Year Gone By

2012: People everywhere are saying that they can't wait for this crappy year to end, that it wasn't a good year, that a lot of wrongs happened. But you do know that you need to work on yourselves rather than just blame it all on the year. I hope you don't think that magically everything will fall into place come 1st Jan of any year. If you don't work for it, you'll just drag all the negativity to the next year. You shouldn't really end your year on a bad note.

2012: A year of challenges, fun and breakdowns.
1) I patched up with an old strayed friend. No one had to apologize. We just started talking and picked up from where we left off. Went for bike rides, saw serene nature, the beaches, got drunk, acted stupid and most importantly, kept in touch ever since. We had not spoken for a good number of years. Both waited for the other to take the first step. I took it, and I'm glad I did. Learnt that you too can speak first!!!

Also met new people, handled the worst of pressures at work and maintained certain relations. A few customers still call me till date and just stay in touch. Its a warm feeling.

2) Strength doesnt always wrap itself in a pretty box. Its something you realise with time and instances. Realised I have a strong friend. The one who'd probably stick with me at my worst times. One who loves me, and is more than happy to just be by my side. She's a replica of someone I had known and chose to let go off my life. The small little moments we've had were romantic. Couldn't culminate into something great, but maybe because what we already share is indeed already great.

3) Fell in love.. like I've never before. Like always, I either fall in love with the wrong girl, or fall in love with the right one at the wrong time. You tend to wonder... if life is short, should we really think about what lies ahead? Shouldnt we just live in the moment and be in love? or should we just hide what we really feel and hold back? Never learnt to hold back.. Never going to learn to hold back either. Its a pity. Ive seen people in love, expressing their love to their friends and not to the person they really really love. If two people are in love, they deserve to be loved!!!

It has been a challenging few weeks, but i cannot let 2012 take blame for it. I think of the positives and reassure that much more is to come, that there will be a time, when love wont be hard, where friends wont be difficult, when family is just as perfect as it is. But as this year goes by, it has made me realise that im still human.. Cus it made me laugh, cry, breakdown, shocked and surprised, and it got me in touch with myself in many ways again.

Learning Splits

You always do have a split personality within yourself!!!

Think of the toughest thing you'd wanna say to the most intimidating person around. You'll think it one way, it'll come out the other way. U'd wanna try that dominating voice on him, but you end up talking stuttered to him.

You'd wanna go and ask that girl out with that manly tone but that tone somehow changes to something very mild, like a school kid just asking for a stupid favour. Growing up is indeed necessary. I'm not saying it has to take away your sense of humour or even take that child out from you. But growing up is just understanding what responsibilities are. Its with maturity you can cure split personality. U can't remove it from you, but you'll have good control over it. You'll split!! instead of splitting naturally.

Just knowing the fact that we use only 10% of our brains excites me to know what would I be if id be able to open up those horizons where no one else is able to, and trust me im trying. Trying not by exploring though, just by dreaming ;-)

As mom says, you never stop learning and that has somehow somewhere made me believe that everything i see and hear, i put it in the back of my mind, and that helps me naturally to knock off certain situations, and give calm and powerful reactions. Then again you should have the mind to judge whats right and whats wrong. Take in everything, hear from everybody, filter it out. The thing that remains... is you!!

At work with No work!!

I'm at work and got NO work. Its like in the train. Everyone has settled down. Everyone is quiet and everyone has finally occupied themselves with something or the other. Never the best feeling but theres not much one can do in a train. You're in a unique way handicapped and the fact that you dont have as many options as you normally do makes you suffocate. Some random voices keep coming along just like within the train, except, theres no child crying away to the roof and out of it. And just as silence rules, someone with tea comes up and its all chirpy again. People are alive again. Alive with each other and not just within themselves. Its pretty obvious that everyone would wish to do something better but just the fact that they are in this train convinces them that they cant.

Just keep imagining. We are a social animal, and yet in this train, everyone is quiet... for hours... just thinking within themselves. It is indeed a new different world out there. Not just one different world, but dozens of different worlds. Some indeed chit and chat but the rest just hibernate with their eyes open. They are not aware where this train is going at the moment... it has started flying away to the place where they really want to be, or the place they've already been to. Maybe some loved one, some enemy, but a place where theres more life, more drama, more laughter or the worst of tears. I've caught myself thinking so many times even though its almost against the law for me to think cuz ive just recently lost my wisdom... all 4 of them.

They seem to be just staring in the wind, staring at the poles, at that other eye, at the rail or at the chair. But its not just a stare. Infact they can't see what they are looking at because their eyes have changed for the moment. Their eyes is their mind. Their vision is the new world. Try entering it but its just not possible. Their minds just seem to walk away.

I keep wondering... had there been no worries, no laughter, no memories, no emotions... would this be possible?? Is this what they really mean by the term day dreaming?? I've asked myself enough and even before i could answer it, i realised that that vision just blurred, that world just got dark and even before the speed of light, i see myself awake again, just staring... staring away.

Tree Outside My Balcony

Dancing to the wind,
you sway away in place.
The way we see you tortured,
yet, your work, you do it with grace.
Yet you oblige,
with the kindness of your shade.
With the freshness of your breath,
you take my breath away.
You stand still, motionless, without any pace,
your feet, don't they burn?? Or have you accepted this fate?
We all took you for granted,
but an "Idea" has sprung many minds,
to get you heard NOW, they have made some major finds.
Green is the new colour, it has got everyones eye.
So baby believe it or not, YOU can never bid us good bye.

Murud - Janjira (Trip 1)

This one trip of mine will be told in more than one blog. The gist of it is that we friends had long ago decided to go for a trip to Murud-Janjira because we all had heard lots about it. We always go to Lonavala, but this time wanted to do something different, go to a different place, enjoy and be more independent. So we decided to go on a 3 day trip from the 21st of November to the 23rd of November, 2008. Very excited about the trip, we finally get to the day of enjoyment and leave with our backpacks, 13 people and 3 cars. We face many problems and have an adventure solving them and on top of it enjoy life to the fullest. So here I go...

I'll start from the beginning... The previous night it was decided that we'll get up by 6 and leave home by 6:30... Veryyy excited for this trip because we had been planning this for months on end... anyway... On time, we started our journey for Parle at a friends place. We call him Sunny... His building was the meeting point for the three cars... We were 13 of us... So we reached the place, decided how much money worth petrol was needed and how much money should v put in our common "bank" and then v started off again after filling petrol. We got a pretty smooth ride on the western express highway. Going to Alibaug, we had to take the old express highway and that was where the roads were getting a bit rough. Achha, we were 3 cars, one Optra, second SX4 (Both Sedans), and third a Wagon R... I was almost always in the Wagon R. That car being a hachback, gave us more trouble on those troubled roads than the other 2 Sedans. So finally we reached Kashid Beach and decided to stop there for sometime. We were happy to get out of our cars and stretch ourselves.

The first view of Kashid beach was mezmorising. I fell in love with it. Although it looked like any other normal beach, I could make out how clean it was even from a distance. There were hammocks on the start of the beach and all places were occupied really fast by all of us. Few of them started drinking coconut water there. After doing some masti, we sat down there thinking of what we should do next. So it was planned that our hachback was to go at one place to inquire about our staying arrangements... Yes you're right, we didnt book any place, nor did v have an idea of which place is good. My good friend Sudeep had almost booked a place over the phone, where our expenses were coming to be pretty cheap, but then other members were cynical of that idea because they had not seen the place and didnt want to risk it thinking how hygenic that place would be etc. So we went to a place, wayyyy over our budget while the others went to some other place to check the prices out there. Then we drove for more 15-20 kms to some village and took a break there. We asked the reason why we didn't take up that place where the other 2 sedans had gone, and they said that they didnt get a good price. But when we heard their prices, we thought it was a pretty good deal, because the rooms were air-conditioned and it also had a swimming pool.

Anyway, they were convinced and our blue hachback went back to that place, Sand Piper, and asked for prices there. We bargained a lot but still it was a bit over everyone's budget and the manager now wouldn't budge on the final offer he had made. While talking to the manager there, our friend Sunny called us and gave us his dad's number saying if we need his help, we shouldn't hesitate to ask him for help(His dad has the best of contacts). So we did just that, Sagar called up his dad and told us our problem. His dad was quick to react on this and within minutes the manager got a phone to settle a good deal for us. So we finally got a conference room to stay in because all the other rooms were booked. The best part about that room was that all 13 of us could stay in that one room and could enjoy all the time. So we first contacted the entire group and asked them if we should finalize this place. They agreed to it, so we paid the advance, and entered the room as if v own it completely. One friend was asking for the air conditioner to b repaired even when it was working fine, while the other fellow was asking for towels so that he could have a good bath before everyone else came from that village.

While we were looking around the room, we got a call from one of our friends saying that they got a bungalow on rent just opposite the Murud-Janjira beach and that we should leave Sand Piper and come there. We argued obviously because we had paid the advance taking their permission and spoke and fought on the phone for good fifteen-twenty minutes. Finally, we decided to get out of the room and Sagar, feeling the most embarrassed at that point of time, went to the manager and asked him to give us our advance back as some other friends had booked some other place and had paid some advance there as well. The manager was kind of stunned but then readily gave the money, indirectly taunting us and making sure that we don't come back again. I still remember that he said, "Aap toh contacts ke through aaye hain toh hum kuch bol nahi sakhte, lekin abhi aap phir se aayenge toh aapko accommodate karna mushkil ho sakhta hai.." and we got his hint.

Feeling really bad about what happened, we 4 friends of the Blue hachback were pretty irritated because the time now was about 2:30 and we still didn't have a good place to live for the next 2 days. Finally we reached the bungalow, Newly painted, it looked good from the outside, it looked new, it felt as if we were their first customers. Anyway, still a little angry for the embarrassment we faced and for losing out on such a good deal in Sand Piper, we kind of cooled down when we entered the bungalow. It had four rooms and we rented all four of them, I guess we got some discount for that. The bungalow was nice from the inside too. It had a large balcony from where the entire beach could be seen. Murud-Janjira beach was as beautiful as Kashid, with veryyy few people and it was well maintained. I loved the beaches out there. So once we got in the bungalow, we all heaved a sigh of relief because we finally got a place to live.

Then within 15 minutes, we left again to have some lunch because everyone at this point was starving. So we went to this place where only 2 types of thaaliis were available, a veg and a non-veg thaali. We all loved the food there and had a good hearty lunch which was pretty light on our pockets, hence loving it even more. Then we went to the bungalow and sat there for a while and within half an hour again, got into our beach wears, took out stumps, bats and balls and went to the beach to play some cricket. Played in the sand for a good one and a half-two hours and then went further in the water to do some more masti in the beach water.

Then again we went to the bungalow to have a bath but just as we entered the bungalow, we realised there was no electricity in the bungalow. But we didnt let the dark stop us from having a bath and moving around in the bungalow. We had loads of candles with us and lit a few of them, 1 candle in all the bathrooms and everyone took their baths. Electricity finally came after a while and we all sat in the balcony with some drinks and eateries. We sat and chatted for an hour or so, discussing about what had happened earlier in the day with us and planning the next days agenda .Then later on all thought of having dinner. We went to this place, and it was horrible. The amount of oil they used in the food, i guess i havent had such an intake of oil in my entire life, COMBINED!!! So we had dinner and then the group kind of divided into 2, one group was sitting near the beach on some benches and the other group went in the bungalow to have another session of drinks.

Now the irritation started. There were all kinds of insects in the bungalow, there were ones which are attracted to the light and they kept falling everywhere, there were ants, there were insects i saw for the first time. There was no fan in the hall or balcony, I checked the fans in the room and noticed that the top speed made the fan move really slow. Minimum speed of the fan made us think if the fan was even working. I dont know the reason, but the weather was not good at all. It was veryyy humid and veryy hot. Insects were now seen inside our glasses. Frustated with all of this,within fifteen minutes we threw our drinks away and came out of the bungalow and sat near the beach on the benches. The other group joined us and then an arguement took place. It was about what had happened at Sand Piper, and that we should had taken that place, atleast with the air-conditioner on, we could had stayed more peacefully, if not in the room, we could be in the pool and do more masti. Anyway, veryy frustated with the current situation, we all thought that we wouldnt get a good nights sleep even after all that we have done. Our friend Sunny has a bungalow in Lonavala. So another member of the group asked him casually if his bungalow was available at this point of time and he said that his bungalow was available 24*7. Then another friend said, let's go to his bungalow now, we'll reach there by midnight and then we can sleep aaraam se.

The time now was about 10 in the night and within five minutes, everyone agreed to this idea of going to Lonavala. The drivers didnt agree to it at all though. Firstly, one of the driver drank and he didnt trust anyone else with his car in the night. If it was day time, he would have had no problems. So the problems and dangers we discussed we could face were, 1st. If the police catch us, we'll be screwed because even if the driver didn't drink, others in the car did and the police would somehow take advantage of this situation and make us pay for some offence or the other. The second danger was that once we start our journey, we couldn't stop in between, and even if we do, we can't get out of our respective cars, because we were to travel through a jungle with no street lamps and there have been lots of cases where groups somehow manage to stop cars, rob them, hurt them and at times even kill them. That jungle type area was also known for its leopards and flying squirrels. Third danger was from within. Sunny's car was a unique car. It had no stepney in the car, no jack, no papers, front number plate was broken. The only thing this car had was a siren, thanks to his dad(told u he was veryyy influencial). If anything was to happen with this car, we would b stranded in the middle of a jungle. Anyway, we thought about all these things and thought of alternate precautions and finally took the risk of going to Lonavala. We had decided that no one will stop their cars in between, all windows will b up because of the dangers of animals and just by any case the cars stop, not all will get out of the car and also, when the journey starts, no car will overtake, Optra would lead because it had that siren with it, our blue hachback would stay in the middle and the third car would be in the end.

Agreeing to all these agreements, we called the caretaker at about 10:10 and told him that we had to leave urgently because of some family emergency. Thinking that we just have to inform him and our work will be done, we were wrong. He explained us politely that he had no customers for the next day, because we were supposed to be there, so we should give him money for the next day too. Then comes the entry of one character, Manish. He directly, very rudely said that we wont give him a single penny. Finding him toooo rude, we sent him to another room and starting discussing politely the situation there. We explained it to him that if he was to get customers the next day, then our money was an additional bonus for him. We somehow convinced him to lower his charges for leaving early but then Manish came to the main room again and said something rude again. Finally, because of his stupidity, we had to pay the caretaker a little more than what we had convinced him to take earlier. Also, a few people were tensed and feared ki 'nazar na lage' and said that we shouldnt argue much with him and give him whatever he wants.

At about 10:30 in the night, we started our journey, still not sure whether we r doing right by taking such a risk by going in the night. We people in the hachback had removed the bats and stumps from the back of the car and kept it with us, just in case. That was the kind of excitement we had between each other, Happy and scared at the same time. Night driving aint that easy either. So we started our drive from Murud-Janjira, we had bid farewell to that place thinking that we have had enough of this place. Half an hour into our journey, Sunny's Optra slowed down and stopped in a corner in the middle of a jungle and everyone came out of the car. Confused and wondering what they were doing, we all stopped and came out. We got off the car to see what the confusion was. The worst had happened, Optra's tire went flat.

Alibaug (Trip 2 - The Best Adventure)

Everyone now had a weird smile on their face, a mixture of fear and excitement in their mind. Somehow, the timing of the tyre getting flat couldn't be better. Now, we're in the middle of a jungle and have no idea what to do. The terms we had decided upon were broken by all when one of the discussed dangers actually took place. The time now about 11 in the night, we asked a few people if they could help us by leading us to someone who could work on the punctured tyre. One of them told us that there was one just on the corner of the road. Feeling lucky, we unloaded the Optra and reached at that place within seconds. The place wasnt far at all. There, we saw a person working on a motor-cycle tyre under a tube-light, the only light available at that moment. We told that person about the tyre and he said that he couldn't help us then because he didnt have the utilities needed to fix that puncture.

Now again we all panicked in our minds, not knowing what to do. One of us asked the person about the nearest garage that could help us. He said that we could get help from any petrol pump. The nearest petrol pump was about 60 kms away. We thought that one car could take the tyre there, get it fixed and come back, but then we were also scared about letting just one car go on its own. Anyway, with no options left, we decided to do just that. Using the jack of the hachback, we got the flat tyre off the car, loaded it in the third car, and 3 to 4 people left in that car. Now that they left, we kind of had a light moment there, joking around, doing some masti or the other, so that we don't get any negative thoughts in our minds because there were some, who thought about what happened, and thought that more was there in store for us. So we were all fooling around and then all of a sudden, we noticed that there was NO signal, NO network whatsoever in our mobiles. Abh if we have to contact them, we wouldn't know how to. Even if they were to try contacting us, then even they wouldn't be able to.

We all had assumed, that the third car, after leaving us, would take one hour to reach, half an hour to get the work done, and another one hour to reach back. Just in case our work was not to be done there, then we friends would have to spend the rest of the night in the jungle. They left at around 11:30 and we assumed them to come back by 2. After they left, we had good fun, shouting and partying for a good hour or so. The man who was working was working just outside his house. He was to go to sleep after he was done with the tyre. Just when he was finishing his work we started panicking a little more because his light was the only light available there. If he goes to sleep and switches his light off, we would have to stay in the dark, and that is when animals can come to venture out. He kind of read our mind and brought out some parts and started assembling a bicycle. He told us too that if it wasnt for them, he would had gone to sleep after he fixed the tyre of that motor-cycle. We were veryyy thankful to that man.

After an hour or so, everyone ran out of steam. Some were playing cards, some got out breezers, some ate, some wanted to puff some hukka. With every cars headlight that came our way that night, our spines went upright with excitement, hoping that it is our SX4 on our rescue, but it use to turn out that it was some truck or jeep or other car. That is when one of us said that our car had fog lights, which kind of gave a distinct way of knowing if it was our car. Now we were looking for all cars with fog lights, but there was no success. At about 2 in the night, we had waited for more than 2 hours till now, and everyone was getting impatient by this time. They were also scared because we couldn't contact them at all. The person working on the cycle did not have a landline either. Maybe he had but to us he said that he didnt have one. Anyway, hoping nothing went wrong, we were expecting them any moment now. In the meanwhile, a few of us hopped in the blue hachback and roamed a few kms to search for mobile network, but we didn't find any signal in that dark jungle. The jungle was scary. We were very lucky to find this man working here with a tubelight on, warna if the puncture was to happen after another half an hour, we would had been screwed royally. Here atleast v knew that the petrol pump was 60 kms ahead. If we were stuck in the jungle with no lights, no one to help us, no mobile networks to keep us connected, we would had been screwed badly. Thanking our stars, we thanked the man a few times while he was working. He just gave a small smirk. Not even a smile. He didnt even look at us, he was sooo engrossed in his work. Anyway, our hachback driver took the car within a radius of 2 or 3 kms both ways, scared that his car would get a puncture too and with the jack in use for the other car, he would b helpless. Everyone was panicking now, thinking that they should had been here till now. Some thought that they could have met with an accident, while some thought that they didnt find that petrol pump and would have to go further ahead to find one. If that was to be the case, then we would have to b in that jungle till ATLEAST five or six in the morning.

Thinking all those things, at around 2:30 or 2:45, one of them shouted, heyy theres a car with a fog lights coming straight towards us. Like animals, we all jumped on the road dancing with joy on the return of our "heroes". We weren't even sure if that was our car, but what could be the chances of that car not being ours?? We didn't care now who it was because we just got too exhausted by this time. Luckily it was them and we people, the people of the jungle, shared a group hug, a hug filled with joy, filled with relief, filled with joy and relief again. They then told us their part of an adventure to us. It went something like this.

They left from the jungle and started a little journey of theirs. The driver was exhausted already but then, he had a lot of driving to do for the night, so he had mentally prepared himself for that rough and tough mental journey. They completed about 60 kms in an hours time and as rightly said by the man, they saw a petrol pump. They went in and asked some official there to help us out. He said that the worker to fix the puncture was out and there was no one there who could fix the puncture. So they panicked at that moment, maybe tried calling us but then we jungle people had no network there. So they left that place and searched for some place there nearby. They again entered some jungle and finally saw a man, just like we had found earlier, again, working on a tyre. They saw some hope there and asked him for help. He said that v should get it done at the petrol pump which was just a kms or two away. They told him what the official told him and the man, in a furious tone, told them to come with him there and he'll get their work done. They claimed that he had come in the form of god, because if he wasnt there to help us, we would had taken the entire night to get the tyre fixed. So they went to the petrol pump again, that man woke the other officials and workers in the garage, and made them fix the tyre in their sleep. They were even more thankful to him for coming with them and getting their work done. Then after getting the work done there, they headed back to the jungle where we were situated.

From Alibaug to Lonavala (Trip 2 contd...)

We heard their part of the story and everyone heaved a sigh of relief and blessed the man there who kind of saved us from being tortured more. Now we felt that our good time has started. We fixed the tyre back in the car and started our journey to Sunny's house, i.e. Lonavala. I sat in the front seat, thinking that others might doze off so one should give the driver company all the time, so that he doesnt feel sleepy. So we started from there after thanking the man there. The road was a bit bad initially, but then much to my surprise, it good really good. I had prepared myself for a rough ride because of the bad roads.

We drove in the same manner, with the Optra in the lead, our hachback, and then the SX4. The people in the backseat in our car were fast asleep, so it was just me and Sudeep. Sudeep was driving and I was chit-chatting with him. Half an hour into our journey, we considered ourselves lucky because we had not seen a single light in the jungle till now, not a single house or garage, IF that Optra was to get punctured there and not at the place where it actually did.

Anyway, while talking, there was a moment after about an hours drive, where the SX4 overtook our car, and the Optra too. We were kind of surprised, because the driver of the SX4 was the one responsible for the rules we had created. He went ahead of the Optra, and Sudeep and me, we started discussing what could be the matter. We were preparing ourselves for the worst thinking that he might now stop the car in the middle of the jungle and make us go through some other adventure. A few kilometres ahead, we saw him taking a turn in a petrol pump. The others followed him, and stopped the car in a corner. We got out of the car and then saw them near a small shop. Friends were ordering coffee and some others were asking for ice-creams. We went out and did the same. This was the same petrol pump where the SX4 had come earlier to fix the puncture. We took a 15 minute break and then started off from there.

Again, another half an hour into the journey, we saw a few toll booths. Optra showed the siren and made sure they didn't stop us either. We passed a few toll booths this way. Then there was a turn which kind of got us on the new express way, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief there. We were out of the jungle so if anything was to happen to any car on the new express way, then we would be able to handle it better. One of our friends in the hachback then got up saying he wanted to pee. Our hachback was slower than the other cars. Anyway, Sudeep then said he'll let him do that after the main express way toll booth. He stepped on the peddle then, reaching the top speed of the car, overtaking the other two cars. We stopped at the toll booth. We didn't wait for the Optra thinking ki its no big deal if we pay the toll once.

While paying the toll, Sudeep saw that the Optra and SX4 were changing their lanes to the veryy last left lane. We knew that he would show the siren and get the SX4 and themselves out without making anyone pay. So we paid the toll, then stopped the car in the left, let our friend to be with nature for a few minutes, he came back, and we started off again. We were surprised the other 2 cars didnt catch up yet. We then thought that we were pretty fast before the toll booth, so it will still take them sometime to catch up. The bungalow wasnt too far from here. So we thought that we'll carry on and wait for them there. Another 15 minutes left to reach the bungalow, Sudeep got a call. I picked it up and it was one of the members from the other cars. They asked us where we were. We said that we almost reached and asked them the same question. I asked him this, and he said that they were roaming around in a mall there. There are malls near petrol pumps and we had seen that somewhere around the toll booth. I asked him what he was doing there toh, much to my shock, he said the one thing that i didnt want to hear. Optra's tyre got punctured... AGAIN!!!