Naneghat मधे गोंधळ

The title actually did not match to something I wanted in the language Marathi. Though it has the vernacular script, Marathi sounds very different from Hindi. It means "mess at Naneghat". "Ghat" means mountain and "Nane" is the name of the mountain. I went trekking last Saturday, infact I would term it monsoon deluge. It was pouring sometimes and made the conditions difficult for us to climb.

Kalyan Railway station

House Fly center(Kalyan bus stand)

Mr. A to my side. Don't go by the pose, he was in a slumber


Naneghat is around one and a half hours ST bus from Kalyan station. Any ST bus that goes to Alifatta or Ahmed nagar will take you there. The ST bus station at Kalyan is a treat for house flies and other insects, which grow on abundance of non-hygienic conditions. Getting all six of us together on a Saturday morning was a daunting task. We bought water bottles at Kalyan station from "Apollo pharmacy", which has a sea of vegetable waste all around it. Five of us were on time to miss a bus. We were late for the 7:30 bus, and if the sixth member Mr. S did not make it on time, we would miss the 8:30 bus also. The next bus to Ahmed nagar was at 10 o clock.

Luckily we got a bus to Alifatta. We would have missed that too if Mr. S did not make it on time. Having a nagging back injury, Mr. S did well to get for the trek. He was to give the trek a miss, but thought otherwise. On the bus, I got another shock as I never expected ST buses to be so costly. The tickets cost Rs. 60 per head. Then the bus went endlessly into the rain. Lush green landscapes welcomed us with a clouds casting its dark shadows over it. Animals grazing, people running for cover during the sudden outburst of torrential rains, electric poles in between the fields kind of creates a rift in the continuity of the scape.

We got down near a symbol that said, Naneghat. As soon as we got down, there was a small rush of shower which made us rush a little, as the breeze picked up and hit our face. An arch of the forest department showed us the way we had to take. The initial phase was a plain. The grass on the way was dead, because of constant walking over it. The mud beneath out feet was wet. Mr. A was now fresh after all the slumber in both the train and bus. His sleepy eyes were gone now. He asked me to take some snaps at different postures and poses with the customary Vivekananda pose. Swami Vivekananda would be a proud man if he would check the snaps.





We reached the base of the climb. Even though it is monsoon and we don't get tired easily, carrying lot of water is a must. It was not so steep as we imagined it to be. The path became rocky after the soft spongy mud tracks with big boulders. It was a meandering uphill from there on. We came across two fresh water streams on the way. Mr. R, put on his photographer hat to get some set piece photography. It did come out cool.

Left to right: Mr. A with Vivekananda pose on the left, Mr. S follows suit, he does copy a lot of times, me in the middle, then Mr. V who does not laugh at my jokes, and Mr. SA on the right. Photo by Mr. R

After a small climb there is a plain, from wherein you can have a slighter of the peak we were about to scale. After a brief break and photography session we climbed again. This time the climb got a little steep. The rocky terrain was very hard on the shoes. Always have an extra pair of floaters when climbing. Short burst of rain caught us unawares. With lot of crabs and snails running and crawling around, you will notice atleast one crab. When we reached the top, we touched the clouds. It was amazing to be inside the cloud. The wind there was so strong that, it could was pushing our step every now and then. Inspite of all this Mr S and Mr R went to the edge of the slope and taught spider man some steps for his next movie.

The plateau in between
The guy in orange is Mr. R


Almost there!!


Thats me!!


At the top there is a pass in-between two peaks. This was a old silk route used many centuries ago. After you pass this place it is a plain, a plateau. Mr. A had lost all his enthusiasm by now. Only his legs and hands were making movements and showing us that he was still walking. I remember this saying "What is this life which is full of care? There is no time to stand and stare". When the cloud cleared once, we could see the amazing view of trees and mountains with not even a single building in site. During the climb down, the narrow pass was impossible to descend with the rain and heavy wind on the face.

Made it Hurray!!
The descent like always was simple, baring a part where Mr. SA lost his cool. Mr. V did no enjoy my jokes and kept asking others to stop laughing at my jokes, in vain I should say. But Mr V did invoke or spark a reading habit in me. By now Mr. A had forgotten wikipedia and other scientific Space Odyssey. He did slip a couple of times. He had the heart to keep going. We finally made it to the place where we started. A small hand from Mr. SA and the bus stopped. I should say the "Hand of god bus stopped". Back to kalyan station and then home for a warm shower. Awesome trek came to a warm finish. :) :)

The Inner you!!

What takes someone to like you or the things you do? What takes you to like yourself? Thinking about this, I always find myself gaping , thinking, processing, laughing and thinking again. What takes you to love someone in the first place. The way he or she is. How they dress? How they behave or talk ?

Really remarkable aspect of human nature is to like someone. It can be anyone, it may be a complete stranger, a first site at him, you like him. The character of the guy does play a major role. The turn on's also play some part, but nothing is greater than the personality of the person. The way he or she handles herself and things, pertaining to his or her sphere of influence.

Impression can be created in one day or the first meeting or over a period of time. The more you see a person, the more you know about them. It does change sometimes, the first impression and the final impression on someone. People tend to do a lot to attract someone or impress someone. It does work a lot of times. But nothing is permanent. Sometime or the other the true nature will peep out and show its ugly face some way or another.

The only thing that stays permanent is your personality, some one within you. Things which we might do, will surely look foolish and stupid to many, but what matters is how it looks to you. The more you think about what others will think about you, the less it will help in growing your inner-self. Shah Rukh khan acts, not all like his style of acting. He is true to himself, but surely shows some glimpses of brilliance, which no one can do. But many are mad on him, inspite of his over acting skills.

JK Rowling and her part of books, "Harry Potter" would never have come to her if she thought it was not a good story herself. It was a awesome story line, which no one would have imagined. Every individual does things and perceives it as he or she likes to do it. The more you talk to yourself and the more confident you are of yourself, the better individuality will come out. Infact it will shine and your personality will show itself.


People tend to criticize many a times. They would dent your spirit and dampen your morale. It can happen to anyone. The more one feels confident about themselves the more they can defend such situations. Confidence is a great power which can do wonders. The more you are confident about yourself, the more your individuality shines and more people tend to like the inner you. Believe in yourself and it will do wonders. You will feel good from inside.

Biggest looser

I was looking down the barrel not long ago. I had gained 5 kgs from my recent trip abroad. It was tough as I did not show an signs of loosing weight. By that time, I had grown so lazy and had no inspiration to carry on my gym or jogging.

The only way to reduce weight is to follow a strict diet. Eating 5-7 times a day, small meals every time. 70% of reducing weight depends on the diet. Lot of people work out lot of days without giving a damn to their diet. They eat unhealthy food thinking that as they are going to gym it is totally okay. That I should say is not good at all.

I have a very responsive body. Very high metabolism rate as I am very active. But two weeks back, I had no inspiration, I had become a lazy bum; which is why I gained weight at the first place. The more I exercise the faster my body shows changes. Even the unhealthy food I eat does not stay on my body. May be it is my genes.

So one fine day, I decided to take control of myself. Made my lazy bum work a little. It sure takes some conviction and a lot of drive to move things when you are staring the barrel. I don't have a great body. It is just that I want to keep my belly flat instead of a parabola curve. I concentrate more on stamina than on building body. Life does throw you lot of challenges. This one was not a big one. Some people neglect such rise in weight. It is very alarming as gaining weight will indirectly lead to lot of other health complications.


I did cycling, jogging and some weight training. I used to go to gym by cycle. After a matter of 2 weeks, I lost 3 kgs. When I saw the weight machine, I had a big smile on my face!! Sometimes being a looser also makes you feel good!! :) :)

Mooseekah without lyrics

Mooseekah means music in hebrew. Its pronunciation sounds more like the word music in English. Listening to music of some other language, how does it sound? I have seen that, many people just don't like the sound of carnatic music or hundustani music. They say it is classical and not their style of music. Many are into filmy music. I don't blame them. It is how they are brought up. What kind of taste their parents have. What kind of situations they grow in, plays a vital role in what kind of music one listens to. But like always, there are exceptions but not a lot.

What is the kind of music do you listen to? Are you influenced by your parents or do you have your own taste? The amount of exposure you get to a kind of music style does not make it your kind of music. When I was a kid, I never had any great liking for carnatic music, I liked filmy songs. My father put me into learning classical carnatic instrument called Mirudangam. It is a south Indian drum, which has so many modulations that, we can even produce the sound of drums and also tabla from it. I never knew all this, I lacked discipline in it. Even after putting in my better efforts, I was not able to master it then. Its a different story that I sparked sudden interest after many years and learnt it and am still learning it.

Lyrics of music plays a vital role some say in listening to a particular music style. If you understand the lyrics, if it is in the languages you can understand, you will enjoy it better. Well I feel, music has no barriers, even if the language is Japanese or Portuguese or Spanish. If it sounds good to hear, you can enjoy it without knowing the meaning of the song. During my last visit to Israel, I used to travel by taxi for work to and fro. All the taxi have their radio on all the time. It is always Hebrew station and all the songs were in Hebrew. They do everything in Hebrew. English is still an alien language to many of them.

There was this song which I heard not once many times. Captivating song; it played in my head again and again. I had grown so much in love with that song that I could easily identify with just the starting two chords of guitar that it was this song. I did ask the taxi driver about who sung it and later asked my friend at office and downloaded the song. Ofcourse the song was in Hebrew and I did not understand anything, but it captured my senses. In another instance, we were stuck in a heavy traffic jam. Like lighting up a dull day, one song aired on the radio. There was something different about this song.

It was very familiar to me, but I could not understand it. When the song eventually filled the taxi with tapping legs and fingers, that I realised that it was similar to 'Whenever wherever" by Shakira. But there was something different about it. The music was the same, but it was in some other language. I wondered if it was Hebrew. Out of my ignorance, I asked the taxi driver if it was Hebrew. He said no it wasn't. He said it might be Spanish. It was indeed Spanish. It made an Indian and an Israeli tap their legs and hands and enjoy it fully even though it was not in a language we both could comprehend. Truly mooseekah is spellbinding and enthralling even without lyrics identification.

Hey guys; here is the song in hebrew that I downloaded.

A quick nap!!

Finding time for a quick nap has become like finding alice in wonderland. What can a quick nap solve? Before you go into the nap we have the same problems to face; after we get up from it; nothing changes!! The cruel world is the same. What can a quick nap do to you ? I have seen people sleeping just for 5 hours a day. Is that enough? I read somewhere that 8 hours of sleep is a must for a healthy life. I think it is all in how you feel after the sleep!!

One fine Saturday, I got up in a rather rusty mood. Irritated I should say, to be more precise. I got very irritated with things going around me. It was not surprising that I caught a fight with my mom. I try my level best not to get angry on my mom, as she is such a sweet person. But sometimes in situations like this, it is unavoidable; before you know it, it is over.

I skipped my breakfast; because of the fight. I don't know what happens to us when we are angry; we just show it on food. By staying hungry, we are just punishing yourselves. I tried a lot to understand my ego and alter ego, but I never found a way to show my anger other than food. Human ego and anger are our worst enemies not in the past; in the future aswell.

I did sober down a little by afternoon as they say time heals a lot of things. I did not talk well with my mom though; I was moody. I did eat my lunch. Then after some TV time, I dozed off. I took a quiet nap for almost 3 hours. When I woke up again, I was a different guy. Lot of energy inside me; I talked with my mom as normal. Nothing seems to have changed, except my way of thinking and action.

My mom knew everything in the back of her mind; she kept a low profile till I spoke normally. So like her. I went out met friends had a great time. When I woke up in the morning, I felt a small head ache, may be that may have triggered some irritation and then the fight eventually this quiet nap for 3 hours, made me feel fresh again. Sometimes, a quick nap can do wonders.
STATUTORY WARNING: Try this at home!!

Not a care in the world!!

How much do you care about someone whom you care about? How much time do we give for people who really care for us? What happens when you care so much about someone and they just give a shit to you on your face? When you give so much time for them, cancel a lot of things to just be with them and they just take you for a ride, instead of being with you and spending time, they go out on a their own spree making you feel like shit!!

Recently I met someone, when I had been to Israel. Not only was she very cute, she was so down to earth in the way she talked that I felt I had a lot of attitude as compared to her. A total gem of a person I have ever met. She had a broken English, but very good at that. She tried her level best to explain the situation and things to the honest of her knowledge using her broken English. I could not speak Hebrew, hence English was the only way I could converse with her. It was so cute to see sentences forming from her words, just like a small kid trying to learn English.

The way she excused and felt sorry for her way she spoke her broken English was something I have never seen before. Just to make sure that no one is hurt just because of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. "At Khamuda" means "You are cute" in Hebrew, when you say it to a girl. She deserves more than one "At Khamuda". Lot of things happened, partly things which I cannot recollect fully, and partly things I cannot say here as it is a open source. Overall just the attitude of being humble and not to hurt anyone you care by your speech or action is what I learnt from her. Man!! she was adorable. I will not say I don't care for her, but there are lot of other people whom I care about if not more, certainly not less.

I do try my level best to implement, what she follows so easily. But seldom do I succeed in accomplishing that, still I try. Again I want to restate that, inspite of the communication barrier, we could gel well. As always, life always throws you otherside of the coin. You care so about someone that, you seldom realize how much they care about you until something strikes you like a bolt lightning.

People whom you know very well take you for granted and don't care a shit about what you think or feel. They do what they think is correct and if don't even bother if it affects others in anyway. They just don't care. People whom I know so well for a long time, also give a damn sometimes. Sometimes people who are close to you, will do things you cannot imagine.

Where is this girl who does not even know me, behave so down to earth and where is this girl who I know well, who does not care a shit about what I feel!! :( :(

As the world turns

Date: 28th June 2009
Location: Tel Aviv
Scene:
Having a stroll in Tel Aviv beach at the end of the day. The Tel Aviv beach is artificially made. The sand there is so soft that, it does not stick to our skin. When you pick it up in your hand, it escapes throw your fingers. Every day in the morning, a truck comes, to clean all the dirt people have left. I really did not see any trash scattered on the beach. It is such a clean beach. The people play a very important job in maintaining it. They don't throw trash into the sea. Unbelievable but true, they are very disciplined. People going on a evening jog to stay fit. Most of them go jogging or cycling to stay fit. There is a free gym on the beach, where in you can go and pump up some muscles, the weight is your body weight. You have to lift your body weight, some of it is tough body exercise. All my efforts to go jogging did not help me. I could manage only 3 days of jogging in the matter of month I was there. I got a inferiority complex looking at all well built guys and girls with amazing body. Truly I must give my back a strong kick and get fit. I gained almost 4 kgs, which is totally unacceptable. As I was walking, I saw many girls having a tattoo done, kids playing around with firsby. People sitting on the beach enjoying a drink talking with their friends and family. Amazing place to get rid of pressures and tension at work for some quite time and get going the next day with a refreshed frame of mind. People with full cycling gear with light flickering on the front and back of their bicycle were going up and down. It was something like watching "Tour De France". I am a fan of Lance Armstrong, read his autobiography some years back. Some musicians were playing violin, some clowns were making money by dancing on the pathway, doing lot of tricks. But literally, it was amazing seeing all these guys caring so much about free time and also about staying fit. I also had a smile on my face, as I was leaving the next day for India.


Date: 4th July
Location: Andheri(W), Mumbai
Scene:
When the rain does not come, we people of mumbai complaint that there is no rain and it is very hot. When the rain eventually comes, we want it to go off as it disrupts the normalcy of life. It pours in buckets not drops. I had been on my bike to Andheri W for watching a movie. It was raining when I left home. I did reach the cinema hall on time for "Terminator Salvation"; I liked the movie. The action scenes and also the camera work is cool. Coming back to the scene, when I started my way back home, I did not know the worst nightmare awaiting me :)
It was pouring, and I was caught in a worst traffic jam. The water levels were raising. The traffic did not move an inch. I had to take a big detour from my normal path. All of a sudden coming from such a nice climate and place like Tel Aviv enjoying the sun set view and late night walks, I was jolted back to reality. I had to reach home some how. All the roads were jammed, me being on a bike did not help as I was getting almost fully wet now. My only concern was my bike, in this water should not give up on me and my mobile phone in my bike should not get wet. I have already lost one costly mobile to rain water. There was no discipline in the traffic, everybody was going on the wrong side, running scattering. Traffic police were present only at important junctions. It was impossible to regulate traffic, with such disciplined people at the first place. You cannot say anything, as everyone is trying desperately only one thing, to reach home by hook or crook. I took a detour route. I did not know this route as I had not been through it at all. The rain had shown no sign of stopping. The autoricshaw drivers were very helpful in helping me map a route back home. When it rains, it is not impossible to get lost. The water level raised to my knee. I took almost 2 hours, to reach a distance of half an hour journey. The reality of your world does hit you so hard sometimes, that it takes you some time recover from it!!

The scent of Israel

Some snaps from my Israel trip.

Jaffa; very old city of Israel

Jaffa again.

At office; listening to training videos


Asraeli mall in the background

Highway towards north Israel

Frank and Me at jaffa

TelAviv beach


In front of Opera center


Beautiful roads!! towards asraeli mall


Top of Asraeli mall

Sunset point; Tel Aviv city in the background