him and gave him a “God bless you” good-bye when we were about to leave.

Then there was the journalist we met at Tavsal after crossing over in a boat from Jaigad, who was very enthusiastic about the route we were doing. He is trying hard to set up the tourism business at this faraway place and elaborated his plans to achieve it. The chat brought fourth the lax attitude of the local people and lack of knowledge of the world which exists just a few Kilo Meters away at places like Hedavi. He also said that the reason he is telling us about all this is because we would now go back to cities and tell people about the places unknown to them.

The lodge boy at Harihareshwar was pretty impressed with our friendly attitude so much so that he himself started reciprocating the same towards us. Then there was this couple (who were not really a couple, because they stayed in separate rooms) boarding in the same place as ours. They were driving down along the coast and we helped them with the routes and stuff.

The eight to ten ladies selling flowers and garlands outside the Shitaladevi temple at Cahul are remembered for a weird reason. The moment I parked my bike to get inside the temple, all of them started asking me to buy flowers from them. When I said I don’t need to buy any flowers, some still kept insisting. That’s when one elderly lady said, “अहो, तो बाईक वर आला आहे इतक्या लांब. त्याला फुले नको म्हणाला तो. नाट नका लाऊ त्याला." ("He has come on a bike all this way. He said he dose not want any flowers. Don't put a jinx to his journey") It was a really surprising comment which brought out the caring side of these simple people.

The Waadi owner at Nagaon who was managing the entire waadi on his own with some help from the locals was an interesting soul. He spoke about his son who was working in Mumbai and the lack of interest shown about having to manage this place. He also spoke about Nagaon’s rise as a tourist destination due to pollution at the beaches up north like Alibaug. He was very appreciative of the fact that we came all the way from Vengurla on a bike and proudly shared his son’s achievement of a bicycle journey from Delhi to Mumbai.

Apart from these, there were quite a few number of people who, sometimes for no reason, are part of the memory. The waiter at hotel near Shippur, the puncture repair guy just before Amboli, the person in a red Swift who was the only out of 50 odd vehicles which passed us, to ask if we needed spanners and stuff in the jungle where we trying to fix the puncture, the quietly confident boat-man at Jaitapur, the fort guard at Vijaydurg who invited us to visit HIS fort, the girl managing a small tea-stall at Naate, the boat-man at Jaigad, the old man selling flowers at Guhagar who was repeatedly asking Bandya why he was not going in the temple and the countless number of people whom we asked for directions and were guided towards right routes almost all the times.

One last mention in this section has to be of the people, mainly kids, who watched in amusement/awe as three of us wearing jackets, helmets and gloves with saddle bags on the back-seat passed through narrow roads and small villages. The look in their eyes was very disturbing to me. I may not be able to say what it was about the way they looked at us that disturbed me the most. Was it a mixture of awe with may be a hint of wanting to do it themselves added to the ignorance of existence of the things we were wearing and doing? I am not sure.

The Fun:

When Da Romans like Bandya, Vindy and I are there, the trip is never dull. The PJs and laughing out loud for no good reason is a common occurrence.

If the Karwar trip was dominated by the Javed da Jafferys istyle dialogues from Salam Namaste (“In the Roam, do tha romans” – That’s the origin of our group’s name Da Romans.), this time round it was Kachra and Bankot ( बाणकोट ) Rap.

It was weird that a reference to a Russian staying in Vengurla led to her asking what Kachra is. The answer being “What? You have not seen Lagaan?” and that’s where it all started. The Kachra acting, with hands bent at the wrists and weird imaginations about how Kachra would go about the bike ride and other stuff was the pastime for rest of the trip.

So was the Bankot Rap. Basically at Vijaydurg, Vindy started to rap on the lines of Shivaji conquering the Vijaydurg fort and centuries later three of us visiting it then moving ahead and reaching Bankot. So then on anything we did, we converted it into a rap lyrics and ended with “Bankot aa haa haa Bankot yeah yeah yeah Bankot” We soon plan to come out with a full-blown hip-hop song of Bankot Rap. :-)

The last one has to be on the Nagaon beach, where in the pitch dark we were sipping on the beer. Suddenly two bright flashlights started moving towards us. With recent security scenario, we knew that police has increased their vigil on the beaches and we thought they were the men in uniform. So we quickly gathered out stuff and started off just to realize those were some kids looking for empty beer bottles. When they realized what we thought they were laughing as hell. “काका तुम्ही घाबरले का? एय, हे बघ काका घाबरले... काका, पोलीस आले तरी घाबरायचे नाय. तिकडे पळून जायचे जोरात." was his last advice.

The Bottom Line:

5 days, 1200+ KM, 3 bikes, 3 jokers, beautiful coastal roads, BLISS - I love Konkan.

The Photos:

Check the trip snaps from Vindy's camera here.
Check the trip snaps from Bandya's camera here.
Read Vindy's version on the trip here..

In the Fine Print...

सकाळ तनिष्का च्या नोव्हेंबर २००८ ’शेजार’ विशेषांकात माझी आणि स्वप्नाची मुलाखत प्रकाशित झाली आहे. ती इथे देत आहे. :-)

प्रश्न...

(मायबोली.कॉम वर आयोजित दुसर्‍या गझल कार्यशाळेत लिहिलेली गझल)

धुळीत ह्या पाऊल जराही मळले नाही
असा चाललो! वाटेलाही कळले नाही

भेट न व्हावी - हे ना जमले कधी तुलाही
तू टाळावे हे मजलाही टळले नाही

पोटाला जे चटके बसले... कसले होते?
चुलीत सरपण नावालाही जळले नाही!

फिरवत बसलो जाते, पण मी काय मिळवले?
ना ओवीही सुचली... काही दळले नाही

काय वेगळे घडते जर भेटलोच नसतो?
ह्या प्रश्नाने सांग तुलाही छळले नाही?

Bitten By the Bicycle Bug

It was nearly a year and half ago when it first happened. But to set the context, the narration should begin at a point in time two and half years ago.

It was then that I managed to score a century. Alas it was not in cricket but what the scale showed when I stood on a weighing machine. I joined Talwalkars and within 5 months I was feeling light, both at heart and on weighing scale; lighter by nearly 14 Kgs at 87. Then came the usual drop in enthusiasm and determination levels helped further by project pressure and all was lost... err... gained, to be more precise, over the next year or so.

That's when it first bit me. I had to do something about my weight. My brother-in-law had bought a new Hero Honda bike. He had a bicycle (of a make called Hamilton Firefly unknown to me) which he used in his junior college days and since then was standing in parking lot with dust and rust all over. I decided to get it and start some sort of physical exercise. So got the punctures done and brought it down to my place in Padmavati. No surprises here!!! It stayed there in the parking lot for couple months. When I shifted to a place in Erandwane in Oct last year, it was promptly loaded in the truck and transferred with rest of the stuff.

Around this same time Vindya was bitten by the bug too. He was doing a very exhaustive research on the kind of bike he wanted to buy for himself. Day in and day out, he would tell us all sorts of things and write all sorts of stuff on his blog about it. The problem he faces is that his parents are not at all keen to let him have his way in this particular regards. (Well, so far they have succeeded, but they are not able to stop him thinking about it as is apparent from some of the recent sketches he has drawn. :-) )

October was also the start of Inter IT Cricket season and our team started practicing at the Law College grounds every morning. That gave me an idea. Being in Erandwane, the Law college ground was now easily manageable on a cycle. So got the bike serviced and got a new broader seat fitted to it. The first day I rode the cycle to grounds, I did not need to go through warm-up routine and was bowling at considerably slower speeds. :-) I did share this info with Vindy though, just to add to his frustration. But as always, the stint did not last long and within a week's time it was back to good old ways. The bike was again catching up with all the dust and rust it had lost during servicing.

Finally, when I was just about close to touching the golden mark of 100, I joined Talwalkars again in the month of Feb this year. Coupled with cricket practice in the mornings, gym in the eve and matches over the weekends, I managed to get my self to a healthy 88Kgs within 3 months. But due to some injuries and illnesses, I again became an irregular visitor to the gym. My problem is when my workout at the gym stops, my mouth starts. Within next three months I was again at 94Kgs. :-) So finally came a day in mid august when I was free of all injuries and illnesses and started the Gym workout regularly again.

That’s when the Bicycle-Bug bit me the second time. On 5th Sep I noticed that I was losing weight but not fast enough. I decided that I need to do something else as well and I noticed the cycle. :-)

So on Saturday, I took the bike to the repair shop again. It turned out that the rear tyre was all cracked up and needed replacement. The rubber brake studs had also become hard and needed replacement as well. I told the shop guy to get it all plus servicing and cleaning done by end of the day. When I went to get the cycle, I couldn't locate it at first. The repair guy had done a great job cleaning the bike, just to remind me that the original colour of the bike was red. I checked that all was well with bike and paid the bill of Rs 250/- and got the bike home.

Come Sunday morning and I was alone at home. So decided to test my riding skills. I knew about a cycle track on the road which runs along the Mutha river and connects Rajaram Bridge with Mhatre Bridge. The sun was shining and off I went on the track. Well it was really cool to drive along the specially made cycle track and exciting as well when I needed to duck under the branches of the trees or negotiate the pedestrians walking on it. It was nearly a 3+ KM ride till Rajaram Bridge and back.

In the evening it was raining hard and I did not know what to do with the time I had. With time, the rain died down to a slight drizzle and Swapna was away at the hospital. So I thought it to be a good idea to get soaked in the rain on a bicycle. When I started from my place, the rain had completely stopped. The roads were wet with water puddles all around and temperatures at a very pleasant level. Riding on, leaving Deenanath Hospital behind, I came to the main road. A turn to the right took me over the Mhatre Bridge. Just at the end of the bridge, I overtook two camels just to realise that my height sitting upright on the cycle nearly matched that of the camels'. :-) No sooner than I started thinking about where to head next, I knew it has to be Vindy's place. I couldn't just let go a chance like this. So on I went, turning left on Shastri Road deliberately riding through the water puddles which invoked some school-time memories. Finally I stopped in front of Vindy's house. His car was not to be seen in the parking and guessed that he might not be at home. So called him up only to find out that he had just reached our Baner office Gym. Damn!!! I told him I was standing next to his house and just thought of catching up with him. And then made a special mention that, "NO I am not on my bullet but on a bicycle". Man, I could smell burning smoke from Baner right in Navi Peth :-)

After that, I rode along the Shastri road and negotiating some signals found myself on Tilak road. My next stop was famous "Tilak", a snack center famous for its Tea. A quick hot cuppa tea and I was off again through small lanes. Crossed the Shastri road and headed towards the bridge adjacent to Garware College. There was some crowd at the bridge for "Visarjan". I crossed the bridge looking at the river-side road which I use daily to go to office. I realized that there are steps at the Garware end of the bridge which take one down to that road. Amazing!!! Once there, up went the cycle on my shoulder and I was carrying it down the steps. Took this road to "Erandwane Gaothan", successfully negotiated the steep gradient and the narrow lane at the end of the road and was back at my place all soaked up not due to rains but sweat.

I hope this time around it's not a short stint and hope that venom from the bug bite lasts forever. Only time will tell!!!

One for the rain...

It was a couple of weeks back in a mini get-together of 1 current and 3 ex employees of my previous company, that the idea of an outing on 30th August was put forth by Ankur and seconded and thirded by me, Ankush and Amit. The day was fixed but the location, which was deemed to be an unimportant aspect of the journey, was not.

Come 29th Aug and the list had changed. It was to be myself, Amit, Ankush and Vindy. Ankush came down to Pune from Mumbai for the trip and after very few deliberations it was decided to head in general direction of Satara and beyond to Thoseghar. It was also decided to make it a bike trip instead of a car drive as the rain gods were not so happy during past few weeks. The meeting point and time were supposed to be end of flyover on katraj by-pass near Sinhagad road and 8.00 AM respectively.

Ankush called me up at 7.15 AM from Aundh and told me they were on their way, with Amit riding his Pulsar 180 and Ankush his pillion. I told them to take it easy as the meeting time was 8. Vindya came to my place 5 mins. before 8 and we headed towards the bypass and were at the end of flyover 5 mins past 8. Server calls later Amit and Ankush finally reached there at 8.30, supposedly confused by some statements made by Ankush regarding breakfast, hence taking a halt at Chandani Chowk where Amit filled himself up.

After a round of some abusive language and a cup of tea for each, we were on our way on NH-4 with Ankush now riding pillion to me on my red thunderbird and Vindya on his 8 year old CBZ which has clocked only 12000+ KMs. Ankush seemed lost as he failed to recognize the new bypass road to the old bypass which basically takes one right on the other end of Katraj Ghat through a long tunnel.

The first halt was some 20KMs later at a Company operated BP Petrol Pump where we tanked up enough gas to last through the trip. It was decided there to take a breakfast halt at Shirval. So we did after about 15 mins at "Shriram Wada Pav". Just as we were digging into our Wada-pavs three big buses full of school children stopped and amidst the general hyper-activity of the young, it was agreed upon by all to get out of there as soon as possible.

The journey from Shirval towards Satara was good at steady pace of 80-90 KMPH with greenery around and very little traffic and only a few clouds in the sky. It did invoke some memories of Karwar trip which, for most part, was on NH-4.

I was not sure where to exit the NH-4 for Satara but Vindy was waiting for us at the exit. So in we went on what I felt was the section of old 2-lane NH4. Post some enquires we were driving through the small gullies of Satara heading towards the base of Ajinkya-tara fort. Here we took a right turn and rode on to the end of that road which basically takes one through a small tunnel.

Once out of tunnel we halted for a butt-break. It was 10.45AM. The road here bifurcates to left and right. The one on the right takes you to Thoseghar falls and Chalkewadi. It was a bit of a dampener here to read a notice board saying "Road to Thoseghar Falls is closed to traffic." After chatting to a villager there, we found out that the road was really closed but the two-wheelers could pass.

All this while, we were looking for a place to have a cup of tea but driving through those small and narrow roads in Satara, no one felt like stopping there. So next few KMs of the journey were a bit slow-paced primarily to locate a tea stall somewhere. The formation was changed now with Amit as my pillion and Ankush driving his Pulsar 180. The road was ok and actually more fun to ride on compared to NH-4 which gets a bit monotonous after a while. We finally located a tea stall and took a break there. After a round of "Special Tea" and biscuits plus some photography efforts by Vindya and Amit for good measure, we moved on. The sun was still shining and it was getting hotter.

But after a while we were negotiating the curves of Ghat road. One could notice the sudden drop in temperature and the change of scenery. The road was good with greenery all around and few leftover signs of rock and land slides here and there caused by heavy rains few weeks back.

Driving along, leaving "Sajjan Gad" on the right we suddenly came to a spot where quite a few four wheelers were standing. This is where we realized why the road was closed. Whole section of road approximately 15-20 feet long had given way due to heavy rains and the repair work was in progress. There was a small platform built for pedestrians and one could push the two wheels over to other side where few more four-wheelers were standing.

After crossing the platform one at a time we started our journey again. I was leading this time and missed the "Thoseghar Falls" board and rode on. Now we could notice a lot of wind mills. We were approaching Chalkewadi, which is famous of its wind mill farms. The time was approx 12 PM when we reached there.

The view of so many windmills is really good. After some normal and very creative photography, we decided to go back to Thoseghar falls.

Once at Thoseghar falls, we ordered some Pithla-Bhakri and some more items on the menu at the only hotel around and headed for the falls. Apparently quite a few people have lost their lives at these falls as was apparent from all the notice boards advising the tourists to exercise caution. There were two separate sets of stairs and we took one on the left which led us to a platform where one can see the bigger of the two falls descending down the valley beneath. After absorbing the scenery and few clicks later we took a trail which went through shrubberies and bushes and lead us to another set of steps.

These led to a smaller water fall; smaller in terms of height. There was some group enjoying the waters there. Ankush and Vindya removed their shoes and got their feet wet. Amit and me preferred staying dry. Amit couldn't help but comment on the group there. The fact that everyone from that group was in the water and all were wearing "baniyaan" amused Amit to no end. :-)

After some more snaps, we headed back to the hotel. It was 1.30PM now. The food was really good and everybody got up from the table with a deep feeling of satisfaction.

On our journey back, we again crossed the platform and decided to go to Sajjan Gad. We went up to the parking lot at SajjanGad but no one except Vindya was in any mood to climb all those steps, so after few mins. we started heading back. We noticed that the roads were wet but there was no rain. I concluded that we are trailing the rain, which was a bit disappointing. But just as we were nearing the Satara tunnel a very slight drizzle started and I was glad to finally see some rain. But it stopped as soon as it started.

Again passing through the narrow lanes in Satara, we finally hit the NH-4 and opened the throttles and started our journey back to Pune. Suddenly there was a huge drop in temparature and a few mins. later, out of no where, the rain started, so waited under a tree by the road till the rain stopped. The road was wet and we were driving a bit slower now, getting spray-painted all over. The road again started drying up, meaning that there was no rain here. But when the Khambatki Ghat mountain range came in view, we stopped right then and there. There was only a slight drizzle where we were standing but we could notice a huge down-pour near the ghat.

While we were diciding on the PoA, Amit was the first one to speak up. "Aare, tithe bagh kaslaa paaus padto aahe. Tithe gelo tar..." Even before he could complete his sentence we were suddenly bombarded with huge water droplets and suddenly the sky was falling. It must have been a funniest scene for a bystander to watch the four of us trying to kick our bikes to life and scamper to the nearest possible shade. It was 3.30 and after some tea and chit chat we decided to move on at 4.30 irrespective of the rain.

At 4.35, the rain had died down significantly and was a steady drizzle. After shuffling of wallets and mobile phones in the plastic bags, we started again passing through the Khambatki tunnel and some 10 KM down the line we were on dry roads again. It was a weird feeling to have water in your shoes and driving at 90 KMPH on dry roads.

After negotiating the thickening traffic from Shirval onwards, we finally reached the tea stall near the flyover on katraj by-pass where I remember having being served with "vanilla" flavoured tea after our Karwar ride. Another round of tea and it was time to say good-byes and stuff. Amit and Ankush headed towards Aundh on the by-pass and Vindya and I headed towards Sinhgad Road.

That's when my bike started wobbling and I realized why I have never had this feeling on my bike before. It was a first for me and my bike. After owning the bike for more than 3 years and nearly 25,500 KMs my bike had its first puncture. The front tyre was flat. Luckily, it happened at the end of journey and that too in city and at very low speeds. It took another 30 mins and some weird techniques by the puncture-guy to get the wheel off before it was fixed and I reached home by 6.45 PM.

As always, it was a great ride covering nearly 270 KM in varied climatic conditions and lots of good memories.

Read another version from an experienced blogger here. Check out the snaps here.

Kaanif-naath... finally!!

Vindya and I had discussed about the new TwinSpark Thunderbird on Friday and made up a tentative plan to go for a test drive on Saturday. It wasn't before 1.30 PM on Saturday afternoon that I was able to call him up and check what he was up to. After an exchange of couple of calls, we decided to meet up at Dhone Automobiles on Market Yard road.

The bike looks more or less the same except around the engine area due to the fact that it now has integrated gearbox and clutch and has two spark plugs. This seems to have pushed up the power output by a couple of BHPS, churning around 20 now. I took a test ride and felt the diff in power and pick-up from stand-still immediately. But once on higher speeds it was the same feeling I get with my good ol' red bird except, of course the exhaust note, which is louder on my bull thanks to the modified "Shaqueel" silencer. Vindya was apprehensive about trying it out himself but he did and sort of liked it.

It was 2.30 PM by the time we were through with the test drives. We planned to go shop for a TT bat and went to my place to park my Activa and started off on Vindy's CBZ. Now Vindy, over last couple of years, has had been talking about his numerous trips to Kaanif-naath and how he went there whenever he was bored and stuff like that. I had my boyhood memories of Kaanif-naath as well. Basically one can see the tip of Kaanif-naath from the terrace of my old building. I had heard of all sorts of superstitions about the small rectangular entrance to the temple where only "good" people could enter through it and sinners would get stuck.

So as we were driving down to the ATM to withdraw some cash, I made a passing comment to Vindy about wanting to go to Kaanif-naath someday. His immediate response was "Chal!!". As none of us had anything lined up we decided to go!!! At the ATM, we found out that the machine was not working. I had some 100 bucks and loose change on me and Vindy was not better off either. Although fuel indicator was showing half-full, we decided to fill up a 100 Rs worth of petrol, leaving me cash-less.

With Vindy at the handle bars, off we went, from Market Yard road to Kondhawa road. The traffic started thinning out as we progressed towards Bop-deo Ghaat. The only issue was the stone mines just before the ghaat. The dirt they were spewing was pathetic. We crossed those mines and started tackling the curves of ghaat road. After our karwar trip last December, this was the first time I was out on the open roads on a two-wheeler. And it really felt good, "back home where I belong" so to speak.

Though there were no rains, the mountains were green, the temperature nice and cool, and the scenery fantastic. Took a halt at one of the hairpin turns where Vindya showed me a path to the tip of a cliff. Nice place if you want solitude he said. On we went and my immediate feeling was this was a pukka bike road. You could do the drive in a car of course, but it's better on a bike. ;-)

There was a bad patch on the road for couple of KMs but over all it was good road going through small hamlets with laziness in movements usually associated with the rural life. The last stretch which actually takes you to the temple was a steep one and had to be negotiated with in first and second gear. On the top we went in to the temple for Darshan, then Vindy acting as a tourist guide showed me around, and we were back to where we had parked the bike. Vindy had mentioned about a hotel where we get good Misal-pav so we went there and after a good spicy misal-pav, some tea and some stories by Vindya about a French girl eating that Misal we started our journey back.

It was pretty much the same good feeling except that I was at the driver's seat now, which made it even better :-) After an hour of nice drive we were at my place at around 5.45 PM. From here we went our separate ways. For me it was like doing what I always there in back of my mind which never materialized till now. It really was a good-nice-short trip which I enjoyed a lot and made a mental note of doing it again on my bird with my wife.

Accidents and Pan-determinism

Chatting to one of my friends a couple of days ago, we came across the discussions about accidents and how they affect ones life. By accidents here I don't mean the one's you see on the road or the earthquakes and floods. These are the little accidents which basically decide what you do with your life. My friend, while chatting along, mentioned how he accidentally joined the company, how he happened to be a part of a CRM project by an accident, and how his life so far has been steered by series of small accidents like these.

In fact, until recently, even I thought that the position I am at is all because of a BIG accident called 'Campus Recruitment'. I still remember those days, when my knowledge of the world outside the college campus was limited to say the least. I was a student of Mechanical engineering having just completed the 3rd year. That's when the thing hit the campus and suddenly even without having a degree to show, people were getting recruited. Year 1998-99 was the year of the IT. The first few companies to hit our campus were Software cos. Out of curiosity and because of lack of any firm opinion about future; I started appearing for the aptitude tests for these companies. It was all well till that moment, as I was not clearing these tests, forget about the other stuff like GD and Personal Interviews. What I did not realize then was that I was about to clear one of these tests on one of these days.

I promptly did and went on to pass the interview and was offered a position in a famous IT company. The rule on our campus at that time was once you get an offer, you are not allowed to appear for any other interviews. As I watched, the flood of IT cos slowly receded and the mechanical industries started visiting the campus. Here I was, a Mechanical engineer, all set to join an IT firm. A mechanical engineer with no job, once out of campus was as good as jobless those days. So I did not have the choice but to join the IT co. A year later, under the looming shadow of getting assigned to a Y2K project, I joined the company. Was it a stroke of shear luck that the Oracle Consulting department of that company had 6 vacant positions and that I was one of the six to join that group? Since then all has been well. I mean I went on to become an Oracle DBA and to enjoy the benefits that come with it. All accident it would seem.

But my view has changed now, or so I would like to think, after reading a book a few years back. During this chat I had with my friend, I kept saying that we choose what we want to be, but couldn't bring out the exact words. So I went back home and started re-reading that book, when I stopped at what I was looking for. The name of the book is Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, the inventor of Logotherapy.

Pan-determinism was what I was looking for. Frankl says:

"...However, there is something which seems to me to be an even more erroneous and dangerous assumption, namely, that which I call 'pan-determinism.' By that I mean the view of man which disregards his capacity to take a stand toward any conditions whatsoever...."

I felt, when reading it for the first time that "taking a stand toward any conditions" were the key words in the statement. Going back to campus interview days, one of my very close friends did not appear for these interviews and we were all wondering what was happening to him. Then, when it was turn of the mechanical industry to visit our campus, he started appearing for each and every interview, ultimately getting selected in one. Now it clicked. Taking a stand.

Further, Frankl in his critique of pan-determinism says:

"...Man is not fully conditioned and determined but rather determines himself whether he gives in to conditions or stands up to them. In other words, man is ultimately self-determining. Man does not simply exist but always decides what his existence will be, what he will become in the next moment...."

That makes sense. I had a choice to take a stand. I did not due to various reasons, ignorance being one of them. But I think I have learned from this. Now I know I have choices and what ever happens to me will be because of me, not because of series of small or big accidents. As Frankl says "Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

The Saga of a Stolen Purse

I had bought a new car recently, a Hyundai Getz Prime GLS ( the 1.3 Ltr one) and was driving it in and around Pune roads trying to build confidence. I had ventured out on small drives to Sinhagad in it a couple of times but nothing else.

It was a Sunday and by the time I was finished with my goofing about and sleeping, it was already 5 o’clock in the eve. My wife Swapna and we were deciding on the plans for the evening and decided to try and catch up with my friend Prasad and his wife Daksha for the evening. We tried calling them a few times but, as we later found out, they were deep in their slumber and did not hear the phone. We had to go somewhere and that too in the car. Otherwise it would seem like a wasted Sunday eve. So we hatched a plan to go to my home, pick up my mom and dad and then decide on where to go next. Just as I was about to put my car in the first gear, I got a call from Prasad and the plan changed. Now we would be heading towards Dhayri to meet them. So we did, and after 15-20 mins., we decided to move out again. We could either go to DSK Vishwa which, Daksha insisted, was a nice place. Or we could go to Khadakvasla dam and come back. We chose later. Prasad decided to get his bike and park it at Dhayri Phata for the convenience while returning. Rest of us went ahead and after a frustrating stop for buying some Samosas we caught up with him at Dhayari Phata and we were ready to go.

It was raining, the roads were wet, atmosphere cool and mood generally jovial. Then I remembered reading in papers that there was a change in traffic thru Khadakvasla village and the road which comes thru the village was converted to a one-way going towards Pune. It was a bad road which was assigned the job of taking traffic towards Khadkavasla dam from Pune, and after a bumpy and slow drive we could see the dam wall, and a lot of traffic in front of us. Luckily there were police monitoring the traffic and, although slow, it was not a jam.

The next problem was to find a parking place and we couldn’t find any on the road which runs along the dam’s water front. I got a place to park just after the road takes a slight right. It was raining so we decided to leave the electronic stuff (mobiles etc) in the car. Daksha left her purse and Prasad his sack on the back seat of the car.... I guess a mistake. We went down to water front, chit-chatted for a while and ate some Samosas.

Then I had a niggle in my mind that I forgot to lock the car. So me and Prasad left the waterfront and went back to where the car was parked. I was wrong. I had locked the car properly. After ensuring everything was fine, we went down again. The girls had entered the water and seemed to enjoy it, which both of us did not. This dam has a nasty reputation for drowning. Another ten mins. at water front and we decided to head back. It was already dark and the traffic had not thinned by any means. I was all tensed up doing a U-turn in that bumper to bumper traffic. So just got in and started doing the circus of forward-reverse until, finally, car was facing in the right direction.

All others started jumping in…. That's when my friend, trying to get in thru rear door on the left hand side, felt like he sat on something crunchy...... To my horror it was the small triangular window on the rear door lying broken on the rear seat. My first thoughts were, did I hit anything while doing that forward-reverse thing? But then I was sure I did not. So how did it happen?

Then I was enlightened and my first reaction was to go for the glove compartment to check if all the electronics were in place. To my relief they were. While we were still trying to figure out what was happening there, boooooom... MY PURSE IS MISSING. It was Daksha trying frantically to locate her purse some where in the car. By the time we realized that it was the purse for which this whole break-in thing has happened, Daksha was already in tears. There were quite a few important documents, a couple of debit cards, a mobile phone, some cash and other sundries in the purse.

After few moments of panic, we gathered ourselves. We drove a bit further and informed a police guy standing there about what has happened. He asked us to talk to his boss who was stationed further up somewhere. We located him, parked the car again. Swapna, Prasad and Daksha went to talk him, leaving me to guard the car with a broken window.

Some discussions later, the trio decided to go look for the purse if it has been thrown somewhere along the road, unfortunately, to no avail. We were advised to go to Kinwatwadi police station to lodge a complaint. Off we went again. On our way to police station we successfully blocked one of the debit cards. The other debit card was from a nationalized bank and, not for the first time, we realized why you should never do business with these banks. I got their number after a quick call to my dad. We kept trying to call them, but never got through.
All this while we also kept calling Daksha’s mobile and it was ringing. That, sort of surprised me... We reached police station and tried to lodge a complaint. The officer there was not very keen on putting it as a theft. I guess theft means an FIR, and FIR means work for them. He advised us to put it as “missing” instead. Finally at around 9.15 PM that part was done and we left for home. I dropped Prasad and Daksha at Dhayri phata.

What to do with the broken window was the next thing on my mind and after thinking through the matter I decided to go to the service center first thing in the morning and get that glass fixed. Swapna and I had our dinner at a near-by place and thru habit of last couple of hours, I dialed Daksha’s number again and it was still ringing. Swapna echoed my thought when she said that purse should be there somewhere on the road. So I called up Prasad and advised him to try driving by the road a next day morning as soon as possible.

In the morning I went to the service guy as decided, to get the window glass fixed. It was to take a couple of hours. So I was just waiting around when I got a call from Prasad, I guess for a customary check on my car window. I was very sure they would not have slept well through the night and expected some sadness and tired ness in his voice. But hang on, he sounded very fresh and most of all very exited. He almost yelled his first lines in the phone - “Nachyaaa, purse saapadli !!” (I found the purse.) This was one of the best surprises, though one of the most weird, I had got. And I guess we all needed this to happen to get us out of the gloom we were feeling since last evening. I mean here I am at service station, getting a window fixed on a car which is not even a month old. The mood was gloomy for sure.

Aparently they found the purse lying under a tree, may be a kilometers distance before the Khadakvasla village. The purse was neatly zipped and kept under the tree and only thing missing from it was the cash. The general feeling was – all is well. We shared another 5 min. on the phone discussing the matter in an excited state of mind and said good-bye. I called up Swapna and gave her the news. That must have set her mood right too.

I started thinking about the thief. The first thing I thought was that he must be a pro. Firstly, he did not try to unlock the door or anything. If he had, it would blow the siren on centralized locking system and give him away. He knew that. I also think what stopped him from searching any further was lack of time. There was heavy traffic on the road with people moving around frequently. So he probably had only few seconds after breaking the glass to grab whatever he could and run away. Secondly the mobile was still there in the purse. I wondered why? There was the answer. The mobile was a Reliance mobile, and as most of us know, no use stealing a CDMA mobile.

All in all it was an experience one, given a choice, would not wish to have, but worth having anyway. I guess I learned a few lessons from it.

1. The obvious one. Try not to make your car seat, a display to exhibit valuables :-) If you must leave the valuables in car put it in such a way that they can’t be seen from the outside. Boot space is provided for that I guess.
2. Always carry the bank/credit card customer care numbers and keep them separate from where you keep the cards and stuff.
3. Do not do e-business with nationalized banks :-) They don’t know how it should be done.
4. Trust your instincts. Prasad told me later that at one small moment he thought it to be a waste of time to go look for the purse the next day.
5. Throw those fancy mobile out. Use CDMA ;-) (well, not really!!!)

पोहरा...

पंखांचा अंदाज शेवटी खरा निघाला!
वाटत होते अंबर जे; पिंजरा निघाला!

उगीच ना मी थांबवले अर्ध्यातच गाणे
त्यावेळी सूर नेमका कापरा निघाला!

ज्याने सावरले तो नव्हता कुणीच माझा
ज्याने धीर खचवला तो सोयरा निघाला

असेलही तू फुलाप्रमाणे जपले त्याला...
नवल काय पण, काटा जर बोचरा निघाला

शांतच होते, ज्या पाण्याने नाव बुडवली
मला तारले ज्याने तो भोवरा निघाला

चालवती जे देश तयांची सभा पाहिली
झाले रंजन! तसा तमाशा बरा निघाला!

शब्दांचा तर आड तसा भरलेला होता...
कसा रिता मग अर्थाचा पोहरा निघाला ?

वणवा...

(मराठीगझल.कॉम वर आयोजीत कार्यशाळेत लिहिलेली गझल)

हुंदका साधा तुझा सांगून गेला,
शब्द माझा केवढा टोचून गेला!

मी कधी ना घेतले चाळून कोणा
भेटल जो, तो मला गाळून गेला

कोणती इच्छा अशी धरली मनी तू ?
पापणीचा केस खंतावून गेला!

बांधले होतेच त्याने पाय माझे,
आज माझे पंखही छाटून गेला

हा खुलासा मागती आक्रंदणारे
’तो चितेवर का असा हासून गेला ?’

ज्यास मी होत्या दिल्या ठिणग्या कितीदा
आज तो वणवा मला विझवून गेला!

किनारे...

(वैभव जोशी यांनी मायबोली.कॉम वर आयोजीत केलेल्या कार्यशाळेत लिहिलेली गझल.)

ऋतू येत होते, ऋतू जात होते
तरी ताटवे मग्न झुरण्यात होते!

म्हणाया तुझे आटणेही अकाली...
तुझे दाटणेही अकस्मात होते!

समजण्या मला लागला वेळ थोडा
तुझे प्रेम लपले नकारात होते!

मला सांग होता कसा दोष माझा ?
जरी ओठ माझे, तुझे दात होते!

तरसलो जरी मी, बरसलेच नाही
खुजे मेघ त्या आसमंतात होते!

तिथे पाहिली दानवांचीच सत्ता
तिथे देव नुसते पुराणात होते!

इथे कोणती लाट घेऊन आली ?
किनारे मला हे कुठे ज्ञात होते ?