Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Long.....

Miracles happen
And I want one too....
Miracles happen
And I want one too....

I close my eyes
And that what I see....
That is how
I want things to be....

Its not too much
To ask from you....
Because I know
You have it all, just show....

This is not a request
Nor a helpless prayer....
It is an O R D E R
You take it, and deliver....

If there is anything you owe me
Its the time to reflect....
I put all my deeds in one
For you to collect....

For once I want
No excuse to do...
As Miracles happen
And I want one too....

Amen!!!

- By Alpana A Satam

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Ladhak

I am finally attempting to write down about the remarkable tour to the Crown of India, which is also called as 'Roof Of The World' i.e. LADHAKH!
While I am begining with this writing effort, I am also afraid that I will never complete this blog. I may get lost in writing. Even now I am not sure from where to begin, what all to write about and what to exclude. It may go on and on and on....
Lets see... how it goes.

28Jul2014 - Mumbai to Srinagar:

It was raining too heavily in Mumbai. Me and Amey had started at around 7am from home for airport. We booked flights from Mumbai to Srinagar. Ours was the 9.15am spicejet flight which took off at 10.45am, 1.5hrs late. I was finally at the airport and the trip for which I was planning to go since last year and for which I had started planning since April this year had begun.
We were 5 from Mumbai - Amey, Vaidehi (aka Vaishu), Kishore (aka Kz), Pranay & myself.
This was my first flight at day time from Mumbai. So I was looking forward to see Mumbai from above. But it was heavily raining, so the view was not clear. But still it was beautiful. Soon our flight was in clouds. Me and Vaishu were sitting together while Pranay, Amey and Kz were sitting together. Now a funny thing happened with these 3 boys. Actually weeks back when we booked the flight, I had also booked the seat nos on Spicejet site. I had chosen 32a, 32b & 32c for them. While me and Vaishu were in 30a, 30b, 30c. When we actually boarded the flight... we reached the end of the flight looking for 32 row, and 31 was the last row :P LoL. When they showed the boarding pass to attendant, the attendant was surprised too. And eventually these 3 had to travel standing in the flight :P hahahaha no no.... how I imagined this would have happened. Jokes apart, seemed like the bookings were low so they changed to a smaller aircraft. Even this smaller one was not full. So Kz, Pranay and Amey got seats just in the row ahead of us.

The flight reached Amritsar @12.45pm. From here I sms Tejas ( our tour operator who was suppose to come to pick us at Srinagar airport) that flight is delayed. Here first time I was in a one stop flight, that too of type where same flight was to continue. So I saw that like in trains a TC enters the flight. He rechecks everyones boarding passes and marks in his sheet, and also checks corresponding cabin luggage. Then new passengers board. An then flight took off at 1.15pm.

So sooner had the flight taken off and gained some height, that the pilot announced that soon we will be landing. So Amritsar to Srinagar was the shortest journey. I was wondering what about the passengers who boarded newly at Amritsar... unka paisa toh wasool bhi nahi hota :) Bass chade nahi ki utaro :)
So we finally landed Srinagar at 2pm. I again sms Tejas. He replied that he was already waiting outside at arrival.

I didnt know how this guy looked. We collected our baggage and moved out. Srinagar airport was very disappointing. It was too hot afternoon. after coming out of the airport my eyes were looking for Tejas and I was also ringing his cell phone.
Finally Amey found him. That was the first time I saw this guy Tejas. He was not as per my imagination. This was a slim short guy, pretty younger. We followed him. He took us to the bus. A man joined us and helped us keep our baggage in the tempo traveller. We realized that he was just another porter only after he asked for tip. He climbed inside the bus and was not leaving. So I finally gave him 20inr.
From there our bus started. Tejas wore his Red colored Iris outdoor Tee. And introduced himself. In our tempo traveller it was only 5 of us and one old uncle. I did understand that there was another tempo traveler standing adjacent to us. This also seemed to be with us only.

We were now in Sringar. Hot Srinagar. From the flight u see the difference. When you are flying over Mumbai, u see lot of slums and then sea. When Amritsar came, u see lush green carpet with checks design. Very well designed land full of fields. And when Srinagar comes, u start seeing the ranges of mountains all over and the rivers flowing through them.

And now I was passing through Srinagar. Its lanes, its markets. It was weird. Traffic is very undisciplined. The development is very weak. Very first thing that strikes is their dialect. I was trying to listen to the drivers conversation carefully to make out of there are any similar words they use. But no. I couldn't understand anything. Kz told me that they dont have any script for this language. Its just a verbal language. Srinagar seemed to me a very dusty city when I recollect it. Dhul and mitti... is what I recollect. The lanes are very narrow. Traffic jams very easy and frequent. That too Ramzan Eid was just next day. There was military placed every 100mts. There were bunkers at junctions. Still civilians were comfortably shopping in the markets. It was pretty for the localities. And we were gazing out at the people and military with curiosity. Then our bus passed through Lal Chowk. Kz mentioned that this place has lot of significance and is very sensitive. It always in news. I remember seeing extra military posting at Lal Chowk.

On the way we saw a beautiful fort on a hill top. It is suppose to be Akbar's Fort as per our then driver. Its name is 'Hari Parbat Fort'. But now it is with military. The fort looks very beautiful and looks well maintained as well. It took us good 1hr too reach our destination at Nigeen lake house boat. I had offline maps saved. So I was tracking on it. We got down and were walking towards the lake. Now we were suppose to cross the lake in a shikara and go to the house boat on the other side bank. Straight in front of us from this bank of Nigeen Lake we were able to see the Hari Parbat fort. Now here we saw faces of other people from the other bus. They were all gals.

Tejas introduced us to Nitish, stating he was his partner and here on will take care of us and Tejas moved ahead in the first shikara. It was very hot and sunny. The beauty of the place was getting washed out in that bright sun. I was still gathering myself, and trying to sink in the feeling that this was Srinagar where I am ... and the lake that I am seeing is the Nigeen lake just adjacent to Dal lake. We standing there in sun for quite sometime waiting for instructions and our chance to get into the shikara. Not that there was rush and we were in queue. But still we were waiting for instructions. Lately after closely looking around, I realized that huge houses in my side of the bank that I seeing, were all over the house boats. On this side of the bank that I was standing, there were himalayan ranges and other side I was seeing that fort, so civilization more seemed to be on other side. I was wondering that if the fort is on that side, and we just passed from the base of the fort, then how come he got us on this side. I am sure there should be road way directly to go on that side. So just for the sake of feeling we were on this side of the bank of the Nigeen Lake.

Now our chance came. They put our luggage first. they put it at the very tip of the shikara. I was worried it might fall off the shikara anytime into the lake. Then we boarded the shikara. All 5 of us in one boat. And in another were 4 gals and Nitish. Now that I knew this guys name. But our shikara had no rider. We were just sitting alone. Later we saw that this guy was toeing out shikara. He was sitting in other shikara, tied our shikara to that one, and he alone was rowing the 2 boats, loaded with heavy enough 10 people and lots of luggage. He was a HE MAN ! ..... he has the Powerrrrr of the Srinagar!!!! hehehe anyways. Soon in the bland brightness of the sun... we started feeling the calmness and depth of the blue lake. The silence was heard. The voice of water as the oar moved in and out of it drove my attention. I now started sinking & believing that I was in Srinagar.

The boatman rowed us safely to the other side, where the house boats were parked. From this shikara we directly entered the house boat. There were many house boats parked in a row. One of them was ours. They were beautifully carved. Made of Deodhar wood. The Door was closed. We were standing in the lobby like area at the houseboat door. Soon the sliding door were opened, and we peeped inside.

It was beautiful hall. floor was covered with thick red carpet. Wooden Ceiling completely with carvings and design. Nice lamps hanging over. There were sofas, TVs, tea table and on... I we went inside further, there was kitchen, way up to terrace, 4 bed rooms. It was a big enough house boat. We occupied one of the rooms. Tejas had did the division and we had a gal named Namrata with us. So it was Namrata, Vaishu and myself in one room.

The room was gloomy. There was one double bed and one single bed. Again covered with nice soft carpet. I went ahead and opened the wooden sliding window. Light entered the room. I saw the boat man came outside that window in his shikara. He asked us to identify the luggage. The window had a wooden plank running end to end outside. Where one could sit or walk over as well. The boatman delivered the luggage at the room from this window. We pulled it inside.
I went ahead to explore the room. It had a dressing space with wardrobe and a nice bathroom. The bath room was floored with carpet again, which was weird.

Then we got freshen up, and then went for our lunch. The lunch was arranged in a house on the bank. A wooden plan was placed from the boat to the other bank side. One had to be careful while walking over it. It was past 4pm by now that we were having our lunch. The lunch was placed in a buffet in a garden of that house. It was the house boat owners house. Vaishu and me were sitting waiting for Amey, Kz and Pranay to come. We had no idea which boat was allocated to them. Our phones were working though, so I called. They came. Then we had our lunch. It was nice, tasty homemade lunch.

In front of us we saw green apple tree and many apples over it. Later we realized that we were sitting under one. Then on looking around with open eyes, we noticed more beauty. There were flowers of many types never seen before. There was a red apple tree as well. There small birds over the trees. The path from this garden to boat was covered with lotus leaves and lotus flowers. There were pigeons coming to sip water in the lake. And from here the nature and surrounding kept surprising us with it beauty. This was just the beginning.

Post lunch we had a introductory session. Where everyone in the group introduced themselves. So I saw the other faces in the group. Though didnt remember everyones name in first go. We were total 21. Most of us were youngsters. Except Raikar uncle, Kulkarni uncle and Thakur uncle. They were retired people.

Next it was the time for Shikara Ride. It was past 5pm and I was worried that sun will set soon and I will not get good shots then. So I was bugging Tejas as to when will we go for Shikara ride.

All of us were now waiting again in the lobby area of the boat for the shikara. It was 5.30pm now. The shikaras came. Each one of us boarded. There were total 3 shikaras. ANd we set out for our shiraka time in the lake. I was all set with my D7000 sitting at the end of the shikara. While on the ride, there were sellers approaching us in other shikara. They were selling accessories, flowers, seeds of flowers, kashmiri clothes etc... I only did window shopping. Didnt buy anything.

All the 3 boats were running parallel. Our shikara was being rowed by a young kid. The other shikara was being rowed by a man, who was quite informative. He took us to area where there were floating farms. People grow vegetables on water. We saw tomato and dhudhi. Then we also saw more lotus plants. The shikara then entered a village. There was a bridge constructed of wood in the water which the villagers used. It was pretty long. It was quite interesting to see how these people live. Their houses, their shop, their pets which included ducks, dogs and hens. Their curious children peeping out and looking at us like foreigners. Their language and style how they communicated to each other. Their woman.... who were shy and pretty with their heads covered with cloth all time, though none were in burkhas.
While on the return shikara journey, the sun was setting. The droplets on the lotus leaves had got lighten up and every leaf floating over water had a lining of light. Amongst the mosaic of leaves we saw far off 2 men in a boat doing fishing. The sun was setting behind the Hari Parbat Fort. It had thrown nice colors over the sky. A picturesque site. It was quater to 8pm and we still had light in the sky. The houseboats at the periphery of the lake started lighting up.

Suddenly, we saw lightening in the sky as well. Long thick lines of electrifying lightening passed through the skies over the mountains. It became dark as the clouds took over. And in no time it started raining heavily. We were in the middle of the lake, still far off from our house boat. The winds started blowing with speed. The boat started swinging. The boatman row the boat to the nearest bank under a tree. We waited there for a while. But the rains didnt stop. So finally he decided to take us in those heavy rains to our house boat. It was a scary journey now in the middle of the lake, with heavy rain, thundering, lightning, winds swinging the shikara...
But we safely reached our houseboat. We had got wet enough. It was dark, there were no lights in our house boat. Candles were lit. We changed our clothes and were now waiting for dinner. It was dark inside the boat. We informed that due to rains the electric pole got damaged and light would come back in some time. Me and Vaishu went to other boats looking for Kz Amey and PRanay. We finally found their boat. We came back with them to our boat. Finished our dinner in Torch light. Then later I did some slow shutter speed photography using Kz's tripod. Then the lights came.

We were tired so we went to sleep by 11pm. There was a B'day celebration suppose to happen at 12am. Tejas had informed us in the bus itself about it. I was going to wake up at that time. But I feel asleep and I didnt wake up. It was Apeksha's bday.

29 Jul 2014: Srinagar to Kargil

We woke up by 6am or so. First thing I did was I opened that sliding window, which opened into the lake and mountain view. w/o brushing my teeth, I took out my camera, as the morning was so serene and enchanting. Breathing the fresh air itself was something unusual. There was chirping of birds over the wires running from one house boat to another. Many lotus leaves floating below outside that window, were bathing in the rising red Sun Rays. Early morning there were 2 people going some where in their shikaras. Very undisturbed morning. Everything seemed to be so disciplined and neat out there. Just like a still photo frame. I just felt like sitting there at that window and keep gazing out for hours. We had enough time that morning. We were to set out for Kargil by 9am. So I spent good time photographing the views.

Then later we got ready, and went for breakfast. I was surprised to see Pohe as one of the items in the breakfast menu. That too very well prepared. After finishing the breakfast, I went to meet the cook. We had some nice dialogue with her, made her comfortable. Understood her routine. It was the Ramzan Eid day. She was not just a cook. She was the wife of the house boat owner. Due to Eid, they had their servants on leave. So she herself was working that day. Even the man who as serving us was the owner himself. We understood that this family i.e. cousins and uncles total, owned all the houseboat ships that we saw parked on this side of the bank. WOW!!! they were filthy rich! And just look at them... their life style, their clothing, their nature, they were so humble and down to earth. So nice. I asked her for a photograph with us. She was not ready initially, but later she agreed.

Now everything was done, and we were all set to see off the house boat, waiting for the shikara to come and carry us back to the other side of the lake. The boat man again picked back the luggage from that same window right into the shikara, and then came to the entrance of the shikara to pick us up.
By now I knew the names of all the gals - Apeksha & Jinal kapadia who were cousins, then Anisha Parab who was Nitish Parab's sister and then Namrata Jain who was Tejas's friend.
In one shikara we gals went first ahead to the other side. Jinal spotted a Kingfisher posing perfectly on the top of a wooden pole. It was the right opportunity which I didnt wanted to miss. So I clicked many pics.
Then slowly rest of them came. And we took more photographs.

Here then with our luggage, we wait for 1.5hrs as the bus came late. It seems it was EID day and tempo traveler was stuck in traffic. We finally started for our journey to Kargil by 10.30am instead of 9am.

In our bus we had - Tharkur Kaka, Anisha, Jinal, Vaishu, Namrata, Apeksha, Kz, Nitish, myself, Amey and Pranay. Rest of them in 2nd bus.
It is suppose to be a 5 to 6hrs journey to Kargil.... iff one goes non-stop and faces no natural hassles.
As our bus moved through the lanes of Srinagar, we again saw military posting at every 100mts. It was EID day. Though Srinagar is a Muslim majority city, it wasn't blowing out with celebrations. It was not crowded with people wearing round white caps and jhabbas, nor woman dressed up in glittery clothes and jwelery. There were no speakers shouting any songs, nor were there any gatherings or mandaps on roads, with maulana's shouting on mics the Holy Quran stories. I was actually disappointed and surprised. Because this is ALL that I see in my area i.e. GOVANDI on EID day.
It was quite a disciplined EID that day in Srinagar. Woman were decently dressed up and very few were on the roads. Men also were not necessary in Jabba kurtas. Though I did see some Mosques on the way, where I saw comparatively more people and chappals outside.
As the bus moved outside the city, it became more and more silent and only miltary could be seen. I saw rice fields. So Kashmiri people do lot of rice farming along with Rajmah. Saw more apple tress outside houses. The way houses are built in Kashmir is very beautiful. Very prominent are their artistic wooden windows. The tapering roof shades and the color combinations that they use. Very royal castle types.  While these are the types of house of the rich, on the contrary there are other people who stay in villages in small houses which do not even have plastering. Just bricks.

Now we were on the Srinagar Ladakh Highway i.e. NH1. As soon as we are out of Srinagar, we pass through prominent village Ganderbal. From here on the road started running parallel to Sindhu River / Indus River. And we started getting clearer and closer views of Mountains. I remember we crossed a bridge over Sindhu river where we had a quick photo stop from inside our bus only. Post which now the river was running to our right side. Then post Kangan village or I guess it was in Kangan only that we stopped our bus for a proper photo stop. The bus driver stopped at a place from where we could to near to the Sindhu River. We spent like half an hr there. Clicked some photos and then resumed our journey.

Post Kangan we started seeing snow clad mountain peaks far off. After some more time we took another halt at a picturesque place which was just about 4km before Sonmarg. There was the Sind river flowing and a bridge over it. We were now on the other side of the river i.e. river now on our left side. From here to our backdrop we could see a snow clad mountain peak. That time I didnt know its name. But today when I googled I found it was the 'Thajiwas Glacier' that we were looking at and photographing. There were horses gracing, Greenary with white ice far up and blue white water of Indus flowing.

All the way till now, I desperately wanted to sit on the top of the bus. So I went myself and spoke to the driver of our bus. This was my interaction with him. He asked how many will sit. I said 4. I asked him how long is Sonmarg from here. He said 4kms. So I said since its a short distance please allow us to sit. He agreed. Tejas and Nitish were shocked that we got the permission :) And then from this point to Sonmarg Kz, Amey, Pranay and myself sat on the top of the tempo traveler. Superb!!!

The weather was perfect and road was perfect for the Top of the Bus ride. It was not freezing, but cold. The roads were good with no pot holes. And the nature around had just started disclosing its beauty.

Soon we saw the board - Welcome to Sonmarg.
It was approx. 1.15pm.
Hmm so here I was in Sonmarg. Had heard a lot about it. Construction of houses / guest houses all with green roofs. Boards arounds were also in Green. Lush Green fields over the hills, and horses grazing over it. Pine trees stood upright over the hills now. Hills were just in our neighborhood now. And in between the pine trees there were patches of ice/snow at some places on the hills.
Sonmarg seemed ok types in this month of July. Pranay mentioned that this place is known for its snow and people come here in winters. Sonmarg is at height of 9000ft. So all snow had melted by now as it was summers there.
We had lunch in Sonmarg and resumed our journey.

Post Sonmarg, the REAL ride begins. The GHATS of HIMALAYAS start from here until the Zojila Pass.

The route from Sonmarg till Zojila Pass is poor an scary. The Mountain ranges that lie in between are majestic and tough. Hats of to BRO - Border Road Organization who took up this challenge of constructing roads in this tough terrain.
Soon after leaving Sonmarg, as we pass by Baltal (Base camp of Shri Amarnathji Yatra), the tar roads end. And nude muddy roads in the ghat begin. Cannot even call it a road. Its just a track that is carved by the bulldozers. The bus started moving up in the ghats over the Himalayas. The route is only as wide as one vehicle can pass. So I was wondering what would happen if another vehicle come from opposite direction now? How would that be tackled? But later it struck me that Tejas had mentioned that this route (Sonmarg to Zojila) opens only for one directional traffic at a time. There is no same time that they allow traffic in both ways on this route. So for the onward journey from Sonmarg to Zojila the route is open after 12pm only. Hence, I didnt see any traffic coming in opposite direction.
By 2.45pm we faced a road block. There was a BRO worker who had  put his bulldozer across the road and stopped the traffic. He mentioned that Mountain had slided over the road further and BRO was in process of clearing it. So till traffic was halted. This is a very common scenario while passing through this route. We had no clue how much time it will take. The point were we were stopped was a valley point. We could see right in front of us the Baltal village and Amarnathji Yatra's valley. We could also see the twisty ghat that we had traveled. So all of us utilized this time for photography.
Finally by 3.15pm the man moved his bulldozer and declared the road open.

Our journey had just resumed, that we faced another road block by 3.40pm. Again we were at a point where all the traffic had halted and this time we were very close to the mountain slide site. We witnessed how the BRO folks clear the roads with bulldozers. It was commendable on part of the BRO workers, while it was scary for us as naive travelers in this region. Wee went closer to the site which was getting cleared. Suddenly people started screaming. We saw Kulkarni Kaka had gone far ahead of the site that was being cleared and suddenly more stones were sliding from up. So people were shouting to alert the people below. And they ran away from it. This terrain is indeed dangerous. The land slides happen anytime. Luck is really required to pass through this terrain safely, though we have BRO, ALWAYS ALERT to clear the routes for us.  This work of clearing the route took quite a lot of time. I was worried that Kargil War Memorial will get closed. Because one of my friends which had been here last month mentioned that they couldn't see the War Memorial because they reached late. I mentioned my worry to Tejas and he said, current road blocks and delays are not in our hands. And if we miss the War Memorial in our onward journey, then we will still have 2nd change to visit it in our return journey. I was fine with this 2nd alternative.
It took about an hr for the road to be cleared and by 4.30pm our journey resumed.

They say and its mentioned on internet that this route from Srinagar to Leh is the safer and better route to enter Leh, as compared to the way from Manali. I am wondering that if this is what they call as "BETTER" route then how the hell would the Manali to Leh route be!!!! Got to see it once.

As far as I remember, the road was better after we crossed the ghats on the mountain facing Baltal and traversed to other side of the next hill. Now we were at the elevation of Zojila i.e. 11575 feet. And we road ran at the same level for quite some time until crossed Zojila.

Zojila: It is the gateway to Ladakh region. In the Ladaki language La=Pass. So the name is Zoji La or Zoji pass. This pass falls on the NH1 @ 11575ft. The specific force/project of BRO which takes care of this pass or rather maintains the road between Sonmarg to Zojila is called 'BEACON'. Now this I understood after coming back when I googled. because all the way I saw milestones and boards where at the bottom it use to be written 'BEACON' and something like [x]TF where x= some number and TF=Task Force. :) That is what I learned now.

I was very keen about this Zojila. I had read that in the first Indo Pak war of 19947-48 on Kashmir conflict, this pass was seized by Pakistan. And then there was a OPERATION BISON in which we recovered this pass with the help of Air Force and Amry. And this operation is particularly know because, for the first time ever the Tanks were used at such an high altitude in any combat. And this record still remains unbroken.

So now our bus was running at an altitude of 117500 feet. We were very close to ice and snow. Frozen river was running parallel to the road. The surrounding had become more pleasant than muddy and dusty like before on that ghat. It was a tar road now.
All of them were eager about the ice, so the driver stopped in between where ice was just close to the road. And some got down to touch and feel and the ice. As such it was negligible left over ice. As it was summers, most of the ice had already melted and we got to see the left overs.

In between inspired by us, rest of the people of our bus had climbed up on the bus top and enjoying the journey. While we inside the bus were half out from the window :) And enjoying the cooling breeze in the arms of the Himalayas.

It was evening now, the dusk time. The direct sunlight now rested only on the Snow clad peaks before they finally see off the region. And the rest of the terrain enjoyed the shadows and mild shades of sunlight. There were military camps in between.

At one point our driver showed us one peak far off, and said that Peak comes in Pakistan Controled area. that is PoK!!!! OMG!!! Was that true??? Was he serious? Well he was pretty serious while making that statement. We clicked many pics of that peak. Felt the thrill that we saw a peak which was in PoK!
But................. I sill doubt that statement. So now after coming back, I googled. And below is what I learnt.

Point 5353 - The highest peak in the Kargil region is called Point 5353 where 5353 depicts the height of the peak in meters. This point is near to the Tiger Hill in the Drass sector. After the Kargil War of 1999, the point 5353 still remains with Pakistan [Pakistani Army’s Baluch Regiment to be specific]. Why??? 
The controversy over it goes like this - during that war, our then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had ordered our amry that NOT to cross the LOC, while Pakistan army had clearly invaded the LOC. Though Indians had recaptured all other peaks which fell on India side of LoC, this point 5353 was unclear whether it fell on India side of the LoC or on Pakistan side? It is said that Indian army has made several attempts to occupy that peak Pt.5353, but never succeeded yet. Because that peaks is easily climbale from Pakistan, than from India side. And later after the war, our ministers and press released proofs that Point 5353 falls exactly on the LoC. And as per the agreement no one occupies the peaks over which LoC goes. Pakistan had clearly violated this. Later one press release also presented maps which were signed by Indo-Pak during Shimla agreement of 1972 which clearly indicated that Pt.5353 belongs to India. But Pakistan denies this fact and says that Pt 5353 always on Pakistan side of LoC.

The threat is that this Pt.5353 is just at an artilery distance of 25km from NH1 and Drass is at an air distance of just 1km from this point. It is quite dangerous to have Pakistan occupy this post even today. They have clear view of NH1. Only good thing is that the 3 other peaks surrounding Pt5353 are in control of Indian army, and its said that if Pak tries to behave or fire then India can control it.

Going further, I tried to find videos and pics of Pt.5353. While I had the pic of the peak which the driver mentioned to be with Pakistan. After comparing the pics on internet and the pic that I had clicked, it makes me believe that IT WAS PT.5353 which the driver showed us :)

ok, Now lets move ahead.

Next after we passed by this peak, we came across a long tall wall build along the left side of the NH1. The driver told us that in 1999 Kargil war, the Pak army targeted civilians and other trucks which got artilery and food supply from over NH1 for the Indian army. Hence, in one night, the Indian army built this tall wall of more than 2kms over NH1, such that Pak army positioned on those peaks would not be able to see the movement over NH1.

Post this wall passed, we soon reached DRASS.

Drass - the 2nd coldest inhabitat in the world. 1st being Siberia, though it is just at about 10,760 ft. In winters the lowest temperature recorded here is −55 °C and would other generally go till −40 °C. Besides having geographical significance, Drass again has significance in the Kargil Indo-Pak war of 1999 when it was captured by Pak. 
As I had read about it earlier, I was again keen to see how the 2nd coldest habitat in the world look like? How the people here would be? How much of civilization would exist here? And all my questions were answered as we entered Drass.

At the very beginning was the Drass Police Station, and we stopped our bus right after that for a tea break. These guys who were sitting on the top of the bus got finally got down, but one - Anisha.
Anisha had difficulty getting down. She was scared. I remembered the saying in hindi - 'Khud hi ko kar buland etna, chadi wo jaise taise. Khuda ne bandi ko tab poocha - Aray ! Ab utaregi kaise?? " LoL :) She took looonngggg time trying to get down. Drass is a small village with handful of people. Everyone gathered to see the show, and so did the police :) After finally Anisha made it down, the police called the drivers of our bus, accusing them for allowing the tourist to sit on the top of the bus, which was not allowed. The negotiations and discussions and convincing with Police went for quite long time. All the boys and uncles of our bus had also gone to the police station and returned finally succeeded. The Police excused us with warning to the drivers.

Then we had tea, and walked till the end of the marked. I bought a nice colorful winter cap from Drass just for 100 bucks. And then we resumed our journey quickly as we had to reach the Kargil War Memorial.

Kargil War Memorial was just few kms away. And we soon reached there. It was approx. 7pm when we reached there. Huge Indian Flag and then smaller more flags were seen prominently from outside.

Everyone came out. I came out only with my SLR. I left my handy cam inside. All gathered outside the gate and we clicked a Group Pic. 

Friday, August 29, 2014

Nasheeb

Ek swapna, visarlele
Ase achanak sakar jhale...
Tevha tevhache ghadlele saare
Aata majhya smarnat aale.

Ek vichar,  kadhi kalacha
Asa achanak aakaaras aala...
Pahile je mituni dole
Tyache nakalat sakshatkar jhale.

Ek paul, aata uchalale
Tar Saarya Vaata julun aalya....
Kevha pasun phasalelya gathi
Logopath ulagadat gelya.

Ek saath, aata kayamchi
Karnyache hey pakke jhale...
Ann Haravalelya pakharas,
Akher aapale ghar milale.

- By Alpana Satam

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Tandulwadi Trek

Yesterday 19th Jul 2014 we went for a trek to Tandulwadi Fort.

Trekkers - Amol, Kaustubh, Bharat & myself.

I started at 5.28am when I received a call from Kaustubh. He has already reached his pick up point i.e. below the mulund east bridge just before the Thane Toll naka. As such I was suppose to leave from Govandi at 5.15am and reach there to pick up him by this time. But I was late.

I quickly geared up and drove to Tilak Ngr to pick up Amol. Amol came near the Sahakar Theather circle. From there my next stop was where Kaustubh was waiting...  I reached there by 5.47am i.e 17mins later than the planned time :) But that was ok.

I introduced Kaustubh to Amol, and Amol to Kaustubh ;-) because to both of them I had mentioned that they seemed alike to me... though after they met each other... they didn't find anything similar :P
Anyways...

Next pick up was of Bharat from Thane east station. So within no time we reached Thane east station, where Bharat was already waiting. From there we packed breakfast - 2 upma & 4 pohe. And started to our journey to Tandulwadi Village in Palghar area.

On the way in the car, Amol told us the story that he had read of a person who had been to Tadoba. The story in short was that this man who went for Tadoba trip, he went to a temple inside that Tiger Santury. He was at the temple praying for about 15-20mins and then he spotted twinkling eyes in the tress around the temple. When he looked carefully there was a movement also. There were 2 eyes looking at this man from behind the dense trees some feet away. As the movement became obvious, this man identified it was a leopard staring at him. The man got goose bumps. Though he had noticed now, he was quite sure that leopard was there and looking at him from quite before. But for his good grace the leopard did nothing and walked away after some time. [Now what is the point in me telling this story here? You will understand as you read further :) ]

While on the way, right at the point on a bridge in thane, where I was suppose to take a left turn, I got busy in a conversation with Amol and..... I took a right turn instead :) which went on the Nashik highway.... But I did realize immediately. We thought there will be U turn soon, but there isn't any. I drove until we reached Karegaon Toll naka. Paid the toll and went ahead & stopped there. There Amol was saying that we will follow this same road and go ahead as we have already came so far. It seems that thru that road also somehow as per AMol we could reach NH8. But after discussion of sometime, I suggested that we rather take a U turn and go back to ghodbander road only rather than exploring new ways and losing on time. So all agreed and I took a U turn whcih was right after  the Toll Naka. This time to the Toll wala we mentioned that we had missed our way and bla bla bla... and he very soon agreed and let us go w/o paying the toll again.

So with this 1st quota of missing our way while on trek was completed :) which is the tradition of DHs.  (And I am always thankful of completing the missing the way quota while driving rather on the actual trek route after we start trekking :) because here the cost is fuel and there the cost is stamina. And the most costlier for me losing the stamina rather than the fuel :P )

So ! now we were back on our way to Thane and then soon on the correct way i.e. Ghodhbandar Road. As such this missing of way approx. added 10kms extra.

The drive to Tandulwadi village was nice. Rare traffic on the road. No rains as such. Nice cloudy weather. (Ofcourse the car windows though weren't open and we were still driving in AC ).

On NH8, we took the left turn at Varai. And from here until we reached Tandulwadi... the road, the drive the weather was simply awesomeeeeee..... super country side tar road, fresh white strips on the black road... greenery and farms on both sides and amazing weather to compliment it.

Here the way was so empty and tempting that we had to stop the car and get down. The road was like pulling us out of the car :) So finally I stopped the car. And we took some pics.
  
Here when we got out we smelled the pure air. And kept the windows open and drove further. Our next halt was at the bridge over the Vaitarna lake. This is a bridge in very nice condition w/o any pits. Don't know if it was recently built. And here is from where you start getting the view of the Tandulwadi fort across the other side of the lake. We clicked some pics here. The river looked quite muddy and brown in color. Supringly it is the source of water for Mumbai. Villagers were digging reti out of it and carrying it in boats. No wonder it was brown.

 

Above you can see the Vaitarna Lake in left pic and straight across the other side the view of the Tandulwadi fort hill. And right pic shows the bridge over Vaitarna.

Next after crossing this bridge, we took a right turn for Tandulwadi. The landmark is a police chauki which is at the very beginning of this right turn and its a kind of checkpost.

From here in few mins we reached the Tandulwadi village. At the beginning there is a plan ground outside the 'Amchi Shala' school, where I choose to park the car. We got down had the breakfast which we had taken packed from outside Thane station. Each one of us had pohe and half of upma. And then we started getting ready for the trek. While we were doing that it started raining all of a sudden in full force. I rushed inside the car, while Amol, Bharat and Kaustubh took shelter under the car's trunk which was open. I wore my wind cheater and got ready. Amol & Kaustubh were shocked as I had not got my slr. Amol was looking forward to hands on my new Nikon D7000. But after giving a complete thought I had decided not to carry the slr. Because
1. I didn't wanted to get it wet by any means. (as I have damaged my earlier canon 550d in prev Kamangad trek rains :) ]
2. D7000 body itself is heavy on the top of that I put on it heavier 18-200mm lens. So it would have increased the weight on my shoulders while my stamina was already very low.
Having said that, I was carrying  my small pocketable Sony wx300.

Now it was 8.45am and we started our trek.

In full energy and enthusiasm, I was clicking while crossing the village. We passed across a small pond (Bandhara) which was created to collect rain water. A duck was swimming in it. It was a very picturesque place. The water, the duck, the muddy track, the huts and the Tandulwadi Hill right across.


From here, we went to left of the pond and then started the climb.

The trek started. The last patch to reach the top did look steep. From the base village where we were standing I could see 2 levels of this trek. Anyways.

As soon as we started it was climb upwards. But not very steep. Doable and track was also goodie goodie. With continuous doubts in my mind about my own stamina, I was constantly monitoring by when will my stamina get over....  After 20mins of trek up I started breathing fast, so took a break. Though the terrain was not steep, habbit was lost of any cardio exercise. Not a problem. After a little break I was ok and resumed the climb. I was already having my pil of energy i.e. orange goli in my mouth :)
The rains had stopped so I removed my windcheater and walked further. By now we were at a good enough height and got the view of Vaitarna Lake.

 

 On the way there were many crabs of different colors - brown, yellow, white, magenta ...

If you keep your every open and observe carefully, you will also spot disappearing arrows in "few" points on the route .

But, at one point we were searching where to go. At that point the direction which Amol chose seemed to go away from the Hill. I was not positive about it. I was worried that we will go wrong way climb up and then find it was wrong and then again will have to do double trek. And by now I was already panting. But I just followed like always :)

And now were amidst of the jungle and mosquitoes had started having nice treat over us. So I wore the wind cheater again. I forgot to take the mosquito repellent.

After walking straight in a direction opposite to the target hill for some time, then we again started ascending upwards. Here at a point Bharat also started creating doubts. So I finally took out my S3 and in maps I started looking. I had already star marked Tandulwadi fort. And I remembered that in maps it does show the trek route pretty prominently. Thankfully the maps loaded and GPS also tracked our current location nicely. Now we found where we were from the actual trek route.


So we were on the level 1 ridge now. And we should be moving now to right towards the target hill. walking at the same level now we reached joined the track which was marked in Google maps. Moving ahead, walking at the same level, we reached a point where it was a plateau and next level i.e. the Tandulwadi Fort top was visible. Here, very carefreely we walked and were taking pics. We saw there were 3 buffaloes grazing. Nicely we moved ahead, that all of a sudden we saw the mood changed of one of the buffalo. I got scared and warned Amol that the buffalo was not in a good mood. Amol said don't worry just keep walking. We walked ahead towards the buffaloes as the route passed from besides them. But something was wrong. The buffaloes got mad and they started running towards us. They were actually attacking us. O God!! yes they were looking at us, making that maaooo maooo sound and running towards us...O Man!!!! First time ever in any trek.. or for that matter in my life ... some animal was actually attacking me. Never even a dog did that me till now. We brisk walked backwards. The buffaloes speed was not very fast and there was quite a distance between us and them. So brisk walk was sufficient. And all the more by running we didn't wanted to urge the buffaloes more. Bharat picked up a stone. But we warned him that not to do anything of that sort as that will probe the animal more and we will increase the trouble for ourselves. We walked fast and hid inside the trees and bushes around. The buffaloes didn't reach us. And tried to take another route. But Amol saw that the buffaloes came from other direction. O man... so we didn't proceed in other direction and just waited where we were. At the back of my mind I had started thinking what to do if they actually came here where we were .... only idea was to climb up a tree. While Amol was keeping a watch on one side and Kaustubh on another side, Bharat was searching a stick and he did find one, and I was standing still looking at the trees around n gauging which one of them I can climb up :) After some 15-20mins halt and silence, were spoke to each other in whispers. Amol judged that the buffaloes might have gone down from other way. Kaustubh towards right also said that they were not there on his side as well. So from right (from where we came in) we came out bent, walked silently w/o making noise and spoke in whispers to each other. Gauging if our enemy (the buffaloes) were still there... Amol was ahead, then Kaustubh, then Bharat and me in the end. When we came out quietly back to the plateau, we saw the buffaloes were no more there. So were walked fast but silently to cross that patch as early as possible. But we also had another doubt - What if there were more buffaloes in the forest from here on :P
But by God''s grace - KHatra Tal chukka tha... and there were no more buffaloes ahead and we crossed the patch safely. HUshhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... what a sigh of relief.


Level 1 Plateau

The Angry Buffaloes






Amol Keeping a Watch over Buffaloes

Silently and in full alert getting out

Chupke se Dushman se Bachkar Niklo!!!

Next patch was again inside the jungle. We were at the base of the  Target hill now. Walking across the periphery of the main hill that were to climb. At the back of my mind I was thinking... O man.. I am already exhausted and now we are yet to climb this final patch. I looked upwards as we walked ahead at the same level in the jungle. We now finding the route that will go upwards to reach the top.
At one point we stopped. Took a break. Sat over a stone. Drank some water. Now here!!! Bharat saw something some feet away behind me. He said, can u see some animal there? Kaustubh and Amol looked in that direction and they were not able to spot what Bharat was showing. I also turned behind. Bharat showed me that he can see something sitting there. When I looked in that direction... I got goose bumps... because I spotted what Bharat was showing... I spotted the ANIMAL! Sparing no second, I turned behind and said quick quick move... lets move... I can see there is a Tiger sitting there looking at us. Bharat also said Yes... in those tress there he saw the same. Kaustubh and Amol looked there and they couldn't see that and they laughed. I know it cannot happen that there could be a actual tiger actually sitting in that position calmly the position in which I and Bharat saw it. So I took out my 20x zoom camera, zoomed in to see it clearly. And below is what it was :)

Can you see what Me and Bharat saw???  :)
Yes, above is the pic. It was a log. Doesn't it look like a Tiger sitting? The front portion is his face?  It does :) Hehehe this was all because of the story told my Amol about Tadoba jungle lingered in our minds :P

Huh!! a mind game. And we moved one. We were still walking straight at the same level and we came across a place where we saw a pond formed around trees. There were really nice reflections created.



From opposite of this pond, we started climbing up the final patch. This patch was pretty steep. I looked upwards. O man! This was certainly another 45mins continuous climb. And it was already past 2hrs since we started from base village. On this patch I stopped and took break almost after every 10-15mins. It was definitely a 45-50degree elevation climb. I knew this was the last patch and we will be done once we are over it. But still I was over my stamina. I was at a 0 energy level dragging myself. pessimistic thoughts started coming to my mind as to
1. why do I do this to myself, when I am not physically fit anymore.
2. Why do I don't do exercise
3. Why didn't I climb staircase till last floor of my office building atleast that will help.
4. I m sure gone. THis is my last trek. [Since last year this is my thought while in ascend in every trek]

But there was no option. I had to move on. Though slowly. In between we saw a stone with a message, which was totally suitable for me :)  [Pic below]

We climbed on and on and on... and it was not getting over. I asked Amol... - ' Ajun kiti baki aahe!!! Kadhi sampnar!!!'' This what we usually ask Amol :) heheheh  And Amol like always answered - '' Aray aala hey kay jarasach rahilay"

I again stopped at a point. breathless. Bent down and was controlling my breathing. All of us stopped there. Here again we stopped for good 10mins.

[Disclaimer** - Please do not get scared of Tandulawadi trek. The track is nice. Not easy but not very difficult as I am portraying. It is of medium level difficulty. It was just that my stamina has decreased and it was becoming difficult for me. Because Kaustubh, Bharat were totally fine with the climb. And Amol need not to mention, he climbs like a rocket.]

So, after the last break, and a 15mins  climb up after that.. we were finally on the TOP!!!!! Yepieeeee!!! It was 12pm. So we took 3hrs 15mins to ascend. And definitely this can be done in lesser time probably in 2-2.5hrs. It was only because of me that we took this time.

On the TOP.... It was a different me! :)  O man.... I forgot all strain, pain and breadthlessness!!! It was sooooooo windy... cloudy... rainy...greenyyy.... it was simply SUPERB!!!

The Wind was blowing at such high speed, that we were actually getting pushed back. And the rains also came. It was simply WOW!!!!

We could here some people's voice. There were some more other than us on the top. As we walked ahead, we saw there was one more group. We came at the point from where we saw the confluence of Surya and Vaitarna Lakes.

Surya in the left and Vaitarna in right. Their confluence.
Post which I saw on a stone, from where I could leave my legs in the valley and enjoy the view.

It was enchanting. I felt recharged. I was there in my all 6 senses. Meaning no sense of mine was thinking or feeling or sensing elsewhere. It was right there absorbing the surrounding and recharging self. That is the power of nature. It will make you forget everything. It makes you forget all worldly matters.

What office? what home!
What Internet? No network in phone!
Just you and the winds,
The clouds and the greens....
Get lost in valleys for not to be found,
Close your eyes for a moment & you will feel GOD is there around!   :)

Its no exaggeration... actually this was the first trek of this year. And hence this effect.! :) And this trek came as a complete package, absolutely fulfilling. No matter what pessimism came to my mind during ascend. Once you reach the top its all paid off and worthwhile :) So its a matter of having the will and the right push by yourself and by your trek leader (Amol)  :)

So - moving ahead.

After spending quite some time at the point from where we see the confluence, we moved ahead to explore the rest of the hill top i.e. the Tandulwadi fort.

As we walked ahead we saw 2 water tanks. Then we came across a big enough pond. Inside the pond there is a tip of a submerged stone on which "Om" is written

   

Near the pond we saw many butterflies. Overall on the hill top at many places we saw many butterflies and bees. We also saw a rabbit. Then we saw many spiders and crabs of course.


We also saw the 7 water tanks about which its written on many websites on internet. [Pic below] Here near the tanks it was most windy and rainy. To the right of these tanks is a valley. and the wind was blowing upwards from the valley. Bharat did a experiment. He threw a Rs 2 coin in the valley and each time it came back up. That was interesting. He did it several times, and each time it came up back on the grass where we stood. He did it untill the coin finally went and landed at a spot from where we couldn't get it back. And then we moved ahead.


Then from here we moved ahead and completed our PRADAKSHINA... i.e.1 round from where we had started.

Now it was time for lunch. We found a place where it will be less windy and dry and sat down to have our lunch. POst lunch Amol told his experience of the 1 month mountaineering training (or rather self paid harassment) that he had just been through. We didnt realise when time passed by and it was 3pm. So it was 3hrs that we spend over the hill top. Now we started from the point where we had for lunch for our descend. It took us about 15mins approx. to walk back to the point from where descend starts. Now I was leading the group. :) as I was fully charged up.

We reached down to the mountain periphery and then back to the point where there were nice reflections. Then we crossed the Tiger point, then the plateau and the buffalo point :)

Post this plateau we took a different route. Not the one from where we ascended. THis was the acutal trek route which google maps showed. Which was a steep descend. Thankfully we din't climb up from this way, else I would have lost my stamina quite earlier. Descending it was fine. Only Bharat had problem as during ascend he had at one point sprained his left leg muscle. But we soon reached down in 2.5hrs.

This is the trek route that we approximately followed. Yellow shows ascend, Blue shows descend. Pink shows the common track followed during ascend and descend.


I had read on the blogs that there is a rock patch in between, but we did not come across any rock patch on our ascend or descend.

We started return journey at around 5.45pm. Drive back from Tandulawdi to Varai was again amazing.... We reached Thane east station to drop Bharat. Had tea and bhaji pav and wada pav. Then return back. After dropping Kaustubh and Amol, I reached back home by 8.15pm.

And a wonderful trek was over. Thank you to Amol again for initiation and executing it.

Keep Treking!

Saturday, May 03, 2014

__/\__

All that is required is.....
The Strenght to bear,
A Mind to accept,
A Heart to forgive,
A Memory to forget,
A conscience to control,
And The Power to yet Sustain.

May God forgive those and Myself.

Amen!!!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Khel Mandala


Tech paan, Toch daav,
Khelnaryacha phakt badalala bhaav.

Tich Utri, ashi phiravali,
Khelnaryachya pandri paan aale Hukumi.

Tyanche ekke nakalatach phasle,
Khelnaryane patte asech kahi pisle.

Toch hath, karun aaj,
Khelnaryane assal keli suruvat :)

- By Alpana.

Sunday, April 06, 2014

मेरे आँगन सज गया आज मेरे मन्न का झूला

आज कित्त्येक वर्षा नंतर …. माझी झोपाळ्या ची इच्छा पूर्ण झाली.

हो. आपल्या घरात … आपल्या आंगणात झोपाळा असावा … त्यावर रात्री मस्त झुलावे … हवा सुटलेली असावी …. आ हा हा … काय प्रसन्न वाटेल …

असा मला नेहमीच वाटत आले आहे.

पण आपण काय छोटाश्या घरात रह्तो… कुठे लावणार झोपाळा … बाहेर पण लावला तर कुणी चोरून न्हेइल … आत लावायला जागा नाही … म्हणून माझा झोपाळ्या चे हे नुसतं स्वप्नाच आहे … आणि नवीन मोठे घर घेतल्या शिवाय ते पूर्ण होणार नाही असा मला वाटायचा.

पण कॉलोनी मध्ये रूम नंबर ६ आणि २, म्हणजे पाटील आणि भोसले ह्यांनी घरात चान झोपाळा आणला. तोः दोन जण बसू शकतील असा सोफ्य सर्ख. त्यांनी तोः पहिल्या रूम मध्ये टेवला आहे. त्यांनी तोः जेव्हा आणला तेव्हा मी खूप excited होते. आणि आपण पण असा घेऊ असा विचार केला. ही गोष्ट may be १० yrs  आधी ची आहे. But आमच्या घरात जागा न्हवती. existing समान कमी केल्या शिव्या scope nhavta. समान कमी कधीच  झाला नाही…. infact ते वाढतच गेला.

मग पाटील काकांनी घरा बाहेर पण झुला लावला.… मी त्यावर पण बसायला जायचे. मी म्हटला हे बेस्ट आहे. घरात अडचण आहे… तर बाहेरच लावू, But आमच्या घरा बाहेर जी shade बनवली होती ती ६ घराचांची मिळून सलग एक सारखी एकदम बांधलेली होति. आणि ती एका hanging झूल्या चा वजन पेलावाण्या इतकी मजबूत न्हवती.  आणि आमचा घर मधेच होत. म्हणजे मी एकटीने ती shade बदलून मजबूत shade केली तर it will disturb others setting. so ते ही करण्या सारखे न्हव्ते. म्हणून मी पुन्हा मझ्या इच्छेला मुरड घातली.

तसा अद्धीचा कुणी कॉलोनी बाहेरून येउन चोरून न्हेण्या चा प्रश्न न्हवता कारण पाटील काका पाहिजे तेव्हा तोः झुला बाहेर hang करायचे आणि एरवी आत कोपर्यात तेवायचे. So that idea was good to implement. But anyways …. आता आमच्या shade चं obstacle आला.
आता सगळ्या ६ घरांनी shade बदलायला घेतल्या शिवाय ते शक्य न्हवता.

It was very sadning.

गेल्या वर्षी विचार केला जाउदेत बाकी च्यांची shade … I will disturb the pattern. Make my own new shade.. so as to hold the new hanging jhula. But I didnt do anything. Just thought and kept quite.

And finally this year... I suddenly saw .. that now all 6 houses will be changing the shades again together. But again I heard that same quality railing and bars will be used, only height of shade will be increased. But that was not suitable for my jhula plan. So I quickly announced that I will be making a different shade and railing so as to hold the jhula. So I explained everything to Amar.. that guy who had come to build the shade.
He said Yes yes to everything I explained to him.
I was so happy.. that finally my long pending wish will be coming true soon.

One weekend I went out with Amey and roamed 100kms from Tilak Nagar to Airoli to Panvel to kharghar to belapur to Vashi... to find Swing Chairs...
And I finally had liked the one in Panvel which costed only 1500.. it was a 2 pillow wala threads ka swing chair.. to hang it over a string.

But when the shade building took place, I was in office. And in one day, he complete the work of putting railings. To my shock, when I came home at night, I saw that he had put those same railing, which cannot hold the weight of a swing chair, only thing he has increased the height of it :(. I was totally upset. Immediately I started getting upset on my mother, that how come she allowed him to put this... why didnt she stop him... I had explained everything.. how I wanted things to happen.
My Mom explained that she noticed it, and also mentioned to Amar. But Amar explained to Mom that after this also he can put the strong railing, so my mom kept quite. I even told mom that why didnt she ring my mobile and inform me when things were getting wrongly done here.. I would have spoken to Amar on phone. .. BLA BLA BLA....
anyways...
Amey came.. I even got upset on him. I asked him to call AMAR at that very moment. It was past 10.30pm in the night. Still Amey called and gave me the phone. I banged Amar on the phone that night about the blunder he had done...in spoiling my dream of finally having a jhula outsite my house. I called Amar at 9.30am next morning... so that I can meet him.
That night I was very upset.... felt like now it wont happen. Its again gone out of scope. :(

Morning arrived... Amar arrived... and I started. ... Bechara Amar... I was really bad with him. How dare he put these railing ...
He tried to explain me that he will do this he will do taht.. bla bla bla....
Kuch bhi...
now He was suggesting all patch work solutions.. which were ugly.

Anyways then after an 1 or 2hrs of arguements.. and several options as to how we still make it happen.. nothing fruitful came up.
And finally Chetan came to my help.

Chetan asked me what happened.. I explained him.. and then Chetan suggested how it can be still done...
We decided to put two think beams seperately, 1 horizontal and other vertical to hold the jhula... everything got decided and then we spoke of the extra cost for it.
And this guy Amar said... it will be 5.5K to do all this extra work.... and my eyes and mouth left open...

चार आण्य ची कोंबडी आणि बारा आण्या चा मसाला …. हे असाच म्हटला मी .

The swing chairs that I was targetting to buy costed around 15ooinr in Panvel... and to hang it I spend 5.5K????
kuch bhi.

So after eating head of Amar ... for almost 3hrs ... now.....I tell himm... LET IT BE... DONT DO ANYTHING!!!!!

Chetan told me... better you get swing chair with STAND. That is better.. it will require no work. But I was not so much in for it at that time.

But later in next few days... I started googling for Swing chairs WITH STANDs...

Those costed high. The stand itself costed 5-6k. And then the swing on it. But then I did find some options which ranged from 3k to 7k. And now in some more days... I had prepared my mind to spend that much.. because o/w..... if not the stand.. then the beam work was anyways going to cost 5k.

Hence, I short listed few swing chairs online from OLX. One was second had.

This was 3yrs old... sold on olx for 6.5k. 

This for 7k

And this for 4,750 
So short listed above. Spoke their owners..
Then I had also seen more on Jabong. And FabFurbish... etc....

Daily night I came home... and google for Jhulas...

Then I also saw some awesome swing chairs.. which were worth 15k and above. They were good but out of scope for me.

Chetan told me that I can get good swings in Ghodbander Road, Ulhas Nagar and Nashik Road. I had to go there.. but was not getting time.

Finally Finally Finally....
Today!

I asked Chetan what He was doing. He said nothing. So I told him.. that lets go to nashik Road, and get the swing. He asked me that only window shopping? or I will be actually purchasing. I said If I like it, will buy it.  So we decided to start after lunch.
Amey had 2nd shift, so He was out. And also if I liked swing and I buy I it, then to get it in ritz, I wanted back seat to be empty, so only 2 ppl could go.

So Chetan and I started post Lunch. Chetan said that we will first go to Ghodbander Rd, if not liked there, then we will go further. I was ok with it.

I said in the mind while driving .... I hope... I wish.... Swing Chair comes home today :) Amen!

We reached the Tikujini Wadi lane. There are many shops there. We parked the car at one stop and walked to all shops in a row. I was not hopeful to find it there. in first few shops there were not jhulas. I said we are wasting time. But as we proceed ahead, I saw the exotic jhulas which I saw on internet for costs above 15k.

Hmm....anyways...

After going thru all shops... we reached second last shop. In which he quoted the SP as 13.5k. which was far less then 18k quoted by first shop for the same swing.

I liked the swing. It was awesome. It was one of those which I thought were out of scope for me. And now I was bargaining for the same.

I asked him for 9k but he asked when will you be buying. I said NOW! he thought further.. and last price he said 11.5k with no delivery, as I said I will be taking in my Ritz.

So we left the shop and moved to next.. we still saw one more swing in next shop, but I had the earlier in my mind. So we came back, and I again bargained with same man.. to give it to me for atleast 10k.

I knew the swing price was good. It was a good swing, with Quilt and neck rest and height adjust It was imported made of fibre weaving over metal skeleton with Stand to hang it.
Finally we agreed for 10.5k....

AND!!!!!! THERE WAS MY WISH COME TRUE.... hushssssssssssssssss........ was a sigh!

Got it home, Chetan assembled it.... And the queue began...

I am really Thankful to Chetan ... as he helped me achieve my wish..my dream.. which was pending for yrs...

Below is what I bought. Isn't it beautiful?? :)



And below are my FB Updates :)




Everyone who came to see the swing, I asked them to sit on it, and took pic.. and here it goes. :)

[L-R] Surve Aayee, Me, My Mom


[Top L-R] Shubham Room3, Shubham with his mom Room3, Chetan
[Bottom L-R] Navratne Mummy with Manas  Room17, Vinu Room6, Pancham F7 cly

Manas the Great! Initially he was scared to sit on it, later he was not ready to get out of it. So we had to pick him out :)

[Top L-R] Pushpa Bhabi Room5, Aditya Room17, Nidhi Room6 & Manas, Chayakai Room6
[Bottom L-R] Chaya kaki, Nidhi, MAnas, Devansh Manas, Apoorva Manas, Devansh Manas

[Top L-R] Hurpika Family F2 Cly, Nidhi Room7, Me and Devansh, Pravin Bholse Fly F7 Cly, Neha Room11
[Bottom L-R] Meenakshi Vahini Room11, Sanju Kaka Room11, Mamta Vahini Room11, Rugveda Rutvija Room18, Supriya Kaki Room 18

Last but not the least... Amey my bro comes back from office 2nd shift.. and enjoys and liked the Swing. 
I am so Glad.. that all these people above from our colony, shared and double my joy!!! :)
Finally a dream a wish come true.

I am sitting on the same swing chair.. and writing this blog tonight. Since 4pm to night I have been sitting on it. People suggested that I even sleep on it today :) LoL

Love the swing. Mere Swing ko kisi ki najar na lage :P  Amen!!!!  


Thursday, February 13, 2014

It is important to author your own life and live by the rules that you set for yourself rather than judgments and expectations of others.