The Foursome Rick-ride!!!

Carter road Bus Stop, 10.45PM, tired of waiting for the Bus!

Any sane person (ignore people from Mutual) would know that 9/3 = 3! But no! Pratiksha had to do her own Maths and force us into one Rickshaw. No not all nine but 4 of us - Manorath, myself, herself and Pranjali. And mind you - all are from healthy families! So what was the need to commit this sin of cramping four people into the rear seat of a tiny Mumbai Rickshaw? A good observer would conclude that in the given circumstances, with Pratiksha making a decision, you sincerely cannot expect a logical reason! Anyways, I hardly had a choice and so before the others could even realise we had hired an auto and already made ourselves amply comfortable within its dark environs. Guess who sat on whose lap?? Ok no comments! :)
The person's legs pained excruciatingly though, let me inform you all. I got this from my secret agent. And yes even his knees became wobbly after the 'healthy' affair. Regardless, of what their camera could capture, however waste it was, our cameraman started clicking Photos. Manorath then handed over his prized possession to one of the G-Sisters, we shall henceforth call them thus to save space and my typing efforts. Coming back to the Photos, they were yuck! I mean, yes, Y-U-C-K!!! I hereby give a disclaimer that the person whose only visible part are his awesome hair ,shall, under any circumstance, human or otherwise, not be deemed, construed or held to be Satsheel!!!

The rickshaw was filled with chronic laughter. Laughter of all sizes and flavours, varying pitches and differing volume, impregnated the rickshaw. Oh yes, we all were carrying balloons, with Pratiksha holding two. We could barely manage ourselves, so taking care of the balloons was a huge task. There was hardly any space to sit so the balloons were all tucked behind, well almost.

I was afraid that a Policeman would catch us for exceeding the seating capacity and fine us. I was mentally preparing for reasons, with making Pratiksha pay topping the charts!!! I don't know why they wanted to click my pics? They tried vociferously to get a glimpse of my face on the Camera's lens making me momentarily feel like a Celeb. :p
Suddenly, Pranjali screamed 'Chirag!' She seemed to have seen a 'Friend" (ahem ahem!!!) of hers and was excitedly showing us. Hardly did she realise that we would have more sinister ideas than simply looking at random people. Chirag had till then gone ahead and I had not got to see who it was. We asked the Rickshaw-wala to 'Chirag ka Paathlaag Karo' and he actually listened to us. Like a maniac he drove to hit a pothole. Our rickshaw barely managed to avoid tumbling to the left and we thankfully didn't get thrown out of the rickshaw. Pratiksha it seems was going to literally fall out. We stopped at a signal and there was a guy with a girl behind him on a bike on my right. I loudly asked "Kon Chirag?" I didn't know it was him and Pranjali, out of shame didn't even enlighten us. We were later informed that he was peeping inside the rickshaw to see who called out his name. The rickshaw reverberated with cautious laughter. People continued their photographic tirade. We even clicked pics with the Ricksha-wala at Bandra Station. He actually pulled out a scarf to pose for the Photo.

It was one insane Rickshaw ride which I doubt any of us will ever forget. If Chirag ever reads this, know that it was Pranjali, the younger of the G-Sisters, who actually was inside the Rickshaw!!!

My Most Memorable New Year!!! - Part III

The rains lashing against our faces, the car moving at its pace being driven by Kuku, the cool winds blowing serenely, the night engulfing us with glowing darkness. The sight was brilliant. The sensation was mesmerising. Pune was ours and how! We drove through half the city as we wanted to go for a long drive! Accompanied by Ankita's shrieks, we hardly needed any horns. We came back home and played cards. We were to go for a movie the next day. 3 idiots. No one seemed to care. People hardly slept. I had 4 hours of sleep. We got up and were joined by Kunal. Breakfast was at Durga where we had seriously lip-smacking Khichdi and Pohe and watery Cold Coffee. The movie theatre being far off, we rushed off. The movie was quite nice, with ankita threatening to reveal the plot as she was seeing it for the second time. The afternoon we lazed in some mall and were joined further by Amar. We drove back home where on the way Ankita was caught for driving without a licence!!! Kuku meanwhile had left at 6 as he was already too late. I and Deva returned home at around 2 am on the 4th as we didn't get any tickets. What I noticed and which deserves serious commendation here is that everyone although they were heavily exhausted, came to drop us till we left Pune. That was something which touched me deeply. The experience was worth a life time. the smile still isn't fading away. The heart is yet full of mirth!!! Indeed a New Beginning!!!

My Most Memorable New Year!!! - Part II

Wow! It was already the second day of my trip and I had barely time enough to recuperate from my sleepless night before. It took us some time to leave by when it was 8.30 !!! ( I personally knew it would be though others were being very optimistic about 6) Steadily, we settled in the Tavera whose Driver we were to find out in the next 2 days, was craving for sleep since Jesus was born. All in we set out on our adventure for which I and Ajinkya had set all hell lose with the sheer magnitude of planning we had undergone!! We drove on and on and on... We were passing by some dam, the name of which I cannot remember. A vast expanse of blue water, waves rippling on its surface, surrounded by huge, lush green mountains. I was on the lookout for some place where we could dip our waters in the serenity. We got down for a few pics at a point having an awesome background. But the water was still far away. We moved on and on. Finally I spotted a few people off the coast and asked our driver to stop the car. We found a path through thickets and fences and reached the shores. Aah, it was sheer bliss. We clicked a few more photos. We again went back to our car. I couldn't wait to reach Harihareshwar. Konkan was beckoning and we soon reached Tamhini Ghat. On our way we slept, yawned, again slept, listening to music simultaneously. All of us were immensely hungry. But as we had entered the Ghat there were no roadside hotels in sight. Hunger was taking its toll!!! Especially on me. Crows, Vultures, Owls, Eagles, all were cacophoning in my tummy. We finally took a breaking the fast halt in the middle of nowhere and gobbled 2 plates each of hot Pohey. The car went on the winding route and we reached Manmad. Ajinkya as usual had to try confusing himself while trying to change plans. The new query was - how to squeeze in Murud? Dude, it is 60 kms on the opposite side of our destination, its already 12 and we still hadn't checked into our rooms!!! Thankfully we stayed put and reached Harihareshwar via a small long cut. The room was below expectations but was alright since we hadn't come to stay within the four walls right? We were allotted one hall instead of the two rooms we had booked. For lunch we went to a small hotel opposite our rooms. It was spicy but yummilicious. I as usual had non-veg. We went for a hot, under the blazing sun, afternoon walk on the shore, exploring the beach and what it had to offer. The Kokam Soda that we had at the beach was amazing. The soda guy added a pinch of masala salt which made the entire drink to fizz up and overflow in the form of froth and bubbles. A few of us could manage without spilling any drop, though the others weren't that lucky. We next went on the beach, well not exactly the beach but yes the beach. Or say the outskirts of the beach. Dhawal and Ajinkya went around the huge hillock, on the prowl for adventure whereas I, Kaustubh and Gaurav stayed put preferring to observe the beach instead. We waited and waited for the 2 musketeers to return and once back, left for our rooms, constantly arguing on what to do next. Sleep or come back to the beach? Kuku and Ajya decided to hit the pillows whereas I, Dow Jones and Gugu went on to explore the rocky structures on the beach side. All of marched in half pants. The rocks were intricately carved by Nature and went on and on and on. I Had been informed that the area was blessed with Dolphin sightings and I like an obedient fool scouted relentlessly for a sight or two. Crabs gave us ample company but were too scared to venture anywhere near us. We finally decided to climb the hill. Idea courtesy Gugu and First Climb courtesy Me! Lol. anyways, we climbed the hill and perched ourselves on a high vantage point from where we could see 200* on all sides. It was a magnificent feeling. Passersby were pointing at us but were too scared to climb up. While scouting the area we spotted Ajya and Kuku. Poor Souls were carrying our spare clothes as well as theirs and had to climb the hill that way with the heavy load. And mind you, it was a straight climb. We went still further up the hill and found a small cave. All the rock structures were formed naturally. Like pores on a sponge. I constantly kept reminding the others that the sun was about to set and we ought to be on the beach. Well finally everyone relented, but not before a few more snaps. I and Gugu sat down to build a sand castle. It was our finest creation. With a moat and a temple on top. We went a bit ahead and dived into the sea. The beautiful sea, the cold sea, the gigantic sea. A shiver ran down my spine. I submerged myself into the water and the salty warmness engulfed me. It was certainly warm as compared to the cold air. We had loads of fun in the water. We posed for pics which Kuku was kind enough to click. The mud was easy to splash around at each other and most of the times when I would scoop out a dollop of wet mud, a small shell with a live crab or a similar yucky, slimy creature would crawl out. And off it would go. The sun set right in front of our eyes, turning crimson and then the sky darkened. The air became colder and we decided to call it a day. We changed a bit and went back to our room. We were too tired to do anything. But we did bathe. Ajya and Kuku didn't tough!!! Dinner was Chinese which was okayish. The night was awesome. I learnt how to play Poker and guess what? I won my very first game. The night continued and one by one we fell asleep - me being obviously the first!!! The next day went in frolic too with new places to explore. I need to mention here the serene temple which we visited in the morning at Harihareshwar. The place is called Dakshin Kashi and is considered very holy. It felt like our very own temples in Goa. We left in the evening and reached Pune by night at around 11 or so. We chose to go to McDonalds for dinner as no one was very hungry. We were joined by Ankita whose Wagon R was to prove very useful for the next 1 day. Thereafter, we went on to fulfill my age old desire - CAD B. Chilled & chocolaty, it was ultimate in satiating a chocolate-lovers hunger! The night stood waiting for us to explore and the empty roads of Pune were more than welcoming.