My Most Memorable New Year!!! - Part I

Trust me guys, when I say most memorable, it certainly is better than the most memorable one! Everything was perfect - the places, the people, the occasion and the sync! The idea was very feeble when it was mooted and a tad unrealistic as it included arranging accommodation at places which we had never been to, gathering 8-10 people and managing their time, arranging vehicles et al. Ajinkya should be thanked for managing almost everything and we co-ordinated with him from Mumbai. He actually even came to Mumbai and we met to call the listed home stay options at Harihareshwar and Shriwardhan which I managed to download from the net. Finally we managed to get da decent accommodation anda vehicle. We also managed to decide on the place for 31st night and then all I, Dhawal and Kaustubh had to do was reach Pune.

We took the 6.04 pm Sahyadri from Dadar on the 31st. The Journey was quite eventful with all of us getting hurriedly getting down at the wrong station which happened to be 3-4 stations before our destination but luckily we got in before the train left. Observing the surroundings was the in thing. One of co-passengers seemed to no have had food for ages. Her boyfriend was getting different stuff at almost every station. She even asked the chaiwallah - Arey bhaiya sirf chai kyun laa rahey ho. Wafers nahi hai kya. But the best part was when she couldn't resist the temptation and opened the cake they were carrying and ate a fingerful of cream. The train moved on and we finally alighted at Shivaji Nagar. Getting autos was always going to be tough considering it was Pune and after arguing with half a dozen autos we got one for 80 bucks. I was quite hungry then too. Ajinkya's place was a mess. I didn't know whether the mess was in the room or the room was built around the mess. But, we found place and in the next 2-3 days managed to shift almost everything within the place for us to sit and sleep. We dressed in a jiffy and were off to Garden Court off. Chandni Chowk. But we were 5 as Ajinkya and Gaurav were the new additions and we had two bikes. Finally, we decided to sit triple seat on one bike and double seat on two. The Double seated bike would go ahead and apply brakes when they spot Policemen. The third person on the triple seated bike would then slowly get down and the remaining two would proceed only to be joined by the huff-puffing third person who was to come running. Dhawal was the third person!!!
We managed to avoid the cops and reach Garden Court by 11.30 pm on 31st in the nick of time!
The view from the restaurant was breathtaking. It was perched atop a hillock overlooking quite some portion of Pune city. The weather was cold... The food was over-priced and was okayish, but the entire experience of riding pillion on bikes and reaching that place with friends was spell-binding enough to forgive the incompetencies of the hotel staff. The new year was ushred in with borroed firecracker displays from neighbouring parties and for Gaurav it was in Loo that he chose to welcome the New Year! All said and done, we once again got onto the bikse and drove home. Of course I didn't drive. Why? Because I don't know how to! We reached home by 1.30 am or so just to be joined by one more friend... These people spent time doing all kinds of useless activities and hardly slept. I and Gaurav fell asleep by 5 only to wake up at 6 - already an hour late than the scheduled time of the driver!!!