Archive for the ‘Outing’ Category
Ramgarh…
…Rajasthan Trip was part of Ramgarh visit… Here are other posts where I have recorded memories and experiences from the trip…
On the way to Ramgarh...
Though part of the Rajasthan Trip, I want to keep Ramgarh out of it… Basically because Ramgarh was not about the trip… It was about meeting Piyush (now Piyush-Toolika 
) after sometime and visiting Piyush’s native-native place (after Rajnandgoan)… Actually it would be more correct to say that Rajasthan Trip was part of visiting Ramgarh… Yes, in fact the whole trip came into existence because of Piyush-Toolika coming to India for a two week visit… I started with taking two days off from office and then making it into a 4 day off and then finally even dragging Pravin and Nimesh into it!!! 
Piyush came to pick Pravin and myself at Hawa Mahal, and we started for Ramgarh in the afternoon… Ramgarh- better known or distinguished as DattaRamgarh, is around 180km from Jaipur…
The Journey was pretty decent… It always feels good to see a close friend after a while and then keep on talking and talking… btw, those of you who don’t know about Piyush let me write something about him… Writing about Piyush will also fullfil his long time wish-requests-orders-threats to write something about him on my blog… Yes, this is a difficult and tricky thing to do… Firstly because it has to sound good… And secondly risky to write about one friend and not about others!!!
Rajasthan Trip – Jaipur Day 1…
…This post is part of the Rajasthan Trip series of posts where I have recorded memories and experiences from the trip…
Mahendra Palace- Nimesh's choice... And a disasterously WRONG choice!!!
Reaching Jaipur, Nimesh and Mayur went off to find a Hotel for night stay… And Pravin and I reached an ATM outside the station to withdraw money… Piyush came to receive us here… Nimesh after about around 5 mins called and we reached the hotel… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Am stuck here from last few days to find something to write about it… … … … … Though the hotel came at Rs. 250 per day (for two) and I would have not stayed here even for free!!! But it was with respect to Nimesh’s friendship then I spent the night there, and now will refrain myself from describing the Hotel… The key chain however looks lot better and I specifically clicked it to record this memory and Experience… With a sleepless night next day really started on a heated up end with Pravin; over bargaining with a Auto Rickshaw driver… Maybe I was wrong; but his bargaining expectations were too much and we finally got in a BUS!!!
Rajasthan Trip – Fatehpur Sikri and Agra…
…This post is part of the Rajasthan Trip series of posts where I record memories and experiences from the trip…
After a decent day at office, Friday evening I rushed toward Bangalore City Junction (SBC) to check the status of my ticket… Confirmed!!! And the journey started on a good note… The journey by Karnataka Express was mostly uneventful, except for the 45 minutes between Itarsi Junction and Bhopal Junction; which deserves a separate post outside of the trip… Will write it soon… After a 36 hour journey by the Indian Railways, I reached Agra on Sunday morning…
Yes, a Rajasthan Trip that started from Agra (Uttar Pradesh)…
Getting out of the Agra Cantt station I was invaded by loads of Rickshaw Drivers and I thought I was prepared well with the inputs from Nimesh and Pravin last night from their experience… But still ended paying out 20 Rupees to reach the hotel which was hardly few hundred meters away from station… 
For the first time I thought the Rickshaw’s in Bangalore were lot better… Getting ready, our first task was to reach out Fatehpur Sikri…
On the way from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri-
100's of pilgrims walking to some place in Rajasthan... (Picture looks nicer in full resolution... Click to enlarge...)
Rajasthan Trip -Preface…
…This post is part of the Rajasthan Trip series of posts where I record memories and experiences from the trip…
swapsshah-n-sand
Half asleep, today morning as was walking down my house building ready for office; my shoes were giving me a unusual feeling… Yet felt like something that I have felt earlier… I came to office and to my seat I untied the shoe lace, removed shoes and it looked all clean… Even shook the shoe toe side up and tried to empty it out to check if there was something in there… Nothing!!! Under the effect of sleep, I ignored it off… Wore them again… Switched on monitors, logged in and started with the same Microsoft Outlook with a few hundred unread mails sitting in my inbox!!!
Though my shoes were getting more sensitive with time, I Ignored it for a while and then forgot about it completely as I got in work… I love my job and work But something was really unusual in there… I suddenly felt a move in the right shoe… And by now the nervous system of my legs was so alert that it even gave me a jerk… I stayed unmoved for few seconds… Trying to track the movement in my shoe… No movement at all… Something in there was acting smart…
Rajasthan Trip -Iternery, Locations to see and Travel
…This post is part of the Rajasthan Trip series of posts where I record memories and experiences from the trip…
Map 4 (RC 1)
Since a long time or probably since childhood when I did regular treks, camps, etc. I wanted to plan and enjoy a long trip on my own………
Piyush, one of my best friend is visiting India after a gap and was going to be around Jaipur in March… So I had plans to visit Jaipur for a couple of days to see him… I thought of adding few more and see Jaipur when I am there… And then finally decided to take this opportunity to plan a Rajasthan trip… So after lots of planning, reading, web-surfing, Google search results, travel-sites, blogs, train timings and managing ‘dates’ of all superstars and megastars of the journey; here is our travel iternery presented as RC 1.
Rajasthan trip -Invitation
…This post is part of the Rajasthan Trip series of posts where I record memories and experiences from the trip…
Sharing the invitation mail that I sent out to my friends…
Dated: Feb 28, 2009
Yesterday morning as I logged into my Google Reader to check blog updates; a line in one of the blog there said-
“”"am really happy when few of my friends really have tried to keep in touch, no matter where they are, whatever timezone they are in, but the ones I am referring to are the ones I feel are in front of the computer all the time, or carry a mobile phone with them for 20 hours a day, but still find it hard to use them to keep in touch !”"”
Khandas Bhimashankar trek -Day 2
- Clockwise: Pravin-Nimesh-Hemant-Snehdeep-swapsshah
After the exhaustive day 1 write-up, I will try to shorten this one… Well, as far as the trek is concerned it wasn’t really…
It was tiring, and more tough because it turned out to be unexpectedly long!!! The expressions above say only one side of the story… It was also fun, pure nature, excitement and loads of private jokes, friendship laughs all the way right from the nature’s call in the morning to the last minute as we departed…
So lets start from where we left yesterday… Khandas- A small village surrounded by mountains on three sides… No phone network has still been able to reach here till date… But its an amazing place where you would not feel cut out from the world, but rather it takes you closer to mother nature… Walk out in any direction, look anywhere and its all green and lively…
Khandas Bhimashankar trek -Day 1
Nimesh-Hemant-Snehdeep-swapsshah-Pravin
3:30 pm: 23 phone calls… 65mins after the 1st call, loads of altercations on to go or no to go, who will go when, and people forced to drop-off live seminars we reached ShivajiNagar Railway Station to catch the Deccan Express before time Snehdeep-Nimesh-Pravin-swapsshah and Hemant still slogging at office…
With all of us completely clueless about this particular trek, how long? where? how tough? it was all a unknown… We just knew that Yuvashakti was taking us to an overnight trek named Khandas Bhimashankar… Swapsshah to Aniruddha (Yuvashakti leader) “1stly thanks for accommodating us, on such a short notice and sorry for all the 12th hour hassle!!!”… While Pravin continued to fill up the half-filled forms standing in-between the train toilets… “Ae Hemant ka blood group kya hai???”(what is Hemant’s blood group???) I dropped off at Lonavalato wait for Hemant who was running late and Snehdeep-Nimesh-Pravin continued the journey till Karjat with the rest of the group…
4:45 pm: I rushed to the enquiry window to check the next available trains to Karjat… 5:05- Udyan Express, 5:25- Koyna Express, 7:25 Indrayani… I further made sure that the other folks collect enough information so that we can reach from Karjat to Khandas village… 7:45 was the last bus to Khandas from Karjat… I was strictly warned to return back to Pune if we don’t make it to this bus… Read the rest of this entry »
Goa, calangute beach, 9**** *****, 1000 bucks, whole night, above 18!
Be a MAN. Respect women.
While we were roaming around on calangute beach in Goa, a stranger walked towards us and handed a small chit with phone number written on it to my friend… 9**** *****… Confused, I was seeing what was happening… He started… ‘All Night… only 1000!!! whole night… No problem Sir…’
My friend denied the offer right away and tried to hand over the chit back… But the stranger insisted on us keeping the chit and take our time to decide… “Nahi sir, aaram se call karana, no tension… above 18 hai…” (Take your time, no hurry… The girls are above 18… so no tension… Please call at leisure)
I was shocked and taken back!!!!!! Had heard of these things happening, but I guess it was 1st time I was experiencing it… I felt very uncomfortable with the very thought of a young girl ready to sleep with any/all of us…
This reminds me of something that I experienced and felt sometime when I used to travel between Mumbai and Pune by train… I think it was Chennai Express, General Boogie… I managed to get in the still halting train ahead of others and promptly grabbed the window seat… Karjat… Khandala-Lonavala ghat starts… It was dark and quite cold outside… The cool breeze coming in, I got up to answer the natures call…As I walked towards the Toilet, I saw a family occupying the toilet area and the exit passage… Feeling irritated of the way the family was sitting-sleeping I made it to the toilet… Flushed, came out… thought of standing by the exit door for some time to enjoy the cool breeze… Again with some more irritation; this time with some muttering, but taking care that I don’t hit anyone in the way, I made it to the door…
As I was trying to see in the darkness, I heard a grumbling noise behind… Read the rest of this entry »
